This is Buying Sideline — the only newsletter that focuses solely on the business of sports hospitality.
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In the email today:
Monumental President of Business Operations and Chief Commercial Officer Jim Van Stone
As part of Capital One Arena’s $1B stadium renovation, Monumental Sports & Entertainment is building The Halo around the idea that a night in the arena should offer plenty of choices before guests even reach their seats.
Our tour this week with Monumental execs Jim Van Stone, President of Business Operations and Chief Commercial Officer, and Adam Gotts, SVP, Project and Revenue Management, took us to The Reserve, Monumental’s on-site interactive experience and sales center for the new arena.
There, the vision for the planned two-level Halo, which will be built next summer and completed for the 2027-28 season as part of the last phase of work in a three-year renovation to Capital One Arena, came into focus: eight restaurant experiences, local culinary partnerships, and enough variety to make each visit feel different.
“Within the Halo, we want to just give people really a variety of options to choose their own adventure on a nightly basis,” said Gotts. “A lot of inspiration we actually took from Tottenham and Fulham and Everton and what's being done across the pond in terms of bringing that here. It hasn't been something that has been done in the US specifically, but with the Halo, we're essentially building an exclusive two level space 4,500 guests will have access to on a nightly basis.”
The restaurant lineup is central to that proposition.
Alongside the speakeasy and pizza-and-wine offering, plans include a cantina led by chef Spike Mendelsohn. The dining formats would vary, with focused menus of roughly four to six items and a mix of cuisines and experiences.
"I think what we're doing in Halo with a variety of these different restaurant experiences really creates that diversity of options, and we're tying them all into well-known celebrity chefs in the marketplace,” Van Stone said. “So, Spike Mendelsohn, for example, is going to really lead to our cantina that we're doing. And what I like about what we're doing on the Halo is there's 2,700 [fixed] seats there, so we can appeal to fans, consumers, but also if businesses want to use it they can do the same thing."
Guests would also have choices in how they dine. Some locations would offer fast-casual ordering; others would allow guests to order using QR codes, with food delivered to them. Selected restaurants would accommodate reservations.
“We really feel like we have something for everybody,” Gotts said, describing Monumental’s broader range of premium options.
Ultimately, the restaurants serve a larger commercial ambition: making the arena a destination that holds guests’ attention before and after the main event.
“But how can we get guests here earlier? How can we get them to stay later and really make it a full evening of entertainment from that standpoint?” Van Stone said.
We’ll have much more from our two days in the Nation’s Capital in the coming weeks.
Our Take: Premium for all is a trend we’re seeing across the industry.
It’s not just well-heeled corporate clients and individuals who may inhabit the Lexus Vaults or United Globe Club demanding more premium offerings— upwardly-mobile and everyday fans want that experience too. The Halo aims to meet the demand
In a way, sports hospitality is no longer about luxury— it’s about redefining the way people experience sports at all price points.
🦉 Rice’s $120M Gateway to Revenue Beyond Football
“The problem is we can’t just keep going back to those same [donors] over and over and over. So, how can we find new and creative ways to generate additional revenue to pour into our program?” - Eric George, Interim AD, Rice University
Rice University recently kicked off their $120M Gateway Project and interim AD Eric George explained to Buying Sideline the changing business model at First Community Stadium.
The project will see capacity diminish from 47,000 down to slightly over 30,000. Plans call for a three-level building on the west side containing premium seating, suites, and media/operations space. George said 11 out of the 14 private suites are already “spoken for” — two years before stadium completion. Rice is also currently exploring conversations with VR companies to make the experience more tangible for prospective buyers.
Plans to maximize stadium revenue outside of gamedays includes hosting international soccer events, concerts, and a large gathering space for university galas, weddings, and larger corporate gatherings with the nearby Houston medical district.
In our case, where we’re located, having the medical district right there, the research, the technology, the different things that we have going on, some of that value far exceeds what athletics as a whole can bring. And so it’s an opportunity for us to go outside of the normal range of ticket sales and media and donations and really find some new revenue streams to help boost the program.
George also said rooms can divide into smaller spaces and plans to look at an outside event partner to help manage non-gameday events.
So why is Rice shrinking its stadium?
Living alumni is right around 60,000. So you could essentially take all of our living alumni and throw them in the stadium. So to have sixty [thousand] probably doesn’t make sense. Forty-seven [thousand] even doesn’t make sense.
In 2028, when construction is at its peak, fans will shift to the east side while work proceeds.
Populous is leading the renovation in conjunction with Nations Group, a Legends Global company. The first phase is the Kraft Football Pavilion, the Owls’ future practice facility, with stadium construction set to start after the 2027 season and work continuing through 2028. The finished project will connect the concrete desert between Rice Village, the walkable dining and shopping district, and First Community Stadium.
BUYING SIDELINE: THE BUSINESS OF SPORTS HOSPITALITY
Inside Rice’s Gateway Project: Premium Seating, Stadium Plans & New Revenue with Eric George
As Rice renovates their stadium to lower capacity dramatically and increase premium space, Penn State’s Beaver Stadium is temporarily adding seats. The renovation for the Big Ten school looks to expand its hospitality business while trying to preserve the enormous 106K+ crowd that makes the experience valuable in the first place.
When construction is finished, Beaver Stadium will have 10,523 premium seats — about 10% of their capacity. The plans combine new suites, loge boxes and thousands of club seats with a renovated west side.
PSU’s deputy athletic director for internal operations Vinnie James told SBJ:
That was the biggest driver in all of this, was to go against the trend of modern stadium renovations and builds, which is to go smaller at this point. We wanted to maintain, at minimum, our capacity because it was really, really important to us that people had access to come to our games, and that we didn’t have too few seats here to accommodate what this fan base deserves.
The school will offer 14 seating options across 20 price points, excluding student seating, suites and loges — no word on if the new Schuyler and Marzano club seats are included in that. Meanwhile, the renovated west side will have higher prices, and its lower bowl will move from benches to chairbacks with more room and nearby amenities.
Our Take: We spend a lot of time talking about premium hospitality in terms of social spaces, high-end finishes, amenities and team success. What we don’t touch on as much is the atmosphere those customers are paying to be part of.
Penn State has 94,000 season-ticket holders, and preserving access for that fan base helped shape its renovation. My read: protecting that atmosphere isn’t separate from improving the premium experience. Keeping the stadium capacity similar and having 20 different ticket price points starting at $550 for an upper level season — $20 less to a comparable seat this season — the school is preserving a lower-priced entry point alongside its expanded premium offerings.
We talk all the time about teams limiting access to premium spaces to enhance the high-end experience that paying guests expect. But an exclusive club and an accessible stadium can complement each other when the fans outside the club help create the atmosphere being sold inside it
🎢 The Experience Economy Index 2026
The multinational professional services network, Grant Thornton, released their Experience Economy Index 2026 report.
The published 4,000 person survey findings show:
40% of people in the UK are increasingly prioritizing experiences over material things; that rises to 54% in 18–34-year-olds
31% of Brits attended an immersive experience last year
Attendees spent an average of £210 on the overall experience
Motivations included creating memories, spending time with loved ones and breaking free of everyday routines as the “Escapism Economy” generated £7.4B in spend over the last 12 months according to the report.
Tennessee Titans and INFINITI unveiled the INFINITI Club at the team's new Nissan Stadium. The already sold out club will open in 2027, cover more than 22,000 square feet, and accommodate up to 3,000 guests. Features include dedicated entrances, lounge seating, premium F&B, and views overlooking the field.
Heisman and REVELxp announced three hospitality packages for the December ceremony in New York. The three package tiers are Legacy, Icon, and Bronze and range from seats in the televised ceremony to a brunch with the Trophy and Heisman Winners. The Bronze package targets universities hosting alumni, donors and supporters, including a school-specific reception
The Miami Heat added The Dorsia Club, which will be available to courtside ticketholders. The club will feature private dining from Michelin-starred chef Jeremy Ford and partner with Levy Restaurants to invite Dorsia-curated guest chefs to collaborate. No word on if they’ll have sea urchin ceviche on the menu.
🔗 Sports Hospitality Links
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