After arriving back from All-Star on Wednesday the guys were hard at work in the warehouse unloading trucks and preparing for the kick off of our 2nd PlayBall! Minnesota Tour. The PlayBall! Minnesota Tour is a Minnesota Twins non-profit that tours around to different cities in Minnesota growing awareness of softball and baseball leagues in their areas. This year’s kickoff event took place at the Verizon Wireless Center in Mankato, Minnesota for the Baby & Kids Expo. It was a great start to the Tour as we had the MoonDogs mascot and Viktor the Vikings mascot. Along with their appearances many families stopped by to check out PlayBall! Minnesota and take some swings at the inflatable. The PlayBall! Minnesota Tour will visit Target Field on April 1st for the Minnesota Twins home opener against the Detroit Tigers!
Across the street during this year’s NBA All-Star Jam Session, FILO launched an important new relationship with Anheuser-Busch and Fusion Marketing, helping them and Silver Eagle Distributors produce The Budweiser Experience at NBA All-Star. We worked with Fusion Marketing to create an outdoor hoops haven on Discovery Green, which is in the shadow of the George R. Brown Convention Center and one block north of the Toyota Center.
Together we built and executed a three-day basketball-themed event featuring appearances by and autograph sessions with hoops legends, Houston Rockets Power Dancers and mascot Clutch; an outdoor basketball court for fans to play and watch Street Ball Legends Exhibition Games; and a portable Budweiser sports bar.
Budweiser brand ambassadors were also out in full force at nearby bars and restaurants located along Washington Avenue, Midtown and downtown Houston. From Feb. 15 – 17, thousands of avid NBA fans joined the experience for free, participating in dance contests and showing off their basketball skills for a chance to win prizes.
The world famous Budweiser Clydesdales and the red, white and gold beer wagon even made their way to the park. FILO was there for it all: preparing for the Event with a site visit, through the first piece of stage going down, through the end of tear down, until the last sign was removed.
FILO representatives Joe Garvey, the Buron Brothers and Matt Lehmann did everything from construct the full court SportCourt to activating the VIP tent, to even refereeing games. It was an absolute slam dunk for Budweiser, NBA fans and FILO!
As the doors on the last trailer closed at 8:23pm on Monday February 18th, it marked the 11th
year that FILO successfully loaded in, managed and loaded out All-Star
Jam Session for the National Basketball Association (NBA). A new
additions this year, however, was the blimp! It was a hit, and it
really added an extra element to the event.
As with every year, work on Jam Session started months prior to the
event with site visits, conference calls, pack list builds, truck
loading, layouts and equipment testing in preparation for ASJS 2013. It
culminated in another superior event with tens of thousands of fans
enjoying basketball bliss. All 16 of our trucks arrived on time in
Houston and the equipment was unloaded by noon on the first day. We
completed all of our setup duties by the 4:00pm show opening on
Wednesday. Some of our responsibilities during setup were: rigging and
placement of signage, fencing, bleachers, hoop systems, Pop-A-Shots,
kiosks, furniture, coolers, lockers, race timers/shot clocks and
netting. This year we had our shortest window of time ever to build the
show. We passed with flying colors though, quickly flipping the switch
to event management mode to begin running distribution, meeting needs
and solving problems on the floor during show hours. With our
experienced veterans and eager to impress rookies, we managed the NBA’s
equipment on the show floor by conducting safety checks, receiving and
answering calls from zone managers, placing signage according to the
NBA’s direction, managing court props for all courts including Center
Court and Sprint Arena, and assisting with janitorial duties.
During the show, our veteran distribution crew received and inventoried
all packages, delivered them to all applicable personnel and sponsors,
stocked all beverage coolers and made all furniture and locker moves in
green rooms, meeting rooms and offices.
Our preparation and experience made for a great NBA All-Star Jam Session setup and show. At 8:23pm on February 18th, the door of the last trailer was closed and the trucks headed back to our warehouse in St. Paul.
Although Jam Session was over, there were still 17 trailers awaiting
the FILO crew in Minnesota. The trailers were unloaded into the
warehouse, equipment was scanned back into inventory and all elements
were returned to their proper home in the warehouse. Finally, a week and
a half after the doors closed at the George R. Brown Convention Center,
the 2013 Jam Session was complete.
