| ALEXANDRIA, VA – Ovations Food Services, one of the nation’s largest providers of food and beverage services to public assembly facilities throughout North America, has joined Techniques for Effective Alcohol Management (TEAM Coalition), which is committed to promoting responsible drinking and positive fan behavior at sports and entertainment facilities.
“Ovations is, and has always been, committed to responsible alcohol service management,” said Ovations Food Services Chief Operating Officer Todd Wickner. “It is an issue that is of paramount importance to each of our employees, from the top down. Becoming a member organization for the TEAM Coalition is another way for us to ensure we promote responsible alcohol consumption in every facility in which we operate.”
TEAM Coalition is an alliance of 18-member organizations, including professional and collegiate sports, entertainment facilities, concessionaires, stadium service providers, the beer industry, broadcasters, governmental traffic safety experts and others.
TEAM Coalition members are united by a shared mission to provide effective alcohol service training in public assembly facilities and promote responsible alcohol consumption that enhances the entertainment experience while reducing alcohol-related instances both in facilities and on surrounding roadways. To accomplish this mission, TEAM focuses on three main efforts –
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- Training for facility employees in the effective sale, service, and consumption of alcohol
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- Promotional campaigns to encourage fans to designate a sober driver and behave appropriately
- Defining, communicating and enforcing alcohol service and fan conduct policies at sports and entertainment facilities
TEAM training involves employees from both concessionaires and facility operators. Since 2001, over 350,000 facility employees from ushers and ticket takers to beer vendors have become TEAM-certified. In 2009, TEAM’s Responsibility Has Its Rewards™ promotion for designated drivers counted nearly 600,000 sports fans who pledged to be designated drivers at MLB, MLS, NBA, NFL and NHL games.
About Ovations
Ovations Food Services, a subsidiary of Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment firm Comcast-Spectacor, provides quality catering and banquet services to over 100 different facilities throughout North America, including EverBank Field in Jacksonville, FL, home of the National Football League’s Jacksonville Jaguars; the Rose Garden in Portland, OR, home of the National Basketball League’s Portland Trailblazers; PPL Park in Chester, PA, home of Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union; the Duke Energy Convention Center in Cincinnati, OH; the Atlantic City Convention Center and Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, NJ and the Nashville Convention Center in Nashville, TN.
Comcast-Spectacor (comcast-spectacor.com) is the Philadelphia-based sports and entertainment company which owns the Philadelphia Flyers (NHL), the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA), the Wells Fargo Center, and four Flyers Skate Zone community ice skating and hockey rinks. In addition, Comcast-Spectacor is also the principal owner of Global Spectrum, the fastest growing firm in the public assembly management field with more than 80 facilities throughout the United States and Canada; Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage service provider; New Era Tickets, a ticketing and marketing company for public assembly facilities; Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company; and Paciolan, the leading provider of venue establishment ticketing, fundraising and marketing technology solutions. In a partnership with Disson Skating, Comcast-Spectacor annually produces 10 nationally televised figure skating spectaculars on NBC.
About TEAM Coalition
TEAM Coalition members and supporters include Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, National Collegiate Athletic Association, ARAMARK, Delaware North Companies – Sportservice, Ovations Food Services, Beer Institute, National Beer Wholesalers Association, Anheuser-Busch Companies, MillerCoors, National Association of Broadcasters, Live Nation, Contemporary Services Corporation, Elite, International Association of Assembly Managers, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. For more information go to www.teamcoalition.org. |
