Spotlight On: Steve Zito, Assistant Director, Convention Sports and Entertainment Facilities, Alamodome
June 2023 — Steve Zito, assistant director of convention sports and entertainment facilities at the Alamodome, sat down with Invest: to discuss the massive successes San Antonio’s events sector is experiencing as the region continues to grow. He also talked about the Alamodome’s active role in stimulating growth going forward.
What shifts or changes are you seeing in the convention and events business sector today?
We recently celebrated our 30th anniversary. 2023 is the best year in the Alamodome’s 30-year history. Our revenues are over by more than $5 million of our projected revenue. We have seen amazing things happen and there are many factors contributing to the growth and demand for our building. The market is growing quickly – it is the fastest-growing city in the country – and our marketing efforts have dramatically increased. Between those two factors, ticket sales for our events are surprising even to the promoters coming here. The Red-Hot Chili Peppers selling over 45,000 tickets on a Wednesday night is a testament to that. For Bad Bunny, Elton John, M¶tley Cr¼e and Def Leppard and others, our ticket sales are, if not at the top of sales of all tours across the country, they are close. San Antonio is the third-largest city in Texas and seventh largest in the country. For some events, we are selling more tickets than Dallas or Houston at times. The growth has been fantastic and is only growing one day after another.
How does the Alamodome factor into the plans for growth in the area?
Our goal is to continue to be the absolute most we can be. It’s about quality of life – a lot of the events we host improves that. It’s about being a pillar of the community and hosting events for the community. Annually, we host college and high-school graduations. This year, we reorganized things to host 33 graduations in 14 days. We had over 200,000 people come through the building with over 20,000 graduates. It’s another example of the market and it’s also a testament to the importance of the Alamodome in our community. We were also a pillar during COVID – we administered over 220,000 vaccinations and conducted contact tracing for over 775,000 people. We are here in times of need and times of celebration. The diversity of events we host allows us to do that. For FY2023, we have used the Alamodome 438 times.
How is the Alamodome using advances in technology to increase revenue and improve operations and fan experience?
Our technology now is relatively new in the building; although the building is only 30 years old, the city has done a wonderful job in reinvesting back into the building. Because of this, we are able to compete with newer state-of-the-art facilities. It all comes down to production and presenting events. The head of production at Live Nation told me our production of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was the best show out of the entire tour. They loved the building, the city, our staff and the ease of working in our facilities. We know our staff is the best of the best but when our clients come through and tell us that, too, it just means the world. From a television and production standpoint, we have crews coming in who are used to working in NFL studios telling us our facilities are more state-of-the-art than some of the brand-new NFL stadiums. Technology is changing every day and there is always room for improvement. The city has an eye to always remain competitive, so this is not a worry of mine.
How does the Alamodome remain connected to the community in order to bring the events they want to attend?
We try to look at every opportunity to determine what it means to the community. Successfully hosting the Final Four in 2018 led to us being awarded the 2020 Women’s Final Four. We ended up hosting the majority of the entire tournament, not just the Final Four. There were 35 nationally-televised games hosted within the Alamodome. We converted the stadium into two separate operating arenas with social distancing and other extensive COVID protocols. The NCAA was amazed – they never thought it could be done. We made it happen with our one-team approach. Because of those combined successes, we were also awarded the 2025 Men’s Final Four. We always prioritize putting our best foot forward in attracting events to San Antonio, integrating them into the community so they can enjoy the area while they are here.
What is your outlook for the Alamodome as San Antonio continues to grow?
San Antonio’s market continues to grow rapidly. The attractiveness of bringing these events and the success they have when they get here is bringing even more success and events. We are now at the point of having to choose which events we host instead of accepting all who are interested, which is a great problem to have. Shows want to be a part of what is happening in San Antonio. Our outlook is awesome. We are always trying to think outside the box, so we recently released our first podcast alongside our 30th anniversary titled “Remember the Alamodome.” Henry Cisneros, the visionary behind the Alamodome, was our first guest to be interviewed on the podcast, which is so fitting considering his iconic part in making us who we are today. The point is to let everyone know what we have going on here. It is all good things to come going forward.
For more information, visit:
