How Corporate Hospitality Has Become A Major Part Of The Sports Business – Forbes

When I started TSE Sports & Entertainment as an event hospitality business back in 1997, entertaining a client consisted of a ticket and parking pass to a baseball game and hot dogs and beers at the stadium.

Things have changed a lot in the past 18 years and even more so in the past five since I formed Goviva. The marketplace demand for hospitality services is greater than ever and companies are starting to take note.

Last week, leading entertainment and sports agency, Creative Artists Agency (CAA) announced that it had formed CAA Premium Experience, a best-in-class, full-service hospitality, event management, and marketing division. CAA Premium Experience combines the expertise, resources, and relationships of industry-leading hospitality firms Inside Sports & Entertainment Group, Beyond Sports & Entertainment, and my very own Goviva, all three recent CAA acquisitions.

This acquisition further demonstrates that the market for access to sports and entertainment hospitality is more valuable than anybody could have dreamed just two decades ago.

The business of hospitality is booming. When I was getting started, I aimed to become the guy people would go to for access to the big game, or secure a luxury suite experience at an event, all in the name of meeting clients face-to-face in a truly hospitable environment.

Back then, there was no standalone corporate event hospitality market; a small handful of people working on their own would entertain clients at the Super Bowl or Final Four. Jeff Fluhr was just starting to float the idea of a StubHub secondary ticket market. The entire process by which people could acquire tickets to major events and then ensure that those events were amazing experiences for the people in attendance was evolving in a very positive and transparent way.

That small group of people were among the first to understand the importance of this, and, frankly, we were ahead of the curve. As the years went on, hospitality became a major component of sponsorship deals and the business of sports. Today, it is paramount in all business dealings.

When we launched Goviva, after TSE was purchased by private equity firm Pfingsten Partners, we saw an opportunity to amplify the business of entertaining clients through the worlds of fashion, arts, and culinary experiences. The success we have seen in just four short years proves that entertainment hospitality is a rapidly expanding business, providing corporations an opportunity to grow through engagement events.