On court and ice success means big wins in the concessions game for Levy, Legends

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For NBA and NHL team-level business partners, the two-month playoff stretch truly can be the equivalent of a second season. By the time the postseasons conclude later this month for each league, as many as 3.4 million fans will have attended a game at one of the 28 arenas that hosted at least one playoff game.

More than 1.5 million of those fans will have been in an arena where Levy oversees the food and beverage operations. For context, that is more than the combined regular-season attendance of the Miami Heat and Vegas Golden Knights, Levy clients who are playing in their respective league's finals.

According to an analysis of SBJ Atlas data, the Chicago-based company served meals for fans of 15 playoff teams at 13 arenas across the two leagues, for a total of at least 81 extra games (a total that could go as high as 85 if both finals go seven games).

Concessions sales data was not available, but per caps for F&B at a regular-season NBA game typically range between $14 and $22, according to an executive with decades of experience.

Levy has become almost a mainstay in the finals: The company has had at least one team in the NBA Finals each of the past 10 seasons (including three times they hosted both teams) and at least one Stanley Cup finalist eight times in the past decade.

Another behind-the-scenes success story is Legends, which will host nearly a half million playoff fans if the Denver Nuggets-Heat series goes seven games.

The company's food and beverage playoff venues included the Sacramento Kings’ Golden 1 Center and the New Jersey Devils’ Prudential Center, and the Nuggets’ championship run continued a recent stretch of success for the Legends-Kroenke Sports & Entertainment relationship. KS&E owns Ball Arena and its tenants: the Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche (who hosted four playoff games), and the NLL Colorado Mammoths (who made it to the league finals for the second straight year).

On the exposure front, eight of the 10 arenas with the highest playoff attendance total have a naming-rights partner. Heading into the finals for each league, Boston's TD Garden had hosted the most fans, thanks to the Celtics’ back-to-back seven-game series. But if the Nuggets-Heat series returns to Denver for Game 5, Ball Arena will move into the top spot.

Ball Corp., the Colorado-based producer of aluminum packaging for beverage and other uses, has already gained significant TV exposure during the playoffs, as Games 1 and 2 of the Nuggets’ four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals each averaged more than 7.36 million viewers on ESPN.

Similarly, if Miami hosts a Game 6, a Heat sellout will leapfrog Kaseya Center over Crypto.com Arena (which benefited from having three teams in the playoffs).

Kaseya, a Miami-based IT and security software company, purchased the arena naming rights just days before the playoffs began.

At least half of the Stanley Cup Finals will be played at a venue that has no naming-rights partner. The Florida Panthers’ FLA Live! venue has had more corporate names than any other pro sports arena — National Car Rental; Office Depot; Bank Atlantic; and BB&T Center — but has not had a naming-rights deal since 2021.

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SBJ I Factor presented by Allied Sports features an interview with Danita Johnson, president of business operations for D.C. United and a member of Sports Business Journal's Forty Under 40 class of 2023. Johnson talks with SBJ's Abe Madkour about learning how to sell and to not fear change, becoming an effective manager, the importance of empathy as a leadership trait, and what to look for when evaluating job candidates. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine's awards, such as Forty Under 40, Game Changers and others.

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