Sports Business on Display: ANC President & CEO Jerry Cifarelli Jr on the Dynamic Digital Signage Business

00:01

Dave Almy

d ANC with Alan COHEN Back in: 1997

00:22

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, I mean, I definitely got a sense of it. It's probably the best MBA in the world to sit around that table.

00:28

Dave Almy

Cheaper, too.

00:29

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah. Yes, definitely. A little bit. Probably too personal, but at the time, were living with my aunt, and the phone would ring twice if it was for his business. So I really kind of got to know from day one. You know, you got to hear about the cash flows, the power of relationships, your calculated risk, and so forth. So you learned a lot right out of the gates, and that's probably. It could be good and bad for a young kid, but it ended up working out just okay for me. Yeah.

00:56

Dave Almy

So you were really close to your father, and you were sort of just surrounded by Buy it, and you're sort of picking up on that entrepreneurial streak. I'm wondering if there's specific memories that you have of that period that still inform how you approach business today.

01:15

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, many memories. I think the biggest memory, though, it taught me that I'm afraid of heights. I was hanging rotational signage at Yankee stadium on the 300 level, and I. That was the last time I started hanging rotational signage on 300 level.

01:30

Dave Almy

It's good to learn these things early, though.

01:32

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, you. You learn them early, but no, you. You really do. It's. I think for me, the biggest takeaway was when I was a young kid. You know, you think about kids, they look up to Mark Messi. I mean, yeah, I got Mike Richter here, but I looked up to the owners and the team presidents and people like that because I was just around them as a young. A young kid. So probably hurt my childhood a little bit. Not, you know, cheering for. For players and cheering for executives, which was a little weird.

02:03

Dave Almy

Let's go front office.

02:05

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, it's. It's kind of been instilled in my. In my brain, and I still operate that way as well.

02:11

Dave Almy

So you began your sports business career, though, not at anc. You went to Fenway Sports Group. And I'm wondering if that was a conscious decision for you. Did you want to kind of get a perspective outside the business, or was it just simply an opportunity to explore new opportunities?

02:27

Jerry Cifarelli

I think it was definitely a conscious decision. My dad did not Want to hire me? Probably, but it was a little too.

02:33

Dave Almy

Much about you at that time, didn't he?

02:36

Jerry Cifarelli

He's like, this guy skated right through college. He's definitely not good at the gates. But, you know, I think what I was saying earlier about looking up to the team presidents and so forth and growing up around them, I really wanted to go to Fenway Sports Group and work there. I went to school. I did my undergrad In New England, Vermont, St. Michael's College. Wanted to go to Boston. Loved Boston, but most importantly, I loved that team there. And I got to meet Mark Lev, who's the CEO of Boston Common Golf, and Billy Hogan and Sam Kennedy. Mark and Billy actually started at ANC too. So I knew them. You know, they were. They were people that I looked up to, so I wanted to go learn from them. And they put me through their associate program and I made it out.

03:20

Dave Almy

And I mean, you started at the ground level. You were an account executive with Fenway Sports Group. So, I mean, it was very much the go out and you are developing new business. Did it. Did it surprise you or like, open your eyes a bit to new aspects of the business that you hadn't been accustomed to before? Or was it pretty much along the lines?

03:42

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, it definitely did. I was actually like a first before I became, I guess, an account executive. I was their sales trainee, their first ever. They still run this pro associate program to this day.

03:51

Dave Almy

You were the guinea pig.

03:53

Jerry Cifarelli

I was the first one. They were like, let's give this a try with. With Sif. He probably doesn't know what he's doing, and we don't really know what the program looks like yet, so we can't.

04:02

Dave Almy

Screw him up that bad. Let's go out.

04:04

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, he's already tapped, so we. They put me through it and, you know, really learned everything from prospecting to, you know, what. What inventory was available. All the stuff that, you know, you think day right away. And I got to learn it from the best in the business. So it was incredible.

04:20

Dave Almy

Yeah, that's a great. That's a great team. Great group of people who are and certainly still are on the leading edge of particularly how a property, how one ownership group can invest into multiple properties to really draw the perspective of it.

04:34

Jerry Cifarelli

I think one of my best memories from there too, outside of work, was I was able to eat lunch at Fenway park. And, you know, I got to eat lunch. My dad would come up and visit. They were anC client at the time, so he'd come out and visit and him and I would get a sandwich and sit in an empty Fenway Park. And I've been a Red Sox fan ever since that.

04:51

Dave Almy

Yeah, it's the funny thing about those kinds of places, and people for. Who work for sports teams often sometimes forget, like, they're in Fenway park or they're in their stadium where they're working so much, it loses a little bit of the. For lack of a better term, magic associated with it. So whenever we're talking to people, it's sometimes along the lines of, you have to remember that people look at where you work as hollowed ground. May have rubbed off a little bit on you, but that's the awe that sometimes people have just sitting in that empty stadium. I mean, I remember going to the Rose bowl once and sitting down and, like, touching the grass. And I don't have any affiliation with ucla. I'm. You know, it was a business thing.

05:34

Dave Almy

But you get into these places sometimes, and you are kind of struck by that awe of the places. And Fenway is one of those places.

05:43

Jerry Cifarelli

Fenway is a cathedral. But, you know, anywhere you go, really, an empty ballpark, an empty stadium, an empty arena is just kind of cool. I don't know what it is for me when they're empty. I know we're in the business of putting, you know, we want fans in the seats, but when. When they're empty, you really take it in, like, wow, this is spectacular.

06:01

Dave Almy

This is pretty special.

06:02

Jerry Cifarelli

Definitely one of those places.

06:03

Dave Almy

ed up circling back to ANC in: 2012

06:17

Jerry Cifarelli

At that time, it was probably a similar situation as when I first went to Fenway. ANC didn't have a collegiate division. And they were like, okay, let's give this a shot. Here we go. And I grew up around the business. You know, the model itself was in. The business model has been in my head since I was, you know, maybe 10 and shouldn't be staring at a financial page, but it's so. I knew it, I understood it. And, you know, it has its pros and cons, but I do have the same name as my father. So getting into, you know, some of these universities and. And having the last name I have, were able to make some traction right away. And. And you felt like. We felt like there was an opportunity to really grow the Collegiate space.

06:58

Jerry Cifarelli

And it became one of our largest revenue divisions really after a year two of give of giving it a go. Our model really resonated with universities and it worked out. So I guess I was lucky.

07:08

Dave Almy

Yeah. Now let's talk about the business of ANC for just a second. Right. Because it's closely linked with electronic signage. There's a lot of other pieces that go along with it, but the sort of core product has always been electronic signage. And I think for a lot of people, for better or for worse, a lot of people in sports business, sponsorship, fan experience and things like that, arena, arena and stadium signage kind of used to be an afterthought, right? It was static, it was. There was a revenue generator kind of it. But technology has really changed that concept of what it means to have displays inside of arena. So it's really become integral.

07:50

Dave Almy

So I'm wondering if you can speak for a moment about ANC and that evolution as a provider to becoming that sort of fundamental way that people engage with and respond to what's happening inside the stadium.

08:07

Jerry Cifarelli

rganization and we started in: 1997

08:53

Jerry Cifarelli

You know, teams and venues are constantly looking to generate more revenue and technology and you add and you enhance that experience, you can generate more revenue. And that's what we're here to support. When you're in a service, the service business that we are in, we're supporting our teams and whether that's with technology or revenue generating assets. No, we're, we are here.

09:13

Dave Almy

You talked about, you know, the biggest 4K boards and things like that. But I'm wondering if there's a point that you've reached where, or starting to look at where does signage, can it be too much? And the example I always use in this kind of reflect is, in this kind of regard is at and T Stadium. Right. You talk to people who go to the Death Star, I mean Cowboy Stadium, I mean at and T Stadium, and they're in awe of the video board there.

09:36

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah.

09:37

Dave Almy

But they also acknowledge that they tend to watch it rather than the game.

09:41

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah.

09:42

Dave Almy

So how do you work with clients in this regard to strike that balance between supporting but not intrusive? Is there a line and what does it look like and how do you evaluate it?

09:54

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, yeah, it's a good question. And it's probably. And it's a challenge that everyone faces, right? Yeah, yeah. We're in sports. It's all about the score at the end of the game. But we're also in the entertainment business too. So how do you entertain fans? How do you entertain patrons and get them coming back? You know, so the technology helps that. But in the end of the day, you know, I'm a believer in the quality over quantity. You could have the largest boards, you can have the biggest displays, but it's how those boards work. How do you put on that show? How does that impact the experience for your fan? And that's something that we help guide our partners through. You know, we're in the business of bringing their dreams, their, how they want to run their show to life.

10:39

Jerry Cifarelli

Like that's what we're doing. You know, we're a partner in that side of things. So yeah. Could they be too big sometimes? Totally. But you, there's operational things that go into that, you know, how does it nest and so forth. How does that, how does the show look? If they have a really big video board, maybe they don't have, you know, if it's a center on, maybe they don't have end zone boards and other places where they can but stats, sponsor content, et cetera. So there's a lot that goes into it as much as just the big display. I think what happens is the big gets a lot of the pr, but it's, you know, how do we put on the show? People like stats, people like replay, people like neither your sponsor content. So where does all that fit?

11:20

Jerry Cifarelli

And if you don't have other ways in the venue to make it fit, maybe you need to have the biggest video board out there. Right. So you have to just think about that as a full blown entertainment experience.

11:30

Dave Almy

It is an interesting point, right. About the pr. Right. When a new stadium opens, somebody Spent, gosh, you know, $5 billion. I think what it was so far ended up going, being built for, you know, a huge part of the messaging associated with that is world's biggest sport or newest biggest sport. So do you have to counsel them? I'm wondering if you ever had a moment where you had to say to somebody, look, that's a great idea and I appreciate it, but this is why it's probably not in your best interest to do what you think you want to do from a video display standpoint.

12:03

Jerry Cifarelli

We haven't run too much into that, thankfully. I guess that's good for business probably too. It's good to be the cherry on top of Sunday. Right. You get a lot of the attention, but we haven't. But I mean, people think about it. It's done operationally. Right. We installed the first ever kinetic video board of Wells Fargo Center. That board doesn't move throughout the game. Yeah, the halos go up and down and the fire comes out and stuff, or the pregame and so forth, but during the game, it doesn't move.

12:32

Dave Almy

Right.

12:33

Jerry Cifarelli

But when they have a show that comes in and nests together and it's able to go up into the. Into the rafter, so you can bring in things for show. So there's operational ideas that people think about. Yeah. Luckily, I think for. For us, for Daktronics, you know, the people want big and. And that's always good, but like I said, I think there's a quality. It's the right. The right resolution for that application, the right product, the right service team behind it. 99.9% of the video boards always look good the day you put them in. It's all about how you treat them throughout the 10 years of the lifespan. And if you can continue to provide that white glove service, which what we do at anc, we think that you can get the most out of those displays.

13:18

Dave Almy

What are some of the ones that you look back on that you've installed, say, over the last five years and say, man, that's just an awesome execution. When you think about some of the clients you've worked with. Point.

13:26

Jerry Cifarelli

Point.

13:26

Dave Almy

What are some of your favorite examples, favorite case studies that you've used?

13:29

Jerry Cifarelli

I love every single one of our clients.

13:32

Dave Almy

I know some children are a little more handsome than others.

13:36

Jerry Cifarelli

Great case studies. No, I, you know, I think you're changing. What we did at Wells Fargo arena with the Comcast folks there was awesome. It's a kinetic center on. That's we always say, is kind of our flagship, but we do work with all the premier brands out there. I mean, it's hard to. You know, there's really not one that stands out. We come into every single partner, and we try to deliver their dreams. It's. They put on a show every day, and they have fans come in. Every single day there's a game, and in many cases, tour the facilities. You know, it's up to us to make sure that they don't have to worry about their video boards. I mean, who wants. I mean, look at us like, we're talking, like, do you think, you know, people really want to talk about video boards?

14:19

Jerry Cifarelli

No, they love the game.

14:20

Dave Almy

Well, I hope so. I want to listen to this podcast, man.

14:23

Jerry Cifarelli

They love the game. They love the experience. They love the industry. We're lucky to be in an industry that. That provides that. And, you know, we're all about delivering and servicing for our partners, and that is, you know, what we're proud of. I think I'm proud that we haven't. Partners that do business with us don't really leave us. And that, I think, is proud. So when I say, when you ask me one, there's not one. What makes me happy is they all stay with us.

14:45

Dave Almy

Yeah, nothing like, there's no better indicator of success than repeat business. Exactly.

14:51

Jerry Cifarelli

ANC has probably built its whole entire company on repeat business.

14:55

Dave Almy

ld ended up purchasing ANC in: 2015

15:32

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, for me, it was probably harder on my father than it was for me. Yeah. Yeah. This was ANC's baby. I'm lucky to be a steward of it right now, but it was really, I think, selling to Greg Brown and selling to Learfield and what they were doing at, you know, it's just. It was a. It was perfect for us. I mean, it was perfect for the business. Clearfield helped advance anc. You know, they really did take us to the next level, you know, from many different ways, from being, you know, a professional, more professional organization to. To the systems in place, and were doing a ton of business With Learfield. Right.

16:04

Jerry Cifarelli

You know, we're service providers that help you generate revenue, and we're doing that a lot with Learfield, and they're a great organization, a great company that is, you know, the behemoth in collegiate athletics. So they aligned with us at that time, and it was the perfect process. So I think selling to that group was. Yeah, it could have been. It was, it was great for everyone, great for all the partners and I think great for Learfield, too.

16:31

Dave Almy

s after the purchase, left in: 2021

16:47

Jerry Cifarelli

It's a good, it's a great question. I think I was looking for a new challenge. I think after a while I was, you know, it was time for me to go. And they had other people in charge of the business, so it was time for them to, you know, set the business on the path that they felt it was, would make it the most successful and not have me and my view of the business hold them back. So it was just time for a new challenge. Yeah. Starting the business. I kind of fell into starting C10. Right. And maybe I was unemployable, who knows? But the others, I was kind of looking around, trying to figure out what I wanted to do next, and just really fell into this.

17:25

Jerry Cifarelli

You know, clients were calling me and asking for things to do, and I was like, okay, I think I could do that. And off we went. So it was a little bit of timing, I guess, that made me fall into starting C10 and just the market where it was and, you know, having a job.

17:43

Dave Almy

Yeah, it's funny how that'll work.

17:45

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, it just kind of fell in. Yeah.

17:48

Dave Almy

ng ANC back from Learfield in: 2023

18:16

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, I mean, I, I, I don't want to talk, can't talk too much about it, but you can go, you.

18:21

Dave Almy

Can go in deep. It's fine.

18:23

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, no, no, I, I, I appreciate it, but, I mean, I once listened to a podcast by guy named Paul Salem. We did a TED talk, actually, and he talked about, you know, life and how. How it was about luck. And I think I just ended up at the time being lucky that they, you know, Learfield and was looking for a new steward of the company. And I was in the right place, the right time, and had the knowledge to drive the business. I mean, they wanted the business to be in good hands.

18:53

Dave Almy

Yeah.

18:53

Jerry Cifarelli

And they gave. They were able. We were able to work out a deal and the transaction that put the business in good hands for a long period of time, you know, and forever, really, and set the business on a new path. I mean, Learfield has incredible leadership, and one thing that they do is they care. People can't people really have to say that? I mean, I think you've had Ben on this podcast. I mean, they really do care about their people and about the organization. And ANC was their people. I mean, it was a company underneath them, but it was, you know, the staff was their staff, and they. They wanted it to be in a. In a place that. That best fit for that staff. And so were able to transact and buy the business back. So it was nice. It was great.

19:33

Jerry Cifarelli

Worked out for everybody. And I couldn't be more thankful for being lucky and having that timing and, you know, Cole and Ben and the. And the team at Learfield for. For giving me the opportunity.

19:44

Dave Almy

Did it surprise you a little bit when the transaction started to become real? Did you think, oh, my gosh, I can't believe this is happening? I mean, you talk about luck and, you know, people say what you want about luck, Right. It's the harder. The harder you prepare, the luckier you get type stuff. But, I mean, I'm wondering if it was something that sort of felt like a culmination for you or it's something like, okay, well, let's do this again.

20:08

Jerry Cifarelli

I would say I don't think I was as surprised as probably a lot of employees that worked here at the time were probably like, oh, my gosh. What? You know, I. You know, I just. Yeah, like I said, I kind of grew up in the entertainment industry. I grew up in the sports business. I knew a lot of people and still, you know, and really value a lot of those relationships. So I felt that if, you know, I did right by everybody and did the right thing, good things would happen. So, you know, I feel that I was. I wasn't surprised, but I also wasn't planning on it. Right. You know, this wasn't like, I was planning on buying nc. I thought I was going to run my little shop for a little bit.

20:48

Dave Almy

Yeah.

20:48

Jerry Cifarelli

Who knows? But when opportunity strikes, the opportunity strikes. And I was in the right place, right time, and off went. And it's been. We've been running ever since.

20:59

Dave Almy

No, I don't doubt that. So let's talk about running for a second, because as you look at these next few chapters for anc, it's, you know, it's back in your hands. You've got, you know, your hands on the throttle. It's a competitive business. What are you most excited about for anc? And as you look to how sports and entertainment is evolving and what you want ANC's role to be in that evolution, what's got you fired up?

21:27

Jerry Cifarelli

Yeah, I think really what's got me fired up is our models resonating. You know, as I said, ANC has been put. You know, we talked about a bunch of signage installations and so forth, but we're not a manufacturer. We don't build our products right. So we're. We're not. We're not judged on the product out the door. We compete with Daktronics, who's really judged by the product that leaves their factory. We provide a solution for our customers. We work with the best manufacturers to install products for that specific application. We service it with our own people. We have our own software platform, and we have an advertising division that brings revenue back to those teams that we partner with through media rights deals that we do through our TV visible signage deals, through our classic corporate sponsorship, brand representation business.

22:19

Jerry Cifarelli

So I think that's really resonating right now, and we're doing a lot of deals that include all four of those verticals in one. So I'm really excited about that. I'm really excited about being the best company that people want to work with and that people want to work for. And I think that we are there. I think we're very close, and I think each one of our divisions is really doing a great job. And so we're kind of owning our lane right now. And, you know, who knows where. Where this is going to take us? But right now, this, I'm excited about delivering. You know, my focus is delivering for our people and for our partners, for our shareholders, and for most importantly, you know, for our clients.

23:04

Dave Almy

I'm with Jerry Cifarelli. He's the president and CEO of anc. Jerry, I want to thank you for the time today, but before I let you go, I got to throw you into the lightning round. I got a series of questions for you. There's really just no way to prepare for them. So what I'm going to do is I'm just going to throw them out there and just give me the first thing that comes to your mind in the lighting round. Are you ready?

23:24

Jerry Cifarelli

I'm ready.

23:26

Dave Almy

That was not confidence and stuff.

23:28

Jerry Cifarelli

My wife always tells me I got to think before I talk.

23:30

Dave Almy

So that's not the goal of the lightning round. This is a mouth moves brain accent later. Here we go.

23:36

Jerry Cifarelli

First question. Not good for me.

23:38

Dave Almy

mpionships, their first since: 2009

23:52

Jerry Cifarelli

Congrats. Couldn't be more happy. I think it's winooski. Vermont is finally delivering a championship, which is great.

24:00

Dave Almy

You gotta love it. Go Purple Knights. As discussed, you began your career at Fenway Sports Group, the ownership group that includes the Boston Red Sox. You're a big Red Sox fan. As a fan who spent a lot of time at the stadium, can you tell me what it smells like inside the Green Monster? Hard to put into words.

24:19

Jerry Cifarelli

Yes, It's. It's a slice of heaven in there, I guess.

24:24

Dave Almy

I guess, depending on your definition.

24:29

Jerry Cifarelli

Smells like dirt.

24:29

Dave Almy

You know it smells like dirt. Exactly. Good point. How did you celebrate reacquiring ANC from Learfield? What did you have for dinner that night?

24:39

Jerry Cifarelli

I had a very nice bottle of wine. Probably didn't eat much dinner. We enjoyed the whole bottle.

24:45

Dave Almy

Very point. You had a liquid celebration.

24:47

Jerry Cifarelli

Yes, exactly.

24:49

Dave Almy

Last and certainly not least, what's your dream video board placement idea? If you could place one of your boards anywhere, where would it be?

24:59

Jerry Cifarelli

In my backyard. Be nice to have a big. It'd be nice to watch golf on a. On a Sunday in the summer board. I think that'd be pretty.

25:11

Dave Almy

Jerry Cifarelli, thanks for the time today. I appreciate it.

25:14

Jerry Cifarelli

Thank you, man.