Podcast Alert: Amy Latimer – TD Garden
Amy Latimer is the President of TD Garden, home to the NHL’s Boston Bruins and NBA’s Boston Celtics. After successful seasons for both teams in 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down live events, and pro sports venues were among the hardest hit.
On this week’s episode, Amy joins AJ to discuss how she was able to overcome the challenges of 2020, and how TD Garden’s business emerged from the shutdown stronger than ever. They elaborate on the future of live sports, including mobile betting in venues, and new forms of fan engagement.
Amy also highlights the innovations, mindset, and hard work that got her to this point in her career.
Transcript
+^Amy Latimer: [00:00:00] You certainly see the great breakthroughs of women in coaching and GM positions, and it is certainly coming through in business, right? It is. I see it over my 25 years in this space. It is certainly better but, it’s not there yet. There are plenty of good women out there. There are plenty of people for these positions, but we need the men in the room to hear from these women and to hear best practices and believe that that diversity of their team is what’s best for their business.
AJ Maestas: Hello and welcome to the Navigating Sports Business Podcast. I’m your host, AJ Maestas, founder of Navigate a data-driven [00:01:00] consulting firm, guiding major strategies and decisions in sports and entertainment. We started this podcast hoping to share the interesting stories and experiences of the amazing people we get to work with at Navigate.
And even though they’re visionaries and famous, in many instances, their true stories aren’t often heard since they’re not on the playing field. Our hope is you get to know them better and learn from them as we have.
Today I’m happy to be joined by Amy Latimer, the President of TD Garden, and so many other things in your career and life. Thank you, Amy, for joining me.
Amy Latimer: AJ, thanks for having me.
AJ Maestas: Yeah, I’m really grateful you shared your time. Can only imagine how much you have going on right now between the clubs and the, the arena and all that stuff. In fact, if you don’t mind jumping right in and sharing, I’d love to hear how you got through all this, how you’re putting Covid in the rear view mirror.
Amy Latimer: Yeah. Well, I’d say it’s not quite there yet, but it’s getting there, right? So this was a year that certainly we didn’t expect, couldn’t prepare for. [00:02:00] I’m a big start, stop, and continue person and to be able to look back and say, what are the things that we learned that we should start doing? Right? And then that’s everything from, you know, the flexibility in our office space now, and even these Zoom calls and things where it makes sense and, and that work-life balance a little bit.
What are the things that we need to stop doing because they didn’t bring value, wasn’t good for our culture, but you might have just kept doing because that’s, you never had the opportunity to pause. Right? And to pause and really look at what you’re actually doing and you just don’t get that. I, I don’t know that anybody ever gets that.
So if I’m optimistic about this, to sort of stop and re-evaluate was, was really important. And then there were some things that we were probably doing that just needed some adjustment, and that’s sort of the continue- piece. So it, it became actually a part of our plan discussion for ’21 that I added it to our, our discussion so our team could get behind those things going forward.
So, you know, I’m also fortunate I’ve got great ownership and, and great people I’m surrounded by. My team was [00:03:00] fantastic during all this.
AJ Maestas: I’d love for you to share some of those things honestly. I mean, I’ve always thought of you as being progressive. I’d love for you to put a timestamp on this, but I think you, you took a look at digital and CRM practices in all those years.
You know that you’re heading up sales and marketing for not just the arena, but the Bruins and even Delaware North. I, I’d love for you to revisit history and, and remind me how long ago that was. Cause I always underestimate how long ago something was, but I remember you being ahead of everybody and then, I’d love for you to predict the next one.
Like what, what is the next thing, that, you all are investing in?
Amy Latimer: Yeah. Well, I think right now we’re just reinvesting and bringing back our business better than it was before. Right? Look, there’s these you know, some of the technologies and some of the, the nice to have some, you know, there’s some technology that got us through, right?
Just again, sort of how we connected with people and, and how we talked to our fans. You know, something to really, I think another benefit coming out of this was I think we thought we knew our fans. I think we knew them, you [00:04:00] know pretty well, I think now you know ’em really well. Like you have been through something with them, you’ve talked to them, you had stops and starts about the seasons and the bubble and, and what were happening with events and you know, when and when.
And now we finally know Massachusetts that we’re gonna have 12% of fans coming back in March and I think that’s a gift. I think our sponsors, I think our season ticket holders, our, our Boston Garden Society clients like that is another, I’ll say gift coming out of all this as as those strengthened relationships.
And the what’s next? I think we look at things a little more discerningly maybe than we did before. We were very fortunate, you know, we just did this a hundred million dollar investment that we were finishing up. We’ve had two high performing teams, like we were riding high 2019, you know? Over 40 concerts. It was really fantastic.
It’s humbling and it makes you think about how you rebuild your team and the things that you wanna do going forward, and you know, what does that look like? How we come out of this? We should come out of this better. [00:05:00]
AJ Maestas: Everyone’s talking about touchless, digital ticketing, maybe subscription based models, right? Or membership based models. Is there anything that we can see in the Celtics or the Bruins or the arena that we wouldn’t have guessed or recognized? You know, just a year ago?
Amy Latimer: Yeah. Well, a year ago we were supposed to actually open up our, “just walk out” technology with two marketplaces, right? We would’ve been, you know, it was literally last March.
It’s the Amazon technology, walking in, you know, scan your Amazon app or dip your credit card, go in, pick your items and walk right out. That we were so excited about and because of the, the work that we just did in the expansion, we were already touchless in most areas. Our digital ticketing was at 85%. Our cash reduction program we put in three years ago, we were like 87%.
So I would love to tell you that we were that smart, that we were preparing for all of these things. We just thought those were the trends where things were going. Now they’re almost [00:06:00] mandatory coming out of this, right, including our HVAC, which you never would have expected, would be so critical.
AJ Maestas: Yeah, right. Clean air. Well, I, I would love for you to compare it, I mean my notes and I, it’s so weird when I think about all our history together, the National Sports Forum, right. And all these other cities, you lose track of time. But I’m pretty sure I met you in 2003 in Chicago. You can correct me if I’m wrong.
Amy Latimer: No, you’re accurate.
AJ Maestas: —at the National Sports Forum.
Amy Latimer: Yes.
AJ Maestas: Okay. It’s weird cuz then you, you do the math and that’s 18 years ago. And then I think, how could that even be possible? But it is, you were a part of the executive team that opened this building right? In 1995. Yes. And you operate other buildings, Wembley being the biggest, most famous probably in London, but you’re working for an owner operator, right?
That has buildings that operates arenas, food service, beverage, et cetera. I’d love with that context in mind that we’re not just talking about, you know, TD Garden in, in Boston. Like how is it different? I mean, you’re in the same building. There was a renovation in, let’s see, in 2015, you just put a hundred million into the building and you’re [00:07:00] dealing with all these other buildings.
So I think this is super helpful, right? Because I, I don’t think a lot of people know about that, that all that stuff is under your purview and not a lot of people have multiple arenas or venues or stadiums, right, that they’re managing against. So you mentioned before we went live on air here, you know, everything from sprays to HVAC, et cetera.
What is the stuff that I might find interesting? You know, what is the stuff that, you know, I might not know about that is, that was meaningful and significant?
Amy Latimer: Sure. Yeah. So I would say, and, and, and sort of really I would say really from a food and beverage perspective, cuz that’s the, that’s the relationship we have at, you know, Wembley and the Olympic Stadium and a number of, you know, baseball, football, and other arenas in the U.S. right now.
It’s a transformation. Right. This is, this is, you know, I’ll, I’ll give you one not to be, continue to feel like I’m being overly optimistic, but who knew that the QR code was gonna be, you know, so well adopted, right? And it’s everywhere and it’s everyone in every age and people have been trying to, you know, to pull that technology together. Even mobile order, which I feel like personally, I [00:08:00] feel like we have stopped and started and tried mobile ordering 10 different times and it didn’t really stick. Now, mobile ordering across, it’s just expected. So I’d say there’s new service delivery. You know, for right now there’s new product delivery in the way things are being packaged and managed and I don’t know what of that stays, right?
So there’s some of these things that are sort the short-term that that’s what you need and you know what happens at the end of this year in ’22 to be determined. I think honestly there’s a refocus on maybe back to what’s really important and the basics for people, right? So, and I’ve done this myself, even in the food space, over-engineered, you have to have everything for everybody and the fancy of this and that.
And at the end of the day, I think people want good quality, at a good price, with good service. So the fact that we are, you know, a lot of buildings and, and baseball and everybody’s gonna reopen up with probably limited menus and limited service styles because we’re so grateful to get back to sports, we’re fine.
If there’s four [00:09:00] items on the menu board right now, I think it’s making sure you get that really right. So I think that’s a bit of a trend. I’ll be curious to see how everyone comes out of that. Right. Forced to do it, but then what do you stay with and, and how do you manage it going forward?
AJ Maestas: You mentioned the Amazon style shopping, like touchless shopping, right? No transaction for cash, et cetera. It was already gonna be in the arena. I mean, I’m trying to think of, something that would help people who listen to this, like what vendors stood out, because I think a lot of people have had fits and starts with, remote ordering from your seat, from touchless tech, digital ticketing, you know, all these things, right? And I mean, if someone really shined in helping you convert the building, I’d love to hear about them.
Amy Latimer: Yeah, so I think, you know, Venuetize did a fantastic job in helping us with our mobile strategy and getting mobile ordering up and, all of those things. It just connects the building, right?
Because now you’re, you’re mobile first experience, right? It is. Mobile is everything [00:10:00] now, and we’ve all been dying to get there, right? And I think everybody was, we all wanted to get there maybe before, for identity, right? And identity is a part of it. Everybody’s been elusively chasing that, I need to know every person and everything about ’em.
This also forced probably a better guest experience and there’s a balance between the both. I think, you know, the relationship with Amazon, fantastic. You know, took a chance. Put in two new marketplaces in our building, and you’ve seen other people now. So you see Seattle is gonna have the technology, and MasterCard has one that we’re, you know, that we’re working with some of the arenas, it’s a little bit more mobile. That’s the expectation going forward, and that’s how people are gonna shop, and they expect that same technology and experience in the arenas.
AJ Maestas: Yeah, well I’m, a little bit of an efficiency nerd, so I love it.
Amy Latimer: I’m an early adopter. I love to try some of those things, and I’m not great at all of it, but I, it’s, it’s fun.
And you like to—
AJ Maestas: I’m not normal. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is fun. It’s unbelievable [00:11:00] too. There’s some trust in there, but, but I’m not a early adopter at all, but, but this stuff. I just love that sort of seamless transaction and we actually did a really cool study a couple years ago on all different kinds of venues and arenas and stadiums and looking for, you know, ways to improve the total fan experience and what people self-report and claim versus what, you know, you see in their body.
We had all this biometric feedback in these vests we had people wear. It was really related to some of those sort of, you know, sticky points in the driveway to driveway experience, traffic, transit, parking. You know, there’s a lot of things that make it difficult, let’s say, to take a family of four or whatever, you know, to an arena 41 times a year, right?
To watch the Bruins play. Yeah. I do believe these are, these were necessary and we weren’t really listening. You know, maybe there wasn’t the depth of research that really understood what held people back from attending. Cuz you’re in some pretty real competition with mobile devices. Right? The mobile experience and staying home and I worry sometimes what VR might do, right?
Amy Latimer: Yeah. Oh right. And those pinch points are important to people. I’ll give you [00:12:00] another example, like obviously with lower attendance, concession lines are lower, right? So people can get their food faster. The per caps are going up because of it, right? So people are buying more.
They’re, because they, they can get through the line, and you hate to say that, you just expect to stand in line when you go to a sporting event for food and beverage, a long line most of the time, and for restrooms. Well, what should we do as you know, and we call it, you know, street to seat as part of that guest journey.
That is not something now that we shouldn’t accept and how we should have to adjust, and there’s numbers that prove that it’s a better experience for everybody. You know, that’s one of those, one of those lessons learned.
AJ Maestas: Even worse than those lines is the perception. This is one of the things that came outta that study I was just telling you about.
People’s perceived wait is longer than their actual wait. A lot and, and then of course if you can hear the game, it reduces. If you can see the game, you know, TV or otherwise in concourse it reduces, but the worst part is you’re fighting worse than just reality. [00:13:00] It’s the perception, you know?
Amy Latimer: But now we have the numbers to back it up. We did the food and beverage for the World Series. Totally different experience, different, you know, great lessons learned and that’s, you know, one example.
AJ Maestas: Okay. Yeah. Very cool. I’ve heard you talk a lot about, mobile betting. We are actually putting out a research series right now on just, you know, sort of what we’re seeing in the marketplace as far as, gambling and sports and things along those lines.
So, do you mind predicting a future for us on what it’s gonna look like in your arena or just in our industry overall? No pressure.
Amy Latimer: Yeah. Well, I’d love to say that we have it in Massachusetts. We do not yet. I think that’ll, it’ll come shortly. A lot of good work. Look, this is another touchpoint for, to be connected with our fans, right?
Again, it’ll be mobile. I think we all have to be prepared to be able to satisfy that. Now, you know, we were all putting in all this wifi and all this infrastructure really for social media before, right? That’s, that’s really what, most of that use was in the arenas. Now, now, You know, from an infrastructure standpoint, we’ll have to support it.
But from the fan engagement [00:14:00] standpoint, now, I, I don’t know how, it’s not part of that experience going forward, whether they’re, you know, again, I, I think it’ll be mobile first and probably less of the bricks and mortar, or special locations. There’ll be some to support it braving for that content, and, and being able to, to leverage it is what, you know, the teams are very fortunate to have a lot of content.
But how to use that for engagement and, and certainly there’s a great financial windfall potentially depending on what state you’re in and how they regulate it or how it works, and those partnerships. So I only see. I see upside.
AJ Maestas: Well, I, I do too. The, the ESPN has probably been our most progressive client over our history, and, and this is seven roughly years ago.
They, they were sponsoring research with us to look into how that impacted fandom. And it was incredible. It was really incredible to see fantasy football had the same impact or similar impact, but the cross team engagement, when your team’s out of it, you know, you’re not chasing the playoffs or. You know, cross market [00:15:00] viewing, which creates a lot of new media products that could be there.
But yeah, I mean, the stickiness is undeniable. Someone bets on a game, even a low value wager, you know, their likelihood to be engaged, pay attention, follow, et cetera. So yeah, I mean, assuming it’s coming to Massachusetts, I think it’s fair to say that it’s gonna be there real soon. You have someone in your backyard, right?
It’s, pretty core to their future in business, which we have the good fortune of working with those guys. Will you immediately have a DraftKing deal? Will you immediately, will there be mobile gaming? Are you willing to predict or does that just get you in too much political trouble?
Amy Latimer: No, I’m, I’m not, I’m just saying I think we’ll have some, some good partners going forward. I’ll leave it at that.
AJ Maestas: Ah, no fun. No fun at all. That’s okay though. I understand. I understand. We have to do that. I credit to Ron Seaver for always having you engaged in the leadership and direction of the National Sports Forum with speakers and on the board and all that kind of stuff, but that’s abnormal.
And Title IX is 50 years old, so for 50 years, as many women have been graduating college, having been an athlete. You know, at the collegiate level [00:16:00] and our industry isn’t led by women. It’s not even close. I would love to know, and especially I look at all your service, so you do a lot of service around women in sport and a ton of cause-based work.
You’re on a bunch of boards there in Boston. What, what’s going on? I’d love for you to diagnose why we’re here and even better, I’d love for you to ask for what would change that?
Amy Latimer: Sure. Yeah. Well, first of all, I think Ron, I think Ron’s a special person and I think Ron knew diversity of background and people made for best, the best board right?
To, to, to cover all aspects of it, and I’ll tell you, I remember going to my first sports forum. I think the first one I went to might have been in Pittsburgh, and at the time there were two women that went into the general session that were not vendors and he, I think he recognized that and quickly turned that around.
So I do think things are better, right? You sort of see the great breakthroughs of women in coaching and, and GM positions and it is certainly coming through in business, right? It is. I see it over my 25 years in this [00:17:00] space. It is certainly better, but it’s, it’s not there yet. I think because there are plenty of good women out there, there are plenty of people for these positions.
We need to do a better job of connecting. Sometimes it’s not the women that are doing the hiring. Right. And there’s a lot of women’s groups, and this might be my personal, you know, thing. There’s a lot of great women’s groups out there that talk to a lot of great women that give advice and everything else.
But we need the men in the room, right? To hear from these women and to hear best practices and believe that, that diversity of their team is what’s best for their business. And there’s numbers and there’s stats and everything, behind that, so like I said, as much as it’s getting better, you know, we’re not there yet because we don’t have enough of a pipeline and enough, you know, women in those positions yet.
AJ Maestas: You know that this is the nerdy stuff that Navigate does, right? These like multi-varied analyses and stuff. And so certainly there’s not like one reason, but if I’m hearing you right, you, you see one of the key pinch points or bottlenecks as you described it, is as being women in the hiring position. [00:18:00] So is it fair to say you see systemic sexism that that prevents women at that final step from getting the interviewer being hired, but you also mentioned the funnel, right? Of talent that’s like waiting and ready.
Amy Latimer: And well, I think the funnel has gotten better, right? Because in all fairness, you can’t blame somebody for not hiring if there’s not enough of a funnel. And I think now there’s enough women that see women in these positions and from, from everything, right? From the sports, from, from all different aspects of the sports.
So I think the funnel is, is certainly there. I think that there’s still some, a little bit of old guard left over and I think that’ll, that’ll start to turn. Soon. I think some people are, or some organizations focus on it and better. And I don’t think it’s just gender diversity. I think it’s racial diversity. I think there’s a whole host of things that our organ at sports could do, has got to be more thoughtful about.
AJ Maestas: Just to affirm some of your opinions there. Or maybe that’s based on, you know, real, real experience in data. But, there there’s a big unconscious bias challenge, you know, in hiring that I think a lot of people err on the [00:19:00] side of, interviews and, how they feel, you know, and your gut instinct is littered with all these biases, not all of which, you know, you realize and can identify. So there’s no question. Someone sits across from you and they look like you and they went to your universities, you know, and they have a life path like you, and you apply, you know, sort of you to them and assume they’re, they’re gonna do the job as you wish they would or, or what have you.
And there’s really good data on, on the benefits of diversity. The Sports Business Journal does a really good job at the Thought Leaders Summit of, you know, bringing in different perspectives that you don’t see very often in sports and sports conferences and such. But that’s tough because those that own the teams and, I’m doing an interview with, Kim Pegula later this week, so that’ll be really cool. Owner of the Bills and Sabres and very rare to have a woman owning and operating, right?
Amy Latimer: Yeah, she’s our client, as well. Well, I think the other thing is too, you know, there’s women from other industries. You know, can, can transition too. Like sports is very much about hiring sports. Like, and, and you know, there’s probably some diversity of thought to [00:20:00] a background that might help get some, some other people candidacy. So something else to consider.
AJ Maestas: True. True. Sometimes I feel like I’m being overly skeptical and I’m not trying to just to, you know, be controversial, but, but I think we all think we’re really good at fan experience and I don’t think we are, you know, I think we’re, think we’re really good at loyalty.
It’s because they’re, passionate fans, you know, like we aren’t running really good loyalty programs, right? We aren’t progressive, in my opinion. You know, if you look at the companies that are the best in the world at hospitality, we don’t compare to that at all. Just people are tolerant of our cold facilities or slow customer service or long lines because they’re that interested in the product. Right. On the court or ice or field?
Amy Latimer: No, no. It’s not even close. That’s why, you know, fans, fanatics is the right word, right? Because they love the team, they love the, that experience. And you’re right, there’s some of those things that, you know, probably guilty that, that you don’t, if, if your team’s doing well, you maybe don’t have to work as hard at some things, right?
But nobody loves. You know, I [00:21:00] shouldn’t say nobody loves casinos. I shouldn’t say that, but there’s not necessarily maybe that same passion and look at the work that the gaming industry does or some others that do that, you know, might have to work a little harder sometimes, than we do.
AJ Maestas: Yeah, yeah, yeah, no question. In my opinion. The example, we use often when we’re talking with clients is the airline industry. Municipal ran airports and, airline industry that gets bailed out on each, you know, economic cycle by the government. And, I don’t think anybody talks about how great the flying in airport experience is, but they have accelerated lanes and curbside check-in and, you know what I mean?
They were mobile, right before us. And it’s, it’s, in my mind, it’s embarrassing of an industry that can’t keep itself profitable during any sign of economic downturn. Is that far?
Amy Latimer: They have better lobbyists. AJ, they’re much better. Obvious. That’s why they, that’s why they get bail out.
AJ Maestas: No question. No question, but, but, needing to be bailed out every economic downturn cycle would say, okay, they’re not, they’re not run that well as businesses. Right. And, and yet, you know, they were at least 10 years [00:22:00] ahead of us. Right. And that touched this experience and, and the egress and regress of traffic and flow. When you count all the security challenges and all that, it just, it’s a dumb example, but the point is to think that what is it like to walk into a sporting venue and get your seat and all that kind of stuff, and, Are we treating each tier appropriately?
And anyway, I agree with you very much. We, we’ll see what, what’s next for you? You don’t have anything to prove. You have 25 years of the same organization. How do you wake up energized and excited, you know, where are you growing?
Amy Latimer: Sure. Well, first of all, I, I love my job. And it has changed, I think this last year, was hard. Right. And it made, as I said, you know, re-think and, and re-evaluate. You know what? What’s great about working for Delaware North and the Jacobs family has been fantastic to me. I started as the Director of Marketing, right in ’95, or opening the building as a consultant in ’95, and then Director of Marketing and been in this role for some time, and I’ve just taken on our role as Chief Growth Officer for Delaware [00:23:00] North, in the fall, so I’m helping our other business.
AJ Maestas: Congratulations.
Amy Latimer: Thank you. Thank you. So I always feel like they’re good. You know, there’s a good stretch and good challenge. I had the UK for a couple years now. I’m helping our travel hospitality, our gaming division, our parks division, our Tina restaurants, our and sports service on, you know, what their, what does the growth now look like coming out of this?
So, I’m, I’m really fortunate because those are all businesses that I’ve had. Some experience in, but now I’m really in and it’s good for me. I’m not done. Yeah, I’ve been in 25 years, but I feel like every couple of years there’s something that I get to do and get to tackle that, is really exciting and really re-energizing.
AJ Maestas: Cool. I’m so glad to hear that. That’s great. Do you still get to work with Rick Abrahamson? I loved him. He’s so fun. Is he still—
Amy Latimer: Yeah.
AJ Maestas: Day to day?
Amy Latimer: So he’s, he’s retired, he’s still consulting. He’s been a, a great mentor and, and leader and, and I talk to him quite often. And I’ll, I’ll tell him you said hello, but he’s [00:24:00] wonderful, man.
AJ Maestas: Please do. Yeah, please do. Yeah, I’m, I’m waiting for that day that I end up with time in Boston or upstate New York, you know, and I’m near you all and we can all have like a, a real dinner, not, not a, you know, not a conference dinner where, you know, people come in and out constantly. If I could go back to the women in sports for just one second, I would love your advice on, I mean, 26 years ago, Amy, it’s so crazy to think about, but if there were a young lady on that, in that moment, right?
You know, director level, right? And she’s trying to map out her career to look like yours because there are. Really, I think there’s less than a handful of women in sports that have that path, have that sustained success, and are at the top of a sports organization. What advice could you, being as frank as possible, what would you tell that young lady?
What, what did you do that got you there that you can pass on?
Amy Latimer: Yeah. So AJ, I look back and because I’ve thought about this and, and I, and I certainly like to talk to a lot of young women about, you know, a career and, and this, this advice for me [00:25:00] doesn’t necessarily have to be about sports. It can be for anything, I believe if you’ve got about 70% of what the job, this next, you know, your next opportunity looks like. Then you raise your hand and you go for it. And I think a lot of people are worried about, I need to have everything or I need to have it all figured out. And I don’t believe in that at all. I feel like I’m a total product of I got thrown into something and I probably had 50% of the knowledge or understanding about the job.
AJ Maestas: Yeah.
Amy Latimer: And either raised my hand or was asked to do something and, you figure it out, right? Like you surround yourself with good people, you learn you stretch. And once you do that once, then it makes it easier to do it the next time. And look, it’s risky, but we have, you gotta take a little bit of risk.
And I think raising your hand, going for a position that you might, I would say my last seven positions were probably over my head, but it was, you know, and I, I say that because I think at the time I might not have been the ideal or a hundred percent, you know, perfect on paper candidate, but I think that’s what makes it even better, that [00:26:00] you get to get into the role and.
And re-evaluate. And I, I do think people are a little cautious about that. And I also believe that you can have wonderful mentors and, and wonderful people that are looking out for your career, but it ultimately, it’s your responsibility, right? Is a hundred percent you to sorta to figure that out. So I would say taking that, that risk and, and putting yourself in a position to be stretched to me is the best way to move up.
AJ Maestas: And you were qualified or ready because you did rise to the occasion and you thrived right? So, you know, have you read Lean In by any chance?
Amy Latimer: Yes.
AJ Maestas: It, it reminds me, and I’m sure you’re thinking of it right now, parts of that book for those who are listening and have not read it about the, my memory was, you know, they, they talk about women patiently waiting to be noticed and, and, and elevated. And the example she used in the book was waiting for a tiara to be placed on your head. You know, and everyone has celebrate you.
Amy Latimer: Nobody’s never gonna give it to you. That’s why I said nobody’s gonna walk in your office and be like, I think you should, or you should, or walk into your cubacle it’s never, it just doesn’t happen [00:27:00] because you know they’re doing their work. Right. And that, to me, that’s your career. Is part of your work, part of your journey.
AJ Maestas: Well, in that same book, she compares men to women where men are vastly underqualified for a position and aggressively pursuing it, right? Like very much believe that this is a position they’re worthy of, even though the years and experience and whatever it is that the qualifications.
And can you imagine, I mean, you can see how that played out. Time and time again, completely changes some trajectory at each step, right? At each next promotion. I’m glad you brought that up. Because as I mentioned before, let’s say you’re doing research on this, the nerdy kind of stuff that we do at Navigate, you would look at all factors.
You would look at sexism or racism or whatever it might be that you know is holding back our industry from representing the world we live in, in the country we live in. And then you’d look at the choices each, you know, how is the hiring process completed, et cetera, et cetera. We do a bunch of psych assessments.
You know, we do a bunch of things that are meant to remove bias from the process, you know, to objectively look at somebody. One of that is a great deal of reference checks. With people who’ve, you know, been on [00:28:00] that career journey with the person you’re considering. So see them through the eyes of someone on a, on a random Tuesday as opposed to interview day.
And then the assessments are just to get a feel for what is a natural fit. You know, you’re not trying to filter people, but, but instead of everyone using their gut instinct based on an in-person interview, you know, truly saying, here’s how we define the job and here’s what, uh, skills and natural strengths, you know, appear in this person’s character type.
And it’s still not easy. You know, we’re not near as diverse as we’d like to be at Navigate at all, and we put great effort in from the beginning of the sales funnel, right to the end of the process, trying to eliminate those things that I agree with you, you know, lead to these sort of disparities. It’s not easy.
Amy Latimer: No, and I think the data does, you know, a couple things as you, no one knows better than you. That one, it helps, as, as you just mentioned. I think secondarily, there are opportunities and, and we use this, you know, with candidates for positions, understanding a little bit where, and, and, you know, do this testing in advance, like where their strengths are, where their decisions lie. It’s not a, it’s not a right or wrong, but it [00:29:00] understands, it helps you understand and match back people’s processes and their tendencies related. I think it’s just another data point, right.
AJ Maestas: Exactly. Left without that data, we will rely on our gut, you know?
Amy Latimer: Yeah.
AJ Maestas: We’ll, we’ll tell us. We have this feeling.
Amy Latimer: Right. And back to your point, I will tell you that, and, and I, I used to be better about it, but I, you know, lot fair amount of information on interviews, talked to men and women, and finally, after a while, and some of them went and I’m not gonna say all, but the majority of women at the end of it, they were so great and thanked me in the whole nine yards, never asked for anything.
And the guys would ask for the pencil on my desk, right? They would ask for anything. And finally I would stop. And after somebody would thank me, I’m like, that’s great, but, we just shared this time together. You didn’t ask for anything like, you know, do I know of another position somewhere? Do I know somebody at this company or can we LinkedIn or something like, I, I know people have said this a million times, you have to ask for anything, but nobody’s intuitively just gonna give it to you, so we do need to help break that.
You know, it, it seemed to be, the [00:30:00] tendency was with, with me, it was more for the women that were just, they were so gracious and so wonderful, and I love that they thanked me, but doesn’t do anybody any good if they don’t ask for something.
AJ Maestas: For those of us, all of us are a little bit of a fan, but, but for for fans, I would love to know your favorite moments in the history of this building. I assume they’re Bruins moments, but they could be Celtics, it doesn’t matter, could be a concert, but I’d love for you to share some highlights. Those moments you’ll always remember—
Amy Latimer: Sure.
AJ Maestas: From your job.
Amy Latimer: There’s a few, well, the Celtics won there Championship in 2008 in the building. Hard to beat, right? Fantastic night. The Celtics were so gracious. Our team was there because, you know, a different relationship. We don’t own the Celtics, right, but they were, know, fantastic. It’s one of those nights that, and it was the first championship that was won in the building, right? So very special. Wonderful. I would say, you know, the Bruins Stanley Cup run, even though they won, in Vancouver and being there was, unbelievable but the, the games leading up to it. I will tell you a very special moment for [00:31:00] me was, when we actually gave the rings to our associates on the arena floor, and some of them had worked there 40, 50 years and had been, you know, every level of the organization. And the Jacobs Family was so generous. I mean, everyone got a ring and—
AJ Maestas: Wow.
Amy Latimer: The players ring ceremony was the same night, and then some of the players came over to help distribute the rings to our associates.
AJ Maestas: Cool.
Amy Latimer: And it was, it was just so touching to see cuz they’re part of the team. Right. That was fantastic. Look, the concerts, there’s so many concerts in other events. We’ve had Olympic Trials that we’ve gone on to see people win medals for figure skating and, and gymnastics. I’d say we’ve had some concerts. God, U2 always does a fantastic show. I’d love, you know, I’d love to see Springsteen out again, did amazing. Pink is probably one of my favorites because she flies through the air. Like, you know, all women feel like they’re superheros, she actually showed it.
AJ Maestas: Yeah, yeah.
Amy Latimer: I think some of the, my other events had, [00:32:00] had, or I say events, but opportunities. Sorry, my dog.
AJ Maestas: That’s okay. That’s okay. It’s real life.
Amy Latimer: We, you know, the things maybe we get back to, into the community too, right? We distribute about 4,000 backpacks and not just backpacks, but services to kids, dentists, nutritionists have the, you know, police and fire there. Bring their whole families in. Some kids have unfortunately never been into the building and you see them be just light up and be so excited and to feel like, to give them what they need to start back to school and feel like empowered and feel good about it.
That and they get to shoot and on the court and all that good stuff. But that one fills my heart. I want one that we do that I wish we didn’t have to do is. We feed about a thousand of Boston’s homeless right before Thanksgiving. And, and unfortunately those numbers continue to rise. I, happy to do it, but I eventually, I wish we didn’t have to do that one anymore.
So I would say it’s run the gamut. I, I don’t even know there’s been so many AJ that, but, uh, those are probably the highlights.
AJ Maestas: Those are good ones. [00:33:00] And I mean, there’s so much winning going on in Boston. It is a shame the Bruins didn’t win at home. I remember that. And God, it was game seven wasn’t it? In Vancouver?
Amy Latimer: It was, but we were lucky to, you know, it was a battle and we had already had two game seven. So yeah, it was a lot. It was a lot of fun.
AJ Maestas: Yeah.
Amy Latimer: I like winning. I’m not gonna lie. Winnings a lot of fun.
AJ Maestas: It is. It is more fun than losing, that’s for sure. And you should be it. I’m guessing there’s a hell of a lot of competitive spirit in you.
The and you were an athlete. I’m gonna mess up this statistic. I think it was Ernst and Young. They do a lot of stuff around women in sport, which is pretty cool. And, and that’s the basis of some of their Olympic and other investments. But, let’s caveat this. I should be more accurate given it’s what I do for a living.
But my memory was that, 75% of women in the C-suite in the United States played high school sports, and even more extraordinary as about 50% played collegiate sports. A collegiate athlete is, you know, one to 3% of a high school athlete. I mean, you know, just to put the, to compare the two numbers to one another, the idea that even if [00:34:00] it’s half that number that, let’s call it 50% of women in the C-suite played collegiate sports. I, chicken or egg, it doesn’t matter. There’s such a powerful outlier there that indexes so far against norms. You were, you played hoops, right? If I remember correctly.
Amy Latimer: I did. I did. Yeah. Yeah. I played basketball at the University of Rhode Island, and I still play softball to this day, but I pretty much have to hit a double to get to first base cause I’m slow but I, I see it.
Listen, you’ve all heard about what sports does, to prepare you right for this, and I think for women, maybe especially, you know, that is our opportunity that we got to, to work with this team. You know, have a common goal, to take direction, to dedicate yourselves to something. And, and I know other people do it outside of sports, there’s music and, and art.
But that I know that I would not be sitting here today if I didn’t play sports. There’s, I think the confidence, there’s just so many wonderful athletes and that’s why I like to give back to organizations that [00:35:00] help young women get access because I feel so strongly about it. And I have three sons that all play sports. I feel like it, it builds character and I just, I’m, I’m, I’m certainly, I’m a big fan, so yeah.
AJ Maestas: I don’t think it’s a coincidence
Amy Latimer: My day job and my night and weekend job too.
AJ Maestas: Hey, well, yeah. Yeah. You’re a mom too. I know you have three boys. Sometimes you don’t need causation. I’m, I’m now breaking, you know, rules here in the research world, but when it is that closely aligned, I, it doesn’t matter what’s going on, something’s going on, whether it’s those people seek that path or they are molded and shaped that way. Or is those almost always true in the real world? Some combination thereof right.
Amy Latimer: And plus, I don’t know, I just, I think that competitive, I’m, we are crazy competitive. I’m probably off the charts competitive and you need an outlet for that a little bit. So, you know, I think it does apply to your, if you can, if you can satisfy that in your work, which is in sports, I’m not sure I’d be a great accountant. I’m not sure how competitive accounting would be for me. So I think that might be another [00:36:00] draw.
AJ Maestas: Yeah, I don’t think, I don’t think it’s any coincidence, especially as someone who drives revenue. No question. Okay. I have a couple quick hitter questions to wrap up. Just for fun, just little things, just to know you better. If you had unlimited budget in this renovation just as a reminder, you spent a hundred million renovating the arena, interesting timing with Covid, if you had another, let’s say, you know, 20, 30 million, what would you have added on there? What got cut that you wish was a part of?
Amy Latimer: Well, more social spaces we’re really tight building, more places for people to gather outside of, out of the arena. That’s an opportunity. I love, I looked at the craziest scoreboard and game presentation that at the end probably didn’t make a lot of sense and I just think that not to, not to do anything, to take away from the action on the ice.
How do you look to continue to, to bring that forward? And if we’re gonna compete with a couch, then we need game presentation and we need those things that are certainly fantastic. So those are probably some, some big ones and I, I can spend some money. So [00:37:00] that would go those two things. Would that, that’d be gone. That money would be gone.
AJ Maestas: Yeah. I have no problem spending money either, so I get it done too. You mentioned you’re playing softball. I’d love to know more about passions and hobbies. You know, what do you do outside of work?
Amy Latimer: Yeah, so, a little bit of that. And, so I, all three of my sons very fortunate, play, well, one’s graduating, have played sports in college. So going to their games and traveling and, and, now as an empty nester, that’s sort of like my social life. So that’s been, and, and it’s funny, one in football, one in basketball, one lacrosse, so nobody’s in the same sport. So we’ve been, we’ve been covered for the whole year.
AJ Maestas: Oh, that’s cool. That’s very cool. That had to be, so that has to be so fun. I don’t know how you have time for that though, when you consider how busy the arena is.
Amy Latimer: Well, you know what? You have to make time for those things. Especially if, again, lesson learned from last year that, and, and I was, listen, I’m not saving lives at the arena. Right? We’re just trying to make them a little better. So it’s not like the Celtics and the Bruins don’t need me sometimes on game night and if I’m gonna go through [00:38:00] something with my family, that’s more, that’s important. So we make it work.
AJ Maestas: Good. Good for you. That’s a good sign of good leadership and good ownership. Cuz no one, no one below you is going to do that. Right. If you don’t give yourself that space. Yeah. So it’s more than just you and your family, it’s a whole organization.
Amy Latimer: Yeah. Well you have to give them permission. Like you have to almost like tell people you have to go and, and they learn this. Right. Like even right now when we have games without fans, there was this, I know that people’s DNA felt like they had to be there and we actually couldn’t have. We to tell people, unless you had something specific to the game, you really don’t need to be there. It’s okay. And that has changed. That’s a big change because there are, you know, there’s warriors in this business that don’t miss an event.
And even myself, sometimes I go, I walk around the building, I see people, I love talking to the ushers. I love getting people sort of excited about it. Once the game starts, I don’t have a job, I don’t have something I have to do. So there’s some flexibility. Everybody should have that flexibility.
AJ Maestas: [00:39:00] Yeah, I agree. I agree. You know, otherwise you wake up one day, you know, and you gave it all, even though you love your job, right? I mean, it doesn’t feel like work when you love your job. Good for you. I’m really happy to hear that. I mean, it’s no small accomplishment. Okay, last question, I promise. What is the best piece of advice you ever received?
Amy Latimer: At the time I hated it, and then cuz I didn’t understand it, but the, the work smarter not harder because I was one of those people that was like, the warrior felt like had to be, you know? And, I didn’t understand it. I didn’t know what that meant. And I think, I have a greater appreciation for it as I, you know, moved on in my career. Got older, actually wiser.
AJ Maestas: Mm. Ah, smart. Yeah, I thought I was, I thought I was a really good employee, before, starting navigate, because I worked a bunch of hours and you so quickly learn, it was such a gift cuz I was too young in my mind to be, you know, starting Navigate, but the accelerated learning curve because you understand what matters, you know, or to act like an owner, right?
And where your [00:40:00] energy goes. I read a, an interesting book recently. It was, it was called The Accidental Creative, but it was about making space and energy, you know, for those breakthrough moments and, and creative moments in particular, right? That these things do not happen, you know, in their 12th hour of work in a given day.
So yeah, that’s a good one, especially cuz there’s not a lot of people with work-life balance, especially on the team side in sports. So, good for you.
Amy Latimer: And AJ you weren’t too young, it was your time. You just, yeah, I know. But, but look at it now. Like, if you didn’t, where, you know, and, and, and if you wait for the right moment or you wait for the right this, or, you know, that’s the stuff I’m talking about. Like, you just, you can’t wait for that a hundred percent. You gotta. And you did it. Oh my gosh. You totally did it.
AJ Maestas: Boy, you know, there’s a thank you for saying that. If you don’t mind me adding, you know, there is just a lot of luck with timing and you don’t know. We don’t know what we don’t know you, you can’t control these unknown factors.
That is a really good point. Maybe it was the perfect time actually, and what seize the day or fortune favors the brave kind of thing. Like, [00:41:00] but, but it is true sometimes that ignorance is necessary. Cuz yeah, I had a, a few people tell me to do it. A few more people tell me to not start it at that point, you know, mentors and friends.
But there’s uh, some words I very specifically remember where someone sort of pointed out at. You know, next it will be, you know, a mortgage or, starting a family.
Amy Latimer: Yeah.
AJ Maestas: Or you earn too much, you know, so it’s too scary to sort of leave, you know, sort of the cushy. Yeah. So they’re basically, in conclusion, they sort of said there’s never a right time except for right now, so, yeah, good point.
There’s, ooh, I, I feel lucky cuz I was 29 and that was premature, but it worked out. So maybe to your point, maybe that’s exactly when I was supposed to do it. Well, you’re awesome, Amy. You’ve always been such a wonderful friend. You’ve always been so kind and fun and supportive of all our friends in that community, that sort of family we all developed, earlier in our career at the National Sports Forum.
And I’m really grateful that you take time to share your story and share your career here. It’s meaningful, especially given the, the void, the shortage that we have in in [00:42:00] women in leading sports. So I’m really grateful you were willing to have this conversation publicly.
Amy Latimer: Thanks, AJ and I, and I appreciate, you know, even, when I first met, you’ve always been very thoughtful and, and I know you always wanna land on right and, and do the right thing by people.
And, it’s easy to know that, quickly about you. So I trust in, in these conversations because, you’re a good person that wants to make things a little, you know, a little better. So thank you for inviting me. I was so thrilled that you wanted to talk to me, so thank you.
AJ Maestas: Oh, that’s way too kind, but I’ll take it. I love it. That was so awesome of you. Thank you very much, Amy.
Amy Latimer: Thanks, AJ, take care.
If you’d like to join the conversation, email info@nvgt.com or check out our website at nvgt.com. I’m AJ Maestes. Join us again next week for Navigating Sports Business.[00:43:00]