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1st QUARTER 2014
cluding payroll, general ledger, accounts payable,
accounts receivable, event reporting, and box office
—was developed for the new venue. Before, the
Nets had been renters. Now the team and the arena
share ownership, so the facility and its enterprise
systems had to be state-of-the-art.
But Mierswa, far from finding that challenge
daunting, says he was intrigued by it. “I was in-
volved [in the details of that ultimate move] from
the moment I joined the Nets, which is going on
nine years now. In the early years it was about set-
ting the stage for what was to come,” he says. He
was already familiar with the venue business, having
been CFO of Live Nation’s U.S. Music Division,
known as the largest concert promoter and a venue
operator. He foresaw that once the Nets were in
their new arena, he’d be doing something he knew
how to do very well: getting people into their seats
and giving them a thrilling experience, he says.
Mierswa’s biggest worry in the heady days that
preceded the first regular-season NBA game at Bar-
clays Center, with the Nets facing the Toronto Rap-
tors, Nov. 3, 2012, was “facing the unknown. I had
to make 18,000 people comfortable in a place that I
hardly knew myself,” he says. It wasn’t just a matter
of making sure fans got to their sections, rows, and
seats with their sense of anticipation undaunted.
Some seating features individual TV screens. If the
TV wasn’t working, the fix had to quickly be done
by experts, given Barclays Center’s sophisticated
technology, and quick.
Data Analytics and Collapsible
Corporations
The Brooklyn Nets’ majority owner is Moscow-
based businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, with 80
percent; 20 percent ownership is retained by Bruce
Ratner, whose Forest City Ratner Companies is the
developer of Atlantic Yards and Barclays Center.
Barclays Center is owned 55 percent by Ratner
and 45 percent by Prokhorov. Mierswa spends
approximately half his time working for the sports
franchise, where “I’ve got the big player salaries to
worry about,” and approximately half dealing with
the issues and concerns of the arena, which has
more than twice as many employees.
Having two large ownership groups necessitates
detailed reporting. And it seems no detail is too
small for Mierswa’s attention. Analytics have helped
Barclays Center management to get a handle on
all sorts of particulars that make the difference be-
tween a smooth-running or bumpy fan experience.
For example, the major way that Brooklyn Nets
fans come to a game is by subway. Eleven subways
provide access either directly to the arena or within
a couple of blocks. The arena uses time tracking
to predict and improve the flow of people arriving
this way. The fact that subway riders can time their
arrival pretty accurately (the Nets website provides
handy data on travel times) means “our patrons
tend to come at the very last minute — close to
tip for a basketball game,” says Mierswa, and that’s
a different rhythm from the patterns of those who
come by car and have to worry about traffic tie-ups
and finding parking. “We’ll get this surge about 15
minutes before the tip and the crowd just hits us.”
The number of ticket-takers, the roles of security
personnel, the amount of hot food available from
concessionaires are all affected. Instead of control-
ling the entering crowds by channeling them toward
the nearest doors, one adjustment Mierswa and the
operations people have made is to let the wisdom of
the crowds prevail to find paths of least resistance.
A few feet inside, walk-through electronic metal de-
tectors took the place of security staff using wands,
because walk-through is faster than wanding.
Also, after they’ve shown their tickets, the fans
can turn to the left or the right. Mierswa says that 65
to 70 percent of people entering Barclays Center go
Charlie Mierswa, shown here with Nets Guard Joe Johnson, has been a fan since seventh grade
WORLD
OF
SPORTS
USING SALES
ANALYTICS,
BARCLAYS CENTER
HAS IMPROVED
TRAFFIC FLOW SO
THAT 1,000 MORE
PEOPLE EVERY 15
MINUTES COME
THROUGH
SECURITY AND
GET TO THEIR
SEATS
