LONG POND, Pa. (March 22, 2016) – Pocono Raceway is expanding its partnership with Spectra by Comcast Spectacor at the 2.5-mile raceway to now include Food Services & Hospitality, according to President & CEO Brandon Igdalsky. Details of the contract were not announced.
As part of the new arrangement, Spectra, which has provided Ticketing & Fan Engagement services to Pocono Raceway since 2007, will oversee all food and beverage at the raceway this summer and will assume concession responsibilities beginning in 2017, Igdalsky said.
Spectra plans to enhance the guest experience with their Everything’s Fresh™ philosophy, which means the freshest, highest quality ingredients that are locally sourced whenever possible and served fresh to guests.
Spectra Food Services & Hospitality operates at more than 140 facilities throughout the United States and Canada including professional raceways, National Football League stadiums, Major League Baseball parks, as well as other sports stadiums, arenas, convention centers, casinos, fairgrounds and cultural facilities. Spectra Food Services & Hospitality operates at the Iowa Speedway, the Portland International Raceway, the O.Co Coliseum, home of the Oakland Raiders and the Oakland Athletics, as well as Everbank Field, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars.
“Spectra is truly a wonderful partner that enables us to enhance our guest experience,” said Igdalsky. “While we are always looking to do more for our fans, we felt food and beverage was an important component of the race experience. Spectra has an outstanding reputation for their quality of food and service. They are the industry experts and will help us maximize opportunities for our guests with incredible offerings.”
“At Spectra, we pride ourselves on transforming events into exciting experiences for our guests,” said Glen Brandeburg, President and COO, Spectra Venue Management and Food Services & Hospitality. “With the addition of our Food Services & Hospitality division at Pocono Raceway, we’re able to create new and exciting opportunities for our clients that ultimately benefit their customers. Pocono Raceway is a terrific partner and we look forward to creating significant wins for our client and their guests.”
The combination of Spectra Food Services & Hospitality and Ticketing & Fan Engagement help to enrich the Pocono Raceway fan experience by offering great package opportunities. For example, Pocono Raceway offers the “Tricky Track Pack” as a family or group experience that includes 4 Sunday grandstand tickets, four hot dogs, and four Coca-Cola products for just $99. This enables fans to seamlessly purchase the “Tricky Track Pack” in advance through the Pocono Raceway ecommerce site, powered by Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement, and get an incredible value and a rich combined live entertainment and concessions experience on race day.
“Spectra has been an amazing partner on the ticketing side of the business and we anticipate the same with food and beverage,” said Igdalsky. “Any time we can make things better for our guests and improve their experience at Pocono Raceway, we want to take advantage of that. Mountain Concessions has been a great partner and we would like to extend our sincerest thanks for all of their incredible service. Famularo Catering, as well, has been great to work with.
“This unbelievable partnership extends far beyond Food Services & Hospitality and Ticketing & Fan Engagement, as Spectra is a part of Comcast,” Igdalsky added. “When you look at what Comcast is able to do as a company, including serving as the entitlement sponsor of a NASCAR XFINITY Series race here in June and their expertise in the live-event space, we have a partner that offers us something that cannot be replicated.”
Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement provides Pocono Raceway with ticketing, marketing and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) services to enhance all fan interactions with the raceway. Pocono Raceway leverages Spectra Ticketing & Fan Engagement’s online ticketing and eCommerce platforms, access management, and marketing services that include Marketing Automation and Salesforce CRM, Google Search Marketing and display ad retargeting.
Pocono Raceway will host seven national motorsports events during the 2016 racing season, including a NASCAR XFINITY Series race for the inaugural time on June 4. The Axalta “We Paint Winners” 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race is set for June 5, the Pennsylvania 400 NSCS race on July 31 and the ABC Supply 500 Verizon IndyCar Series race on August 21. The Pocono Mountains 150 NASCAR Camping World Truck race is scheduled for July 30 and two ARCA Series Presented by Menards races with General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200 on June 3 and the ModSpace 150 on July 29 offered as well.
Tickets for all races are now on sale at poconoraceway.com or by calling 1-800-RACEWAY.
About Pocono Raceway
Pocono Raceway, also known as “The Tricky Triangle,” is family-owned and situated in the beautiful Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. In business for over 50 years, the Raceway hosts multiple, national motorsports events including two NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, one Verizon IndyCar Series race, one NASCAR XFINITY Series, one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and two ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards events each year. The Raceway has added multiple, adventure-running series events to their annual calendar, including the Warrior Dash. Pocono Raceway is recognized as the world’s first, privately-owned solar-powered sports facility. Their 25-acre, three-megawatt solar farm provides the energy needs of the Raceway, as well as, adds electricity to the local power grid. Each member of our raceway staff is committed to creating exciting experiences and lifelong memories. For more information, please visitwww.poconoraceway.com.
About Spectra
Comcast Spectacor, a leader in the sports and entertainment industry, raised the bar on live event experiences by forming a new brand called Spectra that brings together the company’s expertise in Venue Management, Food Services & Hospitality and Ticketing & Fan Engagement.
Spectra’s Food Services & Hospitality division delivers the industry’s most innovative and profitable solutions through itsEverything’s Fresh™ philosophy at sports arenas, stadiums, casinos, convention centers, cultural attractions, fairgrounds, and other specialty venues. Spectra Food Services & Hospitality serves over 250,000 events and 40 million guests each year.
Spectra by Comcast Spectacor is the expert in hosting and entertainment, partnering with over 300 clients and 400 global properties to create memorable experiences for millions of visitors every year. Spectra’s expertise is embodied within three divisions: Venue Management, Food Services & Hospitality, and Ticketing & Fan Engagement. Learn more at SpectraExperiences.com.
Comcast Spectacor is a part of Comcast Corporation, a Fortune 50 media and technology company that operates Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, in addition to Spectra, Comcast Spectacor owns and operates the National Hockey League’s Philadelphia Flyers and the Wells Fargo Center venue. Visit us at ComcastSpectacor.com, PhiladelphiaFlyers.com, and WellsFargoCenterPhilly.com for more information.
