NYC Arenas Beef Up Booking

The city’s three largest venues – Madison Square Garden in Manhattan, Barclays Center in Brooklyn and Prudential Center across the Hudson River in Newark, N.J. – have all turned over their booking teams in the past year, and two of the venues have come under new management.

At Barclays Center, the hiring of former Los Angeles Forum VP Paola Palazzo as Barclays’ new VP of Industry Relations and Event Development gives the company a foothold in Southern California. Paola will be “spearheading industry relationships on the West Coast,” according to a press release the company put out in April seeking applicants for the job. Her appointment caps off a hiring spree that led to the complete restructuring of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment’s booking department. 

Leading the booking team is six-year AEG veteran Keith Sheldon, vice president of booking for music, family entertainment and special events.

Rounding booking out are Ed Manetta, director of sports programming, and new hire Tim Kemp, who left the New Jersey Devils to serve as Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment’s director of booking.

Over in Manhattan, the exit of Bob Shea, MSG’s Executive VP of Bookings for the past seven years has left a hole in personnel that has yet to be filled. MSG’s new CEO David O’Connor, who spent 30 years as managing partner of CAA, will take the reins of the sports and music empire that has changed leadership several times in the past half-decade.

Over in Newark, the purchase of the Devils by Josh Harris and David Blitzer, and the appointment of Scott O’Neil as CEO and Hugh Weber as president has also brought a shakeup in the booking team.

Former Brooklyn S+E VP Sean Saadeh joined the NJ Devils in April as the new exec VP of entertainment programming, and kicked off a hiring spree to give the Jersey venue some booking muscle.

New hires include Roger Micone from ad agency Serino/Coyne and Jordan Harding, the company’s new VP entertainment strategy.

Saadeh recently discussed his transition to The Rock. “We want to be very artist friendly and part of that means having the resources to make that experience a great one when they come to Prudential Center,” Saadeh told The Real.

He said his focus at Prudential Center since joining the team in April has been to help the venue build its own identity and develop a strong reputation as a must-play venue within the artist community.