Red Bulls Gameday Feature

Stover Brings Vast Experience to RBNY

Erik Stover took over the reigns of Red Bull New York on May 28, ending speculation over who would become the Managing Director that would lead the Red Bulls organization through the rest of this season and into the currently-being-constructed Red Bull Park. When Marc de Grandpre stepped down as Managing Director of Red Bull New York on April 9, there was some uncertainty as to whom his replacement would be, and where that replacement would arrive from. But after a thorough process, Stover emerged as the candidate that best fit the ideals that the club had for the position, and he came from within the organization, which maintained a sense of stability that is very important to running a successful organization.

The name Erik Stover may be familiar to those with knowledge of the inner workings of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority (NJSEA), as Stover served many roles in the NJSEA during his nine years there, rising up through the ranks to the position of Assistant Vice President of Stadium Operations of Giants Stadium. He later served as General Manager of Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California before returning to the east coast in March to join the Red Bull family as Vice President for Operations and General Manager of Red Bull Park.

But Stover's story does not start in New Jersey, or California, but instead among the farms, mountains, and streams of rural Pennsylvania, as Stover grew up playing a number of sports in the town of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, which you may remember is the home of the Little League World Series.

Looking to gain a fresh perspective, Stover decided to begin his college studies nearly 1,100 miles from home, enrolling in Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, for his first two years of college, before transferring to Penn State University. "I wanted to get away and experience things," Stover explained. "But I came back to make sure I finished my education at a better university with a better degree. My field of study in both schools was advertising." Stover graduated from Penn State in 1995, but realized during that time that advertising was not his true calling.

"A lot of kids today get degrees in programs they don't ultimately work in, and I recognized pretty early that advertising wasn't going to be right for me and I started to focus on sports management and marketing while finishing off my degree," commented Stover. "I did a lot of internships and was lucky enough to get an internship with the Meadowlands for the 1996 Final Four. I was actually the first volunteer for the volunteer program for the Final Four. From there it was a foot in the door and opportunities came up."

That start as a volunteer for the 1996 NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four led to a full-time job with the NJSEA, with Stover ultimately rising to the position of Assistant Vice President of Stadium Operations of Giants Stadium. From there, Stover moved to the West Coast to serve as General Manager of Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California, where, in October of 2007, he helped turn the stadium into an evacuation site during the wild fires that ravaged the area.

"(The wild fires are) a scary, intimidating force that you can't understand until you see it," recalled Stover. "(The stadium's use as an evacuation site) was kind of an organic thing that just happened. It was a City of San Diego venue. The assistant chief of police called me at 5:30 in the morning and said 'We have a major evacuation on our hands, can we send people to Qualcomm Stadium?' I told him I would be there in half an hour and we will have it open and ready to go. At its peak, there were about 12,000 people at the Stadium. We had no major incidents at the venue, which is a testament to the team effort that went into it."

Despite being turned from a football stadium to an evacuation site in a short period of time, the efforts of Stover and his team were considered very successful. Stover notes that, "When people tell me that it was successful, the way I quantify it was that the entire week, I never heard a child crying once, which is a testament to the hard work that went into it and the sense of normalcy that we were able to provide."

Stover's successes running Qualcomm Stadium did not go unnoticed, as his ability to bring about a renaissance at the stadium caught the attention of the Red Bulls, who contacted him about becoming Vice President for Operations and General Manager of Red Bull Park. When asked about how he came to join the Red Bull family, Stover commented that, "This (job) came kind of out of nowhere. I had been a big advocate over the last four or five years of how soccer in this country was changing and it was THE up and coming business, and MLS was going to be the way it was going to reach the masses in this country in a way it never had before. When Red Bull came with their concept on top of that belief, it all meshed for me, and I was able to come aboard."

That is not to say that he didn't enjoy his time on the West Coast. "I loved San Diego," Stover continued. "I am proud of the work we did there because the building was struggling, as were the relationships with our partners in the San Diego Chargers and San Diego State. We made a lot of headway there. We started to book a lot of international soccer matches, as well as concerts on our training grounds, both of which had an impact on our bottom line and things were really going in the right direction."

But he was excited to get back to the east as he would be closer to not only his family, but also his wife Amy's family, as she was a Clifton native.

As he is not in the process of settling into his role as Managing Director, he is able to start to conceptualize his own vision and mesh that with the organizational vision as the club moves forward towards its common goals.

In the short term, Stover hopes that "at the end of this year we are playing for the Cup. I have to give Juan Carlos a lot of praise, because I think our team has played with a lot of heart through a lot of adversity. We have had a lot of injuries and the injuries continue to impact our roster on a day to day basis, not only in games but in training as well, but we have been able to circle the wagons and been able to stay competitive and I think that at the end of this year, with everyone back and healthy, as well as some player acquisitions, I think we will be very competitive."

Off the field, Red Bull Park is something that is a priority for Stover presently. "A soccer specific stadium for every team in MLS is absolutely essential," explained Stover. "It drives in the business in everything you do. When you are playing in the venue that is too big it doesn't fit the atmosphere and it really affects the fan experience. Our goal with this new facility and its redesign and how we are going to operate it is 100% about improving fan experience to a level that the average soccer fan hasn't seen anywhere in this country, including some of the newer venues. It will be in our mind, the number one facility in the league. Concession lines will move faster, the lines of sight will be better; the customer service will be second to none. We will be doing a lot of innovative things with technology that hasn't been done in the United States before."

With the short terms goals clearly laid out, Stover is also thinking about the future. "I think one of the most important things we will do in the next five years is attract a designated player that greatly impacts ticket sales and the quality of play on the field," Stover noted. "That is a goal that has been delivered to us very clearly from Austria. Also, I think in five years you will start to see our academy delivering first team players. And not just the academy in New York/New Jersey, but the one in Salzburg, and Ghana, and Sao Paolo, and Fiji. We will have our own feeder system delivering top flight players to our first team and that is the benefit that Red Bull can deliver to all of its programs and in the process elevate soccer in this country."

In terms of where he himself will be in five years, Stover is planning on staying in the same office, though that office will most likely won't be in Secaucus, and more likely in Hanover. "I think one thing we really need to do is have continuity across all of our business aspects: front office, sporting side, and its something we have suffered through throughout our history," stated Stover.

Stover also understands where the fans fit into the success of the organization and how important they are to the future of the club. "First of all, I want to thank them for sticking with the organization and the changes we have made," noted Stover. "Their passion is clear. We have made a lot of promises over the last 13 years, and we haven't delivered on all of those. But we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel and very soon they will have an experience that they have been waiting for for quite a long time."

With Erik Stover at the helm of Red Bull New York, the wait won't seem quite as long.