jan-2018

64 65 have areas for large-scale enter- tainment shows.We’ve hosted a Rihanna concert,pro football,etc. We’re really the only facilityon the island right nowthat can host shows of that magnitude,plus provideVIPs with indoor hospi- tality suites that a lot of people prefer.” KensingtonOval Management Inc.has 25 full-time employees, supplementedwith casual labor for major events.The current capacityof theOval is 11,000 spectators,boosted to 27,000 for ICCCWC2007,with the addition of two,partly-covered, temporary stands on the eastern side of the ground. Onewas the largest such structure ever built at a sporting event.Toppin adds,“If we have something like a Rihanna show,where the audience is out on the field,we can accommodate 25-30,000.For cricket,it’s generally15-16,000.” TheOval also features aMedia Center with sixcom- mentarybooths and 85 press desks,a players’pavilion for up to 50 players,a 148-seat press conference room, 46 hospitality suites,two club terraces,sixbars,and 18 concessions. On the sports side,most visitors to the facilityare British cricket lovers who have heard of Kensington Oval.In terms of entertainment,KensingtonOval Man- agement caters to local promoters who bring regional and international acts to Barbados.TheOval has solid relationships with companies who do onsite brand- KENSINGTON OVAL ing.Major international brands are given the rights to brand a specific area that will be used as an alternate hospitalityand entertainment offering.Clientele is pri- marily largemanagement companies and promoters like LiveNation and theNational Cultural Foundation, whose shows are among the biggest. Events are scheduled year-round,whenever the schedule permits.FebruaryandMarch are themain months for cricket; top booking times for concerts and other entertainment are July,August,andDecember. Toppin says flexibility is key.“We try to keep the facility verybusy.We can run a cricket match and entertain- ment event simultaneously,provided the other event doesn’t entail using part of the field.We pride our- selves on being able to quickly switch fromone type of event to another.So,if we have a cricket match end on one day,the next daywe can roll a portablemechan- ical stage onto the field,deploy it,have an event at night,and by the next morning it’s ready to playcricket again.We take great pride in thewaywe handle our logistics to accommodate various types of events.” The KensingtonOval has long been important to the Barbados economy.Guests coming from the U.K., the U.S.,Canada,and other Caribbean islands playan integral part in the tourismeffort.Manypeople arriv- ing at the seaport fromoverseas don’t knowabout cricket,but their curiosity is aroused by the elaborate structure in the distance.Designed byDipesh Patel of ArupAssociates of United Kingdom,with the support of local consultants,KensingtonOval’s 3Ws standwas