SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Eric Hutto and Fred D'Alessandro Examine the AV/IT Intersection in Stadiums and Arenas Hutto takes the reins at the systems integrator By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Monday, March 21, 2022 - 7:00 am
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Changing horses midstream is a challenge; changing them when you're at the top of the mountain is a high-wire act. That's where Diversified, pegged at No. 2 on SCN's 2020 Top 50 list of systems integrators, sits in a multibillion-dollar gaggle of major-league companies that design and install the audio, video, and IT technologies that constitute the media backbone of sports broadcasters and venues. At the $1 billion integration firm - whose portfolio includes Globe Life Field, Met Life Stadium, and Wells Fargo Center - this month, longtime CEO Fred D'Alessandro passed the reins to Eric Hutto, former president/COO of IT services company Unisys.
Sitting down with SVG, Hutto explains the significance of an IT specialist's leading an AV integrator at a time when AV and IT continue to converge, and D'Alessandro, who is transitioning to the role of executive chairman, provides context.
Diversified's Eric Hutto: The biggest thing I think about right now is Draft Kings. I think you're going to see an ecosystem evolve to where that stuff begins to be integrated into the stadium experience.
It's surprising to see someone whose background isn't deeply in audio, video, and lighting take the lead at a systems-integration company like Diversified. On your LinkedIn page, you have self-described expertise in turnaround. You're coming to a company that's already at the top of its sector. What does this tell us?
Eric Hutto: Think in terms of transformations instead of turnarounds. I think that every company, no matter how well it's doing, is keeping its eye on what its next moves are and how it begins to think about how its operating model and structure will scale.
Diversified is already a great company, but now it's a billion-dollar company that has a lot of still-moving pieces of smaller companies. [Most recently, Diversified acquired North Haven, CT-based HB Communications in 2021 and Indianapolis-based Sensory Technologies in 2020.] What Fred and the board have asked me to do is come in and bring the structure and the ability to scale it, to bring it together as a single core operation and get it prepared for what does $2 billion look like? What's the operating model? How's the structure working? How complex is it? Things are moving so fast. You just can't afford to be complacent. You've got to always be looking and challenging.
What do you see when you look at the sports sector in general, whether it's broadcast or live?
EH: I live in Dallas, so I'm next to Jerry World, and we know what that looks like. (Laughs.) I'm new to the industry, but, obviously, I've been doing my homework. There's another $10 billion planned for expenditures in stadiums alone by 2030; that's eight years. Now, not all that $10 billion will go into AV and IP - all the things that we do - but a significant amount will. They're thinking about multiple channels of revenue.
How do we compete with an in-home experience vs. a stadium experience, and how do we bring those two together and compete? I think that the value and the growth opportunity for us is to merge those technologies with that experience definition. [Also,] remember everything gets done in the cloud and security's important, and these networks are getting more sophisticated. We're going to be bouncing up against that. I think we can naturally bridge those conversations and communities to be a broader service.
Diversified's Fred D'Alessandro: The first venue I worked on was in 1995. The [fan] experience at that time seemed great. But in 2022, it's a totally, totally different experience, created by the technology. (Photo: Matt Greenslade/photo-nyc.com)
Stadiums and arenas have evolved from very highly specific sports venues to multipurpose destinations. They've become the locus for larger retail, hospitality, even residential development. What does this mean for sports applications, and how does that impact how Diversified approaches this vertical?
EH: The biggest thing I think about right now is Draft Kings. Some of the things that are boosting the sports environment are ancillary to what's actually happening in the arena. I think you're going to see more of an ecosystem evolve to where that stuff begins to combine and merge and be actually integrated into the stadium experience itself, not just sit on the outside. I think a lot of these things that today are operated around and support [live sports production] will become integrated into it.
Fred D'Alessandro: We've started down the path with everything connected to create a spectacular bowl environment for the fans that we can expand way beyond the walls of the arena and stadium, through digital signage, through experiential designs, and interactive-type applications. That's why I think we're so well-positioned. Eric's background in security and other areas that are not typically something a traditional AV company has done, I think, [will] expedite a lot of these things and get us to where we need to be.
It sounds like you're talking about the possibility of even merging the physical and the virtual in some cases.
EH: I think that's exactly right. Look at the metaverse and where that's taking companies: to think and consider consumption models down the road and where extra revenue can be built. I think that we have an opportunity.
We're very good at setting up those complex environments and getting them working. Now we need to monitor them. We need
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SVG Sit-Down: Diversified's Eric Hutto and Fred D'Alessandro Examine the AV/IT Intersection in Stadiums and Arenas Hutto takes the reins at the systems integrator By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
