Starplex Corporation - CMS

Seattle

The Seattle Division of Starplex/Crowd Management Services was initiated in January 2002. The City of Seattle awarded Starplex Corporation the contract to provide Crowd Management Services for it special event facilities. At this time those facilities included the Key Arena, McCaw Hall, and the Seattle Center Park. Some of the special events we provide staff for on the grounds are. Bumbershoot, The Bite of Seattle, New Years at the Needle and Folklife

This division also provides services to several other special events in and around the greater Puget Sound. These include: Western Washington State Fair, The Taste of Tacoma, Fremont Oktoberfest, Ivar’s Fourth of July, White River Amphitheatre and many other smaller venues and events.

Guest Services
Seattle has a large Guest Services Division with over 400 active year around staff. This group includes staff that range in age from 18-85 years old. The staff attends ongoing guest services training each year. And this Division works as directional ushers, door attendants, ticket takers and guest services representatives.

Event Staff
The Seattle Division is responsible for providing peer security at special events that include: Hockey, Concerts,  and other events. They generally wear an identifiable polo shirt and either slacks or jeans. The Seattle division emphasizes and requires additional training in enforcement techniques, alcohol awareness training, report writing, detaining procedures and front of stage barricade training. The additional training not only helps reduce liability exposure for us but our clients as well. And helps ensure a safe event environment.

Spokane

The Spokane Division of Starplex/Crowd Management Services was initiated in June 1980. The City of Spokane awarded Crowd Management Services the contract to provide ushering, crowd management services and uniform security for it special event facilities. At this time those facilities included the Spokane Coliseum, Spokane Opera House, Joe Albi Stadium, and Spokane Convention Center.

In 1989, the City of Spokane opened a new facility: the Spokane Agricultural Trade Center. This facility was built on to the existing Convention Center and added an additional 250 seat Conference Theater with a roof deck patio for special parties. This facility added much needed additional space and increased staffing for Crowd Management Services.

In 1995, the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena opened replacing the old Spokane Coliseum. In addition, the City of Spokane gave the Spokane Opera House, Convention Center and Ag Trade Center to the Spokane Public Facilities District, which was created by the voters to build the Arena.

This division also provides services to several other venues since 1980 in Spokane and Inland Empire area. These include:  Washington State University, Gorge Ampitheatre, Gonzaga’s McCarthey Center, Metropolitan Theater, Greyhound Park, North Idaho Fairgrounds, Eastern Washington University and many other smaller venues and events.

Management
The Spokane Division is home to the longest tenured management structure in the Pacific Northwest. This management includes Dave Christiansen, Eastern Washington Regional Manager. He has been employed since 1982 and has managed the Eastern Washington Region since 1988. Spokane’s WSU Special Event Manager is Steve Lowe.  This management team is responsible for building the largest division, currently with over 1000 employees who work year around.

Supervision
This group includes staff, which has been with Starplex/Crowd Management Services for over twenty years. They are part-time staff whose careers involve management, engineering, education, insurance industry and the service industry. This has allowed management to expand our services because of the quality of supervision. Often times they manage events allowing management to be at other venues.

Guest Services
Spokane has the largest Guest Services Division in Starplex Corporation with over 400 active year around staff. This group includes staff that range in age from 18-85 years old. The staff attends ongoing guest services training each year. Several staff members have worked in the Spokane Region since the early 1980’s and this has allowed this division to excel. This division work as directional ushers, door attendants, ticket takers and guest services representatives.

Event Staff
This division is responsible for providing security at special events that include: Hockey, Concerts, Rodeos, Basketball, Football and other sporting events. They generally wear an identifiable polo shirt and either slacks or jeans. This division requires additional training in enforcement techniques, alcohol awareness training, report writing detaining procedures and front of stage barricade training. The additional training helps reduce liability exposure and helps ensure a safe event environment.

This staff is strategically positioned by management staff to deter possible crowd issues. They are called in by ushering staff to deal with unruly fans or to enforce client rules and regulations. They are also cross-trained in the guest services division, which allows them to deescalate crowd situations and utilize communication more often than physical means to deal with guests who are asked to leave the facility.

Central Washington

The Central Washington Region, based in Yakima, Washington, is very unique in that, due to its central location, it provides support staff to our other Washington and Oregon regions on a continuous basis. By traveling throughout the Northwest, our Central Washington staff gains experience in a wide variety of events. This makes our Central Washington Region a valuable asset to our operations.

Established in 1990, the Central Washington regional office is located on the State Fair Park grounds and provides services to events and venues in Yakima, Tri Cities, and at the Gorge Amphitheater. Examples of the events and venues include: The Toyota Center and the annual Tri City Atomic Cup Hydroplane races.

The State Fair Park sits on 135 acres and plays host to the annual 10-day Central Washington State Fair held in late September. In addition, the Yakima SunDome, an 8,000-seat special events arena, is also on this site and hosts many ticketed events that include concerts, Hispanic dances, WIAA student sporting events, rodeos, and other family events. In addition, the site also holds the Yakima County Baseball Stadium, home to the Yakima Bears baseball team.