Whether you were watching from the comfort of your lounge chair or braved the crowds at Mission Bay to attend the NBA on TNT American Express Opening Day event last month, it couldn’t have been accomplished without the behind-the-scenes work of many UCSF employees.
“We had dozens and dozens of Zoom calls with the TNT folks, city partners such as San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and police and more,” said Campus Life Services Chief of Staff, Cathleen Stugard, who served as project manager for the event. “It was an opportunity for UCSF to be a good neighbor to the Warriors and a good partner to the city. I’m very proud of how our UCSF and CLS teams found a way to accommodate the special event while supporting existing university operations.”
Transportation found alternate locations for displaced cars and monitored garage capacities; Facilities engaged vendors to remove and restore light poles, fencing, and shrubs, as well as partner with TNT vendors to construct and take down the event components. Retail brought Publico and SF Kebab into the event to sell concessions to attendees.
Facilities Manager Dwayne Taylor coordinated a team of Facilities employees to work with TNT to transform the Mission Hall surface parking lot into a concert and fan activation venue and television production studio (photographed above). “To prepare for the event, we needed to remove more than 55-feet of fencing and more than 55-feet of bushes and shrubs around the perimeter of the parking lot,” he said. “We also removed two light poles in the parking lot and hung a 24-foot by 24-foot UCSF Health banner from the eighth floor of the Third Street parking garage.”
In addition, the custodial team managed the cleaning of several Mission Hall classroom/conference rooms and restrooms while the recycling team provided trash dumpsters for cardboard and debris while working side-by-side with TNT custodial contractors.
“We also worked with the Lockshop and Access Controls to disable access to the entry doors to the Weill Neurosciences Building on Campus Way,” Taylor said. “This was done to ensure clinical services were not disrupted by event patrons entering the building.”
During the work, Taylor worked closely with the TNT operations manager on logistical support such as providing access to conference/classrooms, identifying auxiliary parking options for heavy equipment, and general site operations.
“The project came together quickly and we didn’t have much time for planning,” he said. “Our Facilities team had seven to 10 days to organize our staff and identify the contractors required to execute the services we needed such as light pole removal, fence/shrub removal, and banner installation.”
Along with CLS teams, Stugard said she worked closely with UCSF Communications, the UCSF Health communicators and patient experience teams, Community & Government Relations, Finance and Administrative Services, Educational Technology Services and Mission Bay building occupants.
“We also worked closely with the Warner Discover team who managed the event from the TNT side,” she said.
Stugard said she was proud of how the Campus Life Services teams helped her tie the small logistical details together to ensure smooth execution.
“It was an amazing effort by our CLS and FAS teams to work across UCSF to seamlessly pull off an event of this magnitude, “she said.
