4Topps' new premium seating product's elevator pitch: 'Have you seen Goodfellas?'

To picture the new premium seating offering that industry leader 4Topps Premium Seating is calling a win-win for schools and fans, the company’s executives reference one scene from a classic 1990 movie.

“I can’t shake this – have you seen ‘Goodfellas?'” Deron Nardo, the 4Topps president, asked On3.

Remember the three-minute scene where Ray Liotta‘s character is escorting his girlfriend and bypassing the long line outside The Copacabana nightclub? Liotta walks her through a back entrance, through the kitchen and to the hostess. There, instead of the couple being led to a table, a table is brought to them. It is placed front and center near the singer – the best seat in the house.

Now imagine a college football stadium, arena or ballpark. Picture mobile premium seating being transported with relative ease from the football stadium in the fall to the basketball arena in the winter and, finally, to the baseball ballpark in the spring – all to provide high-end experiences for some fans. Schools can tap into a revenue stream three different times with the same product because the premium seating is not a permanent in-venue fixture.

“It is this idea that you can just put your best fans wherever you want,” Nardo said. “And this idea that it [the seating] is movable really allows schools to maximize revenue potential.”

What does 4Topps Premium Seating look like?

Founded in 2011, 4Topps has some 200 customers worldwide, including the majority of MLB teams. Its traditional products can be found in venues on nearly 80 college campuses, including Alabama, Clemson and LSU. The traditional 4Topps unit, which has a U.S. utility patent, consists of four seats around a table.

The seats can flip up and swivel. All four fans face the action. The product has been on the market for some 12 years, but once the pandemic took hold clients were looking for a way to preserve premium experiences for fans while also being mindful of social distancing. That challenge sparked the 4Topps brainstorming that led to this new offering.

Miami (Ohio) will be the first client to use the portable loge product. It has leased 12 units; each unit consists of four seats around a half-circle table that can be used for food and beverages. It will be positioned in the football stadium this fall before moving to the basketball and hockey arenas this winter.

Here’s the difference: The 4Topps loge product sits on a half-inch-thick marine-grade, polymer plastic. A garden variety moving dollies and a forklift are all that is necessary to transport the units into a basketball arena to elevate the higher-end fan experience there. Schools can resell ticket packages around a product that would typically be used just once and sit dormant all winter in the football stadium.”

“The whole crux of this deal started when Miami said, ‘Hey, we have a sponsor that wants to be a part of our campus for the next four years,'” Nardo said. “So it is coinciding with a deal with a sponsor. And, yes, we have a lot of real estate on our product that is brandable. The tabletops are where they most often get executed.”

Schools can ‘cash in at least three times a year’

A representative from leading sales agency Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment initially brought the Miami (Ohio) opportunity to the table, so to speak, for 4Topps. Van Wagner works with dozens of colleges. And Nardo is looking forward to spreading the word of the concept through the “Van Wagner ecosystem” in the coming weeks and months. 

“We really position ourselves as more of a consultant in the space than a seating vendor,” Nardo said. 

The most common questions schools have for 4Topps about the product is: What is my operational cost going to be to move it from point A to point B on campus? And is it really mobile?

Short answer, yes, it is. As for moving time, Nardo ballparked maybe a half-day of work or a full day in some cases. But it does not need to be disassembled and reassembled.

Given that the premium seating is portable and, therefore, temporary, there’s potential to explore possibilities for NCAA tournament games and bowl games. But that’s down the line. Miami (Ohio) will be the first to implement the product in multiple venues. 

4Topps believes this product is uniquely suited for these industry conditions when schools are looking to maximize revenue opportunities while minimizing venue upgrades.

“A school that is really focused on revenue, they have all these reasons they want to maximize revenue streams,” Nardo said. “We’ve equipped them with something that they can cash in on at least three times a year without having to make more permanent changes to their stadium.”