Wes Day with REVELxp

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios in Atlanta, Georgia. It’s time for High Velocity Radio.

Stone Payton: Welcome to the High Velocity Radio show, where we celebrate top performers producing better results in less time. Stone Payton here with you this afternoon, and you guys are in for a real treat. Please join me in welcoming to the broadcast CEO of REVELxp, Mr. Wes Day. How are you, man?

Wes Day: Doing well. Stone. Thank you for having me.

Stone Payton: I’ve got a ton of questions about upcoming events, but before we go there, maybe it would be helpful if you could share with me and our listeners mission. Purpose. What is it that you and this organization are really out there trying to do for folks, man?

Wes Day: Well, I’m glad you started there. Um, So to take a step back, um, revel was really founded in 2020 all around this idea of the the power of sports. And, um, we’re in the sports hospitality business. Which middle of 2020, middle of Covid is in some ways an odd time to, to start a business like that. Um, but in our view, uh, we take a much longer term view, decades long around the power of sports and in communities and in our world and in a in a world that seems to be more and more divisive by the day, sports tends to be that one uniting and combining force, win or lose, love or hate the other team. It brings people together. And at revel, we sit at the center of that, um, and really try to just amplify that in two ways. One for our partners who are teams, tournament runners, um, events, trying to entertain and host their fans on game day to try to create the most memorable and great experiences that we can and through that, we think just make a positive difference on on the world. And so our whole mission is around serving our partners and their fans, and it’s something that we take very, very seriously, take a lot of pride in, work really hard at. But also we’re in the entertainment business, so we we like to have a lot of fun with what we’re doing as well and, and kind of be an extension of that. Um, uh, for our sports partners, just as we interact with their, their fans and, and try to make as, as positive experience just just one at a time each and every time.

Speaker4: Well, it sounds.

Stone Payton: Like great work if you can get it. What is your backstory and your role in all of this man?

Wes Day: Well, I have a very crooked line to getting in the sports business, you know. This is an industry, um, that tends to attract people that kind of know this is their passion to sports. Business is their passion. Um, whether they’re a fan or, you know, um, grew up, you know, playing sports, which I did all of that. Um, but I originally was in a, in a finance role, was in the banking business, had a business of my own that I started and in the biotech space, um, and through that, um, met one of our, our now main investors of of exp when, when we started, um, a predecessor business and the parent company to revel back in in 2016 to 2017. Um, I officially became the CEO of revel in, uh, 2023, but have been a part of the business, um, kind of supporting it. Um, and getting it going since its, since its founding. So its, um, a strange path, I guess, all things considered for me to get from banking to biotech to the sports business and a little bit of a strange way to getting into the the CEO role of, of the company. But, um, I’m very fortunate, very blessed to be be where I am. And, um, also had a great fortune before I got into the business full time to get to know the team and work with these folks. Um, prior to that. And so my role really is I view it just back to our mission of serving our partners and our fans. My role is to serve all the people in our company and just make sure that they’re set up to be as successful as possible, because we’ve got we’ve got some incredible talent. My job is just to to get them pointed in the right direction and let them do their thing.

Speaker4: So what are.

Stone Payton: You finding the most rewarding about the work these days? What’s the most fun about it for you?

Wes Day: You know? Honestly, for me now, um, I would say twofold. One, um, you know, we we do a lot of surveys, particularly this time of year, uh, football season, particularly in college, I guess now getting to postseason, but at least regular season, wrapping up, just reading some of the testimonials, um, and some of the reviews we get, whether it is from one of our, our team partners or from a fan who we’ve hosted and and usually that feedback certainly has to do with, with having a great experience or a cool thing that happened. But oftentimes the best ones have to do with an interaction that one of our clients had with one of our people. And, um, that just makes me extremely proud and just it’s really fun to read those back to, um, the original thing and the original reason for us being in business is for us to make an impact. We’re fortunate now to be at the scale that we we have a lot of individual interactions that add up to a lot of, you know, a big mass. Once you add them all together. So reading those is fun. And then the other thing, um, you know, we’re in the people business at the end of the day. And so I make it my purpose to, to to see people in person. So I’m on site pretty much every game day, weekend visiting with our staff, visiting with our partners, visiting with with fans. Um, and that is a whole, whole, whole lot of fun. And in this business world that seems to get a little bit more virtual every day. Um, having those just really great interactions, um, in person, on site, around some of the coolest sporting events that that happen in the world. Um, doesn’t get much better than that, I’ll bet.

Stone Payton: So let’s talk about game day. What is happening with respect to Rev XP and a client or a partner? What’s happening on a on any given Saturday. Talk about the services.

Wes Day: Yeah. So, um, what we’re most known for traditionally is what we call full service tailgating. And so that is a service that we provide in partnership with a team or college athletic department, where we get a designated piece of land or multiple pieces of land near a football, baseball, basketball stadium. And we provide a completely turnkey tailgating experience, which means the Stone Payton tailgate. You show up, everything is set up for you from a primo spot. Um, food, beverages, coolers with ice television and then what we call our bellhop service where we will shuttle anything that you brought yourself you to and from your tailgate. Just making it as efficient and easy as as possible. Um, and making sure that you’re, you’re hosted and have a great experience all, all game long. Um, that’s probably what we’re most known for and, and do on a given football Saturday. Saturday in particular. Um, you know, we’ll do it 50, 65 different campuses across the country and a handful of pro events. Um, and teams as well. And then increasingly so we have, um, brought that experience inside the stadium as well. And so that can look like a couple of different things. One, bringing that party that’s happening outside in the tailgate park.

Wes Day: Um, whether that’s a field level suite or a party deck or a cool experiential or social area inside the stadium, um, or um, providing some operational services for our team partners just to make their lives easier as, as well as things get more demanding on their plate. How can we make things easier or more effective in some of the services that that we provide? All that is around this, this central theme for us, uh, whether you’re one of our partners or one of their fans, we sweat all the details so that they don’t have to and they can just show up and have a have a great time. So on our side, uh, a football weekend is pretty darn hectic. You know, we we’re hosting tens of thousands of fans across 60 something different sites depending on how many games are going on. But for our partners and their fans, we want we want that. We want them to see the calm and see just, just and have fun. And so as much as possible, we do that kind of behind the scenes. Um, and then let them, let them enjoy themselves kind of stress free.

Stone Payton: So as a customer, I can do this as the as the Payton family or as Business RadioX. It can be individual families and groups, that kind of thing. And corporate groups.

Wes Day: Yeah. So we. So one of one of the things that we found, um, is there is clearly a trend in sports and entertainment. Um, people want things turnkey like we talked about just like any other part of your life. You know, you you, you go shopping online, uh, people increasingly, you know, buy groceries and get them delivered to their house. You know, Uber, whatever it is, a convenience factor is kind of hardwired into the way that we do our lives. So that’s an important part. Um, we’ve also found that that people are willing to pay for a great experience. Gone are the days in sports you know that that you want to show up and just sit in the bleacher seat and leave and just. Just watch the game. You could do that on your couch. You want to come for a great experience. You want to come for the energy, you want to come for the social aspect, come for the memories that you that you’re going to make and just be a part of it. Um, so people are looking for a more elevated experience all the way up to the, to the ultra premium side. And so we as revel Exp have various different levels of offering to provide all those turnkey and social things, but up and down the scale from your entry level premium all the way up to the super high end stuff, which, to answer your question, caters to all different sorts of of customers of ours, which could be West Day or the Payton family buying a tailgate package from us. Um, all the way up to a corporation buying a super high end, all inclusive weekend long package that includes, uh, a box suite, pre-game hospitality, dinners, transportation, lodging, etc. um, and really everything else in between. So that’s really our our customer segment. And one of the things we pride ourselves is, again, having that range of offerings to fit the different levels of what people might be be looking for.

Stone Payton: Well, you’re absolutely right about the value of experience. There’s no question about that. And I certainly I have no challenge at all, uh, identifying and recognizing what a marvelous value, an experience or a set of experiences like that could be for my family, my company. Uh, talk to me a little bit about the the value proposition, if you will, for the universities, the the organizations you’re partnering with.

Wes Day: Yeah, So I would say say threefold. Um, yeah. The first part is they, they, they’re in the business of of entertainment now. Yes. The, the football game or the basketball game is, is the main dish and the, the, the main dish, the main product on the field has got to be great. But the modern fan is looking for more. And so they want a more, I guess, holistic experience on on game day like you said. And so we, we let them focus on that while we do all the, the, the other things to make sure that one they, their fans or maybe even traveling fans, the away team have a fantastic experience. Um, and leave their saying, man, that was awesome, I want to come back. Two is the part I mentioned earlier to make it as easy as possible if you’re the president of a major league team or you’re an athletic director. The demands on you are higher than ever. Those are some of the hardest jobs, just with all the pressure and and expectations and things they have to manage. And so we’re trying to take those things off their plate and off their worries, and having a dependable partner that they can count on to execute at a really high level. And then the third part, which is these days, especially true with our collegiate partners, is we help them drive additional monies, additional revenues back to them. So part of our revenues, in exchange for getting the access and promotion that we get through our team partners, we give a cut of that back to the school or the team. And so it aligns interests and allows them to to share in that which they with today’s demands and competitive environment they need more and more of. So I would say those are the three core, just the experiential side, kind of the efficient turnkey nature. And then, um, helping them be a solution instead of a part of the problem with the with the growing money pressures that are out there on sports organizations.

Speaker4: Well, you touched.

Stone Payton: On it earlier, but I think it’s really true in this equation. Everybody wins, don’t they?

Wes Day: And that that’s definitely my view. I think it’s a no brainer to use us. So, um, but all jokes aside, I, we we’re very fortunate. Um, as I said earlier, we started the business seemingly at a very, you know, a time which you when you wouldn’t start a sports hospitality company. But we had enough experience in the space, you know, myself and my leadership team has years and years and years of of sports, business and sports hospitality experience. Some of the just the best of the best. We saw this trend of the need to elevate the game day experience across the board, felt pressure on our team, partners and relationships there that they were getting increased expectations from their fans and fans and needed a solution to help them execute that. And then just, you know, the opportunity on the fans side, you know, you read this data around how people spend their their extra dollars. And increasingly, some of this is generational, but some of it is just across the board. People want to spend their extra hard earned money on experiences over things, and sports is a perfect way to to do that. But you see it in the music space, um, attraction space. Um, but with that, they want it needs to be great. And so their expectations are higher. They’re willing to spend, Um, and want to do things, but it needs to be easy and it needs to be just a killer. Fantastic experience. And so, yeah, couldn’t be prouder of our team. We a biased but obviously I think we do a fantastic job. And that goes back to our mission and all the pride that we take in our work. Um, but we’re also fortunate to be at this intersection of where sports is headed and, um, where just the general consumer is, is considering and spending their, their, their time and dollars tends to line up well with the things that we do.

Speaker4: Well, I’ll tell.

Stone Payton: You in a five minute visit to your website or a brief conversation with you. Yes, today it is absolutely a no brainer, at least to me. But what was it like in 2020? Trying to have this conversation with potential partners, trying to market to, you know, folks like like me? Was it initially just embraced really well, or was it a little bit of a an uphill battle to get it going and get it scaled like you have now.

Wes Day: Yeah, so we did have the good fortune. There are four predecessor businesses that we were involved with that that made up Revell, NXP. So we had some track record and name recognition prior to that, at least in the sports world. Um, but Covid was a scary time. If, um, you know, if you were a cruise liner, you might had it a little worse off. But the sports business, particularly as it pertained to the live event, um, you know, it was was non-existent, largely couple pockets here and here, here and there, but but largely nonexistent. Um, it was also, however, what I will say, that was a time for us to be able to to kind of pivot and provide some other operational support type services to our sports partners. But then outside of the the sports world where there was a need in the medical community. Et cetera. So that’s kind of what got us through. But largely, it was also a reminder of back to our mission, how important not just sports were, because you could watch it on TV. The games were being played. But if you recall, even the sitting on your couch experience was a fraction of what the normal experience was. And you had a fully packed stadium. And for people missing that outlet, um, you know, there, like you said, family traditions and a lot of personal identity tied up in these sports fandoms and what you do on a given Saturday or Sunday that was gone.

Wes Day: And I think it was a stark reminder of how important it is to have that community. How important it is to the just human ethos to interact with each other and be able to celebrate or console each other in victory or defeat, respectively. And so that coming out of Covid created a great tailwind for us to really remind people of that and be there to to amplify that when it when it came back. It also gave us the opportunity to provide, to piece together the capabilities that we needed to go to either a sports team or to a fan or corporate customer and say, we can do everything for you. We are now a bona fide, full service, end to end sports hospitality company that can do one piece if that’s what you’re interested in, or can do it all under one roof. And somebody that again, you can you can count on. So um, difficult times for sure. But um, at the same time, the other side of the coin was it created a ton of opportunity for us. Once things started to rebound, um, to hit the ground running. And in some ways, I think we are still feeling some of that tailwind of, um, just people wanting to be out and social and, and being at live events. Um, still seeing that in, in the economy today.

Stone Payton: Yeah. And now here we are. We’re about to have our first 12 team College Football Playoff. Uh, how are you guys going to be involved in that? Because I gotta believe you are.

Wes Day: Yeah, we are definitely involved. So it’s it’s a busy time. Certainly right now for us. Uh, this weekend will mark the start officially of the College Football Playoff, um, with the first round of games which are played at a home team site. Um, uh, is kind of the first, first round of games. From there, they will switch to neutral site games which will be played at their traditional New Year, what they call the New Year’s Six Bowls, the Fiesta Bowl, the Orange Bowl, the Peach Bowl, sugar, cotton, etcetera. Um, there’s a lot of change in college sports right now. That’s a conversation for for another day between Nil and, um, legislation and rulings that are happening. But I would say one thing that we’ve definitely gotten right. Um, is this expansion of, of the playoff, and there probably is some tweaking of rules and things that will happen from here. But by and large, it’s it’s created, um, some parity and opportunity for teams that might not otherwise be in. So there’s a ton of excitement. Um, we will be hosting fans at all four games this weekend. Wow. We’ll be hosting fans at four of the six quarterfinals and semifinals of games. And then the pinnacle for us and something that we’re very proud of is our partnership with the College Football National Championship, which will happen here in Atlanta, which really to me showcases really the the peak of what college football is all about the pageantry, the traditions, the passion, and for our all our small part in it. Um, this premium experience that we put on, um, not just for corporate clients, but for, uh, die hard fans and groups, um, certainly throughout the journey, but really peaking at that, that seminal final event.

Stone Payton: Well, I’m not even a little bit surprised, but I am absolutely delighted to learn that you’re going to be involved in the national championship in Atlanta. That’s fantastic news. And of course, that’s where I’m speaking to you from right now.

Wes Day: Yeah, what a great college sports town. And, you know, we’re fortunate to work with with Georgia Tech here in town and the Bulldogs right up the street. Um, it just a lot of college football tends to, you know, point to Atlanta, Georgia. So what a great place to to host this game. So we’re very excited about that. A market that we’re very familiar with. You know we participate in Mercedes-Benz and um some kickoff games. Um, we’ll do some things at the SEC championship that’s hosted there as well. So a city and an area we’re familiar with. Our headquarters is in Atlanta. It’s the office that that I’m talking to you from right now as well. Um, so yeah, we’re excited. We’re very humbled and appreciative for our partnership with the CFP, the College Football Playoff and, um, yeah, to get to do our thing and showcase the best of the best of what we do on the biggest stage.

Speaker4: So what’s on the.

Stone Payton: Horizon for you guys 2025 and beyond? Will you go explore other markets, other verticals? Will you just dive deeper into into this work? What have you got in mind? What’s what’s coming?

Wes Day: Yeah, I’m glad you asked that. A little bit of both, to be honest with you. Our bread and butter is certainly college sports. Twofold one. Um, the legacy of a lot of our team comes from the college sports world. But two, there is a lot of change in in college, as we just talked about and therefore, um, a lot of opportunity for us and really just an ability for us to, to help serve and be a part of the solution and again, try to make the lives of our, our partners easier and help them make a little money along the way as well, so that that will continue to be a very core focus of our business. That said, um, as we’ve been out at this for several years now, we have a lot of repeat customers who have asked us, hey, can you host me at this other event we love? Being with you at this football game. Do you guys do these other things? Because, um, fans of college football, while they’re about as passionate as they get, as you know, um, are oftentimes not just fans of college football. There’s other sports teams or events, um, that they are they are fans of. So we are increasingly getting into a little bit of horse racing, racing into golf, into some other major events in addition to the, the major professional sports, um leagues, as we expand out and really more of a byproduct, not necessarily of, hey, we want to go after this specific market, but more really a byproduct of our fans asking us or our clients asking us, hey, can you do this for us? And us going out and finding a solution for them?

Speaker4: Okay. What’s the best.

Stone Payton: Way for our listeners to learn more, tap into these opportunities for this turnkey experience, but I want to make sure that they can tap into this man.

Wes Day: Yeah, check out rebel Xpcom. That’s r e v e l x p.com. And on there you can search for your maybe team of choice or market location and see our various different offerings, whether that’s tailgates or other hospitality experiences. Most of that is on there. Or give us a follow on social media on on Twitter or excuse me X or on Instagram. Um, rebel XP is the is the handle, I believe. And um, usually we’re posting some of our cool experiences that we’re doing on a, on a given weekend, which can give folks a little bit of a visual taste of of what we do. It’s easier to see it than than describe it. And if anybody’s listening and interested, we we would we would be thrilled and honored to host anybody at one of our events.

Stone Payton: Well, Wes, it has been an absolute delight having you on the broadcast. Congratulations on the momentum. Thank you for sharing your insight and your perspective. And don’t be surprised at all if some patens or some Business RadioX folks don’t show up January the 20th in one of these prime locations.

Wes Day: We would love to have you. That’d be great. We would love to host you and have you experience it firsthand. It’d be our honor.

Stone Payton: Well, it’s been my pleasure to visit with you this afternoon. All right, until next time. This is Stone Payton for our guest today, Wes Day, CEO of Exp. And everyone here at the Business RadioX family saying we’ll see you in the fast lane.