Transcript

The transcript below has been lightly edited for readability and clarity. Click any starting timestamp to jump to that exact point in the YouTube video.

Podcast Introduction

[00:00] Don Costante:

Welcome to the Rundown podcast hosted by Don Costante, a sports and event management expert with over 25 years experience. This unique podcast provides an opportunity to hear from some of the best professionals in the industry. You’ll get valuable insight and perspective on what it takes to deliver authentic experiences, activate brands, and most importantly, connect with audiences. All on the Rundown podcast. Let’s get started.

[00:27] Don Costante:

Learning from people who are successful is something that we should all strive to do. No question about it. Whether you’re a veteran in the sports industry or somebody just starting out your career, let’s face it. Each of us can benefit from the experience of others. After all, there’s not just one right way to do things. So that’s why I enjoy doing this podcast. Today’s guest is somebody that I have known for 16 years and has developed her event presentation and production skills through college athletics, the NBA, and now the NFL. I can tell you that over the years, she’s been widely recognized. In fact, in 2017, she was inducted into the Latin American sports hall of fame. My guest today is Jackie Maldonado. Jackie currently serves as the director of marketing with the Houston Texans, but don’t be fooled by the title as she does more than the title would suggest. Jackie’s responsibilities include game presentation, youth and high school football platforms, new fan development, fan clubs, grassroots activations, and events. During my interview with Jackie, she went into great detail regarding her career path. Specifically, she talked about the steps she took to get to her current position with the Texans. So if you’re a recent graduate or somebody looking to get into the sports industry, and you’re just not quite sure about how to go about doing it, you’ll want to listen to Jackie. Also, Jackie shares with us her best practices in three areas, producing games, the communication required both on and off the field to achieve successful results. And lastly, halftime entertainment.

[02:01] Don Costante:

I think it’s time to get started. Let’s meet Jackie Maldonado. Jackie, thanks for joining me today on the podcast.

Meet Jackie Maldonado

[02:09] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah, thanks for having me on the podcast. I wouldn’t be talking to you today if it wasn’t for you.

[02:14] Don Costante:

You and I go back a long way. What would be really good for the listeners, take us on your path on how you became director of marketing for the Houston Texans.

Building a Career Through Persistence and Experience

[02:24] Jackie Maldonado:

I found myself in similar situations that a lot of people find themselves coming out of college. So you graduate and people tell you, you get a job, you get that piece of paper and you get a job. Well, it’s not that easy. You know, nobody tells you that you have this expectation after you graduate that you get a full time job, but it’s not that easy. After I graduated, I, like many, didn’t have a place to go, didn’t have a full time job, found myself back in Laredo, Texas with family. And I knew that my passion was working in sports, but I had limited experience. I blasted my resume everywhere, everywhere. Like there was no stone left unturned. If there was a position in inside sales in ticketing, I was applying for it, whether it be professional sports or college or minor league. It didn’t matter if there was a position there, I was applying. And time and time again, I wasn’t getting callbacks. I wasn’t getting interviews. And, you know, I was getting a little frustrated because this was a passion. I didn’t want to do something different. I knew I wanted to be in sports. This took me back to A&M. I went to baseball game and caught up with my mentor at the time. And he was checking in on me, asking me how, you know, the job search was going and brought him up to speed.

[03:42] Jackie Maldonado:

And, you know, he told me that I should be looking for an internship. And I looked at him sideways. I was like, you’re crazy. What do you mean? I just graduated from college. I need a full time job, not an internship. That happens when you’re in undergrad. And he was like, Jackie, what else do you have? Do you have a full time job? And I was like, yeah, you’re right. And he was like, I can’t guarantee that you will get this internship. But I do know someone at the University of Texas, San Antonio in the athletic department. I know they’re looking for an intern. Can’t guarantee you the job, but I highly recommend that you apply. So I looked at him and I was like, well, I mean, the University of Texas, San Antonio, like, what about your connections with Duke basketball? Or what about your connections with North Carolina basketball? And he’s like, Jackie, it’s the University of Texas, San Antonio. And I was like, all right, you know, you’re right. I need the experience. I’m not getting any phone calls back. I’ll go for it. So I go down to San Antonio, go to the interview, and they’re telling me, they’re really selling me on this internship. I was going to get the position offered experience in women’s sports, in men’s sports.

[04:50] Jackie Maldonado:

And what was really unique about the internship is that that was the year they were trying to find the right intern that can help sell the student body to pass the student referendum that would eventually get football onto their athletic program. The students in the immediate wouldn’t see the success. They had to pass the referendum to raise tuition to eventually get additional women’s sports that would eventually balance out scholarships that in the future would pay dividends in getting a football team. It’s really cool now in perspective to look back and see the success of their football team because we did that. Like as our team, we were able to accomplish that success. So I thought that was really appealing, being able to do something historic for the university. So that caught my eye. And then as I was interviewing with multiple athletic directors, one of them mentioned, oh, by the way, I don’t know if anyone’s told you this, but we’re also hosting the men’s final four. And at that point I was old. I was like, what the hell? Oh my gosh, UTSA, please sign me up. Like, can you please hire me? And they did. I got the internship, but I didn’t want to stop there. Because I had such a hard time finding anyone to give me a shot after college, I told myself, like, once somebody just opened the door for me because I didn’t have the experience.

[06:10] Jackie Maldonado:

And what people were constantly telling me was that I needed experience. I wasn’t getting the interviews. I wasn’t getting the jobs because I needed experience. And I was like, okay, I’m going to show you. I’m going to show you experience. So even though I landed that internship, I just felt like that wasn’t enough. I didn’t want to hear no again. So I remember watching Spurs opening night. The Spurs had just won the championship in 2003. So it was the 2004 opening night. And the players were receiving their rings. And I was watching the game with my cousin in the living room, his living room. And I looked at him and I was like, I’m going to work for the Spurs one day. And he started laughing at me. He’s like, ha ha, very funny cuz. And I was like, no, seriously, I’m going to work for the Spurs one day. And the more people tell me no, the more it fires me up to just prove them wrong. So having that internship, I’m in San Antonio and I’m looking at all of the other potential, potential opportunities to continue gain experience. Well, San Antonio has the Spurs, obviously. So in my head, I was like, okay, I’ve got college experience. I’ve got men’s sports experience. I’ve got women’s sports experience.

Pursuing an Opportunity With the San Antonio Spurs

[07:23] Jackie Maldonado:

What if? What if at the end of this internship, I do want to work for the Spurs? I need experience in professional basketball. I need experience in the NBA in order to be that aggressive candidate. If I decide to apply and a position becomes available with them, I need to figure out who the director of game presentation is for the San Antonio Spurs. So I go into the athletic director for PR at UTSA and I ask him for a media guide. And I look up the director of game presentation and it’s this man by the name of Don Kostini. So Jackie, being this little naive Jackie, but also very persistent, I decided that I was going to call Don Kostini because I just wanted to talk to him. I just wanted to learn. I was so hungry to learn. I didn’t want a job. All I wanted to do was to be in the arena. I just wanted to be in the arena and see how the Spurs do game presentation. So I called Mr. Don Kostini and get a voicemail. And this went on for a few weeks. And if I wasn’t going straight to voicemail, then I was greeted by his lovely assistant and leaving messages with his lovely assistant, but wasn’t getting through. So in my head, I’m thinking, okay, I’m going to give this one more try. And what I can at least tell myself is that I gave it an effort.

[08:48] Jackie Maldonado:

I did my best and I tried. And if I don’t get a hold of this Mr. Don Kostini, then I can rest my head easy at night and know that I put my best foot forward and I tried. So I, Don, I remember this clear as day. It was right around my lunch break. I’m walking out to my truck. I sit in my truck and I get my cell phone and I tell myself, okay, this is it. You know, I was trying to be really strategic. I would call you in the mornings and, okay, well, the mornings didn’t work. And I would try to call in different times in the afternoons and I wasn’t catching you there. And I was trying to be really strategic and nothing was working. So this last time I was like, this is it. This is it. This is it. If he answers, great. And if he doesn’t, that’s okay. I tried. So I call and lo and behold, he picks the phone. And at that point I’m stuck because I was used to leaving a message saying, hi, this is Jackie Malinato, the intern for the University of Texas, San Antonio. But this time he picked up. Don, you asked, you know, yeah, yeah, I know Jackie. Yep. Yep. Jackie, the intern for the University of Texas, San Antonio. And I was like, yes, sir. Like, I’m not looking for a job. That’s not why I’m calling.

[09:55] Jackie Maldonado:

I’m not looking for you to hire me. I just want an opportunity to learn. If I can just meet with you, I just want to get that experience. And thankfully, you agreed to meet me. So the night before our meeting, I look at my calendar and I’m looking at my schedule with UTSA. I’m looking at all of the men’s sports, men’s sports schedules, women’s sports schedules. I’m looking at the Spurs schedule and something else that I should add to the story. Although I had this experience and although you had given me the opportunity to meet with you, nothing was confirmed at the time, but it was just a meeting. In my head, I felt like I still don’t have football experience. I’m not getting that at UTSA. So at the end of this year, if somebody tells me if there’s an opportunity available to apply for a football position, I don’t want someone to tell me, I’m sorry, you don’t have the experience in football. So I did a little Google search, found a position available with University of Texas, which kind of sucks because I graduated from A&M. So it was staggered to the heart, but it was all about the experience. I had to put my pride aside. There was a game day position available for them working football games.

Preparing for the Meeting and Building a Complete Résumé

[11:09] Jackie Maldonado:

I applied, got the position. It was a part-time job. I would drive to Austin and work football games because in my head, that is check. Okay. If I want to work in football, check. I’ve got that experience. If I want to do anything in collegiate athletics, men’s sports, women’s sports, check, check. Because UTSA is doing that for me. So now my focus was professional sports, NBA. That’s where I want to be. I want to work for the Spurs. So as I’m prepping for your meeting, I’m looking at all of my schedules. UTSA schedule, Texas football schedule, Spurs schedule. And I highlight all of the games that I could physically be there for without losing commitments to my other obligations. And I’m ready. I’m ready because I didn’t want to get punted off again. I didn’t want, you know, to meet with Don Costini and him have the pleasantries and then be like, okay, well, go look at your schedule and get back to me. I didn’t want that lag of time. If, if he were to ask me the question, I wanted to be ready and I wanted to present him with the dates that I was available for. So I’m ready now, right? The next day comes. I’m super nervous. I meet with you. And we’re getting to talk in. And again, I’m stressing, I’m not looking for a full-time job.

[12:24] Jackie Maldonado:

I’m not looking for a job. I will, I just want to be in the stadium. I will pick up the gum at the bottom of the seats every night. If that just allows me the opportunity to be in the stadium to watch what it is that you do. So I can take notes as to how the Spurs do game presentation. We talked for a little bit and you left your office. You might’ve been gone for maybe like 15, 20 minutes, but it felt like you were gone for two. And at the time, like, we didn’t have like iPhones to like keep you entertained. So I’m sitting in your office twiddling my thumbs. And for a second, I was like, maybe this is a joke. And maybe this is his way of saying like, Hey, crazy lady, please get out of my office. Like maybe he’s just trying to weigh it out. But you come back, you come back in the office and you sit down and you look at me and you’re like, all right, I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want? And I was like, uh, the bad news. And you’re like, okay, well, I’ve been gone for a little while because I was talking to human resources. And unfortunately the MBA does not allow us to have volunteers. So the thought of being a volunteer for us and volunteering your time, it’s just not possible.

[13:37] Jackie Maldonado:

The MBA doesn’t allow us to do. So then I come in and I was like, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much. I appreciate you just even asking. And you look at me and you’re like, well, don’t you want the good news? And I was like, oh yeah, the good news. What’s the good news? Because of your persistence, I found a loophole. And what we can do is have you shadow me for a game. So look at your schedule and let me know what dates you’re available. And I was like, aha, there it is. There it is. So I pull out my schedules and I’m like, sir, this is the day I can work. And you’re like, great. I’ll have a credential and a parking pass for you. It will call. I’ll see you on game day. So I leave your office and I’m super ecstatic. And I’m like, this is great. Okay, like I just need to work my butt off this year. I need to work my butt off because I don’t want to be told no again. I don’t want somebody to say you don’t have the experience. I’m going to do whatever it takes to get any experience that I can get. So I don’t get that no. So Spurs game day comes around and I’m just in awe. Like my palms are sweaty. I was all kinds of nervous, you know, shadowing this Don Castani, the director of game presentation for St. Antonio Spurs.

The First Spurs Shadowing Opportunity

[14:46] Jackie Maldonado:

Like this is my dream. This is what I told my cousin, my family. I wanted to work for the Spurs. And it was just an amazing experience. At the end of the game, you ask, I ask if I can come back. Did I ask or did you ask if I can come back?

[15:01] Don Costante:

No, you basically looked at me and said, I have a question. And I said, sure. What is it? And you said, can I come back for, you know, another shadowing opportunity? And I said, well, what game do you have in mind? And you looked at me with a serious face and you said, all of them. And this was a time in the year we only had like 14 games left in the Spurs season. And so, you know, obviously I looked at you astonished and I basically said, well, I can’t have you shadow me for 14 games. However, as you know, I had a fairly large staff and I said, well, maybe we can have you come back and shadow some of my staff members. I remember when I said it, I was like, I don’t know how the hell I’m going to do this, but I’m going to make it work. I’m going to make it work.

Working Without Days Off to Gain Experience

[15:42] Jackie Maldonado:

Now, the UTSA internship paid $0. It was a non-paid internship. Shadowing for you, the Spurs, was $0. The gig that I had with Texas football was minimum wage, but it wasn’t even covering my gas going to and from San Antonio. That entire year, I had no time off. I had no days off. I worked straight through weekends and any days that I did have off, I was either in Austin working football games or at Spurs games. It didn’t matter. I was working, but I did not regret it for a second. Like I absorbed all of the experience because at the end of my internship, I wanted to be able to say I have the experience regardless of what position becomes available. If it’s football, check. College sports, check. Professional experience, check. And I worked my butt off because I didn’t want that feeling that I had of people telling me I didn’t have the experience. So fortunately, it paid dividends. Fortunately, at the end of my internship, UTSA came back and offered me a full-time job. And Don Kastani had a position available to be his assistant, the game operations and promotions assistant reporting directly to him. That position became available. And to this day, you still give me crap because when you’re like, oh, are you interested in applying for the position?

From UTSA to the Spurs, Rockets, and Texans

[17:10] Jackie Maldonado:

I was like, oh, I’ve got to think about it. For somebody who is so interested. I was like, wow. But here, I was so loyal to UTSA, right? It was the student referendum and it took, it was such an effort to get the entire student body to buy in and vote yes. And we passed that and that was such a big win. And the experience that UTSA gave me, I felt loyal to at least, you know, give them the opportunity to interview for the position and see what the position had to offer. So, yes, the dream was to work for the Spurs, like me telling my cousin, I’m going to work for the Spurs. It should have been an automatic, yes, Don Kastani, I’m going to apply for the position. But because of all the work, the blood, sweat and tears that went into UTSA, it was one of those, like, that’s kind of cool that they’re, you know, wanting to invest in me. But obviously, I took the position with you, which was an amazing experience. Learned immensely under your direction. I still tell people to date, because you believed in me, because you gave me the chance, you taught me, I was with you step to step. You know, whether it be in meetings, whether it be sitting with you at the media table, directing games, like you just believed and poured into me and taught me.

[18:30] Jackie Maldonado:

And I felt like that put me on a fast track from understanding game presentation. I worked for you, I was under your direction for a couple of seasons before you encouraged me to continue moving on. And what strikes me and makes you so unique is that at the time, I didn’t think it was crazy. Removing myself, you know, however many years since then. At the time, Dawn, you were encouraging me to apply for director of game presentation positions in the country. Like, who else would do that? I was an assistant. Like, if you take a step back, who would say, okay, this person is an assistant position, but she made a jump from an assistant position to a director. Like, that’s not how real life works. Like, you typically move up the ladder. You go from assistant to coordinator to manager to director.

[19:21] Don Costante:

But to be fair, though, I mean, it was a unique situation. As you know, I had you end up directing multiple games over the course of the season. And I don’t think, even to this date, I don’t think that there’s any NBA assistant that directs games, obviously. Yeah. And so it made you a very unique candidate, which made you eligible. In some cases, you had more experience than some of the people that were applying that were managers. But that was all director jobs.

[19:46] Jackie Maldonado:

Thanks to you for teaching me and putting me on that fast track. And at the time, like, I believed it, Dawn. When you told me apply for the director of game presentation for the Orlando Magic, I believed it. Like, oh, absolutely, I can do that job. And that’s what makes you so unique and so different and such a great mentor and such a great teacher. You put me on that fast track. And because of the experience that I gained in New York Direction, I got a call from the Rockets. I didn’t apply for a position. I didn’t see a position with the Houston Rockets. The Rockets called me at my desk at the Spurs, actually. Ken Shear, who is now the VP of marketing, but he was director of marketing at the time, called me and said that he had a position available. And he asked his counterparts across the league for recommendations. And this girl, Jackie Maldonado, kept coming up. So he’s like, let me call this Jackie Maldonado girl that people keep talking about. But that was all a testament to what you taught me and how much I learned in such a short period of time. In those two very quick years, I got so much knowledge under your direction that the Rockets called me for an opportunity and took that.

[20:53] Jackie Maldonado:

Went in as a coordinator for the Houston Rockets and eventually got a promotion to manager of game presentation for the Houston Rockets. And, you know, then I found myself in a very similar situation with the Texans. You know, I had someone come to me and say, hey, there’s a position available with the Texans. And Jennifer Davenport, who is the vice president of marketing for the Texans, wants you to apply for the position. Applied for the position. And, you know, now I’m here. You know, I came in as the manager of marketing for the Houston Texans and got a promotion here. And I’m now director of marketing for the Houston Texans. But all of the fire hasn’t stopped. Right. So, like, the intensity and the eagerness to learn and taking advantage of every opportunity is what got me to this position. The people telling me no, the positions I didn’t get, the interviews or the callbacks that I never got inspired me and fired me up to put me in a position where the teams that I have been with now have been the ones that have been calling me versus me knocking on their door. So I wouldn’t change any of that for a second. I am so thankful for the no’s. I am so thankful for people telling me that I didn’t have experience.

[22:09] Jackie Maldonado:

I was so thankful for the negative because that negative turned into a positive, which got me to where I am today. And there’s still just so much work to do. But I’ve just been so grateful for the path.

Lessons in Persistence

[22:20] Don Costante:

Well, I would tell you the path that you just laid out for people who are listening. You hit a lot of roadblocks. You hit a lot of obstacles. And what’s important for people to understand, especially those that are trying to get into the industry, is that it’s not going to be an easy road. It’s a very competitive market. And in this particular case with Jackie, as she mentioned, I mean, when she called me, what she didn’t mention is she called like eight times. It took like the ninth call to finally get through. Today’s kid coming out of school, for one thing, they don’t even call. They basically just email nowadays. But if you don’t get a return email after maybe two, they say, well, they never responded and they let it go. So it just showed that, I mean, in your particular case, and I think this is a great example for those out there wanting to get into the industry. You have to go after it. You can’t take no for an answer. And, you know, you keep pushing forward and you find ways to get past it. And obviously you did. And you got to the position that you’re at with the Texans and had some great experiences along the way. So that’s awesome.

[23:22] Jackie Maldonado:

Well, and again, thank you to you for giving me a chance. So I’m here because of you. Thank you, Don Castini. Thank you for not answering the phone the first eight times.

[23:30] Don Costante:

Yeah, there you go. Makes for a great story, but it was a pleasure. You know, one thing I want to talk about, though, is your event presentation philosophy. And, you know, teams differ in their approach to event presentation all over. What’s your event presentation philosophy?

Jackie’s Event Presentation Philosophy

[23:47] Jackie Maldonado:

Sure. When it comes to what is going into the show, there’s three buckets that it has to hit. It doesn’t have to hit all three buckets, but anything that’s going in our show should hit one of the three. Is it entertaining? Is it engaging? And does it create the home field advantage? If it’s one of those three buckets, then it is a feature, a concept, a video, music that is going into our show if it hits those three buckets. Something else that is big for us in our philosophy is the term keeping your knees bent, right? Like what we do from live entertainment, we have to keep our knees bent. We can put so much time into our run of show. We can plan. We can prepare. We can rehearse. But it’s live entertainment. So you have to expect the unexpected. You got to keep your knees bent and you got to be ready for plan A, B, and C. So for me, it’s those two different concepts, right? What is going into our show? And does it hit those three buckets? And then making sure that you’re keeping your knees bent because you got to expect the unexpected.

[24:50] Don Costante:

So is that your philosophy, Jack, or is that your organization’s or a combination of both?

[24:55] Jackie Maldonado:

It’s a combination of both. I’ve been really fortunate to have leadership that accepts this type of philosophy, right? So when I came in the run of show, our game presentation looked different because NFL, similar to MLB, is very traditional from a game day perspective. So coming with an NBA background, that was one of the reasons that I was an appealing candidate for them because I did have that entertainment NBA aspect of it, which brought my philosophy or brought our now adopted philosophy of having our show be entertaining, engaging, and creating the home field advantage.

[25:30] Don Costante:

So did you bring an NBA-infused football game to the Texans?

[25:34] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it’s been – I’ve immersed it slowly but surely. And now I’m at a point where it’s like, okay, we have a good balance. And especially now where I understand the sport more, I understand our fans, I understand what works in our stadium, what works well for NBA versus what works well for NFL. I think we’ve adopted some elements from the NBA that entertain our fans, but there might be some like vamps or some music selections that work really well in the NBA but just don’t fit as much for our home field advantage in the NFL. So the last few years have helped me understand the difference between the sport and the difference between the fans.

The Role of a Game Day Director

[26:15] Don Costante:

So let’s talk about directing. Game day directing is such an important position, right?

[26:20] Jackie Maldonado:

Right. Those who serve in that particular role as a game director, they have the greatest impact on the game day atmosphere. And that being said, the role or the job duties of a director can vary based on individual organizations.

[26:31] Don Costante:

And so discuss your role as director of marketing with Houston Texans and talk a little bit about your non-game day and game day.

[26:39] Jackie Maldonado:

Sure. I’m an associate producer on game day. We have another associate producer. His name is Kevin – Kenny Perkins. I don’t know where Kevin came from. Kenny Perkins. Hello. Kenny’s going to kill me for this. But yeah, so Kenny Perkins is another associate producer of ours. And then we’re led by our executive producer, Gavin Garrett. So Gavin oversees the entire show where Kenny runs the production room and cuts the show for us. That’s his aspect and his piece of the pie. And then I direct our on-field, our in-stadium features, our talent, which is our Houston Texans cheerleaders, our mascot Toro, our pet band Deep Steel Thunder, our DJ, our PA announcer. And that’s my piece of the pie, right? And then collectively together, we make the show come to life.

[27:23] Don Costante:

I just have a question off the subject a little bit. Your title is unique because it’s director of marketing, but yet you’re one of the associate producers. I mean, do you have marketing responsibilities in addition?

Marketing Responsibilities Beyond Game Presentation

[27:34] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah. And that’s what made this position so appealing. So before I came to the Texans, all of my experience was game presentation. What’s unique about this role is it is still game presentation. But aside from game presentation, I also oversee events. I oversee fan clubs. We’ve got three fan clubs. Our Battle Red Ladies, our Samos Texans fan club, which nurtures our Hispanic fan base, and our Toro’s Kids Club that nurtures our Junior Kids Club. And then we also oversee cheer tryouts. We put cheer tryouts on, our watch party that we had at playoffs, so those unique events. And then aside from that, under my umbrella is also youth and high school football. So from a marketing aspect, the role I play is launching the events, communicating the events, promoting the events. So that’s the marketing hat that I wear. I would be really stupid to think that I can do all of this by myself, so I don’t. So I’ve got two awesome teammates that work hand-in-hand with me. Ashley Allspa handles our fan clubs, events, grassroots activations, and new fan development. And Brett Stewart handles the youth and high school football. And then collectively, we come up like that is our department, which is why my title is director of marketing, because I do more than just game presentation.

[28:50] Jackie Maldonado:

And I kind of, you know, it’s funny you say this, because my boss and I kind of go back and forth. Like, she’s like, what do you want your title to be? Because I really just don’t know. Like, I can’t call you director of marketing because you just don’t do that. I can say game presentation, but you don’t just do that either. So we kind of netted out and just left it at director of marketing. But it is a unique position to be able to have more than just game presentation experience and have a bigger voice.

[29:12] Don Costante:

Yeah, you’re definitely in a unique position, but it’s one that’s giving you tremendous experiences. So…

[29:18] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah, you know what that means?

[29:18] Don Costante:

What?

[29:19] Jackie Maldonado:

No time.

[29:20] Don Costante:

No time.

[29:21] Jackie Maldonado:

No sleep. I’m just kidding.

[29:22] Don Costante:

That’s just part of the industry, right? No time.

[29:25] Jackie Maldonado:

That’s absolutely right.

Leadership Communication and Creative Freedom

[29:26] Don Costante:

So who do you report to? And what’s the communication process with that person?

[29:31] Jackie Maldonado:

So I report directly to Jennifer Davenport, who is our vice president of marketing. But she’s also in a unique situation because she just doesn’t oversee marketing. It’s marketing, it’s community relations, and it’s creative.

[29:45] Don Costante:

What is going on in the Texans? You guys just have titles that then explode into all different areas.

[29:52] Jackie Maldonado:

I know. Her title’s a lot longer because her title’s like Vice President of Marketing, Community, and Creative. She’s got a super long title.

[30:00] Don Costante:

So what’s your process? How do you communicate? Are you meeting once a week? Are you daily? I mean, how’s that go?

[30:06] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah, so we’ve got, from a department perspective, we have a weekly department meeting where we meet with key teammates from our marketing department. Jennifer runs these meetings and just kind of, we just have an opportunity to download on her. And we each come in with our updates with the areas that we’re working on. That’s our bigger department meeting. We probably have about 10 people in that meeting. And then I have a one-on-one meeting with her where we just kind of do a deep dive. And I’m just bringing her up to speed with how things are going with Ashley in her world, what’s going on in Brett’s world, and then bringing her up to speed with what’s going on in my world. During the season, we still have the weekly meetings, but we are just in constant communication, whether it’s popping in her office and getting something signed off by or talking to her about an idea or a concept or a pitch or a booking or something. Those weekly meetings are beneficial for us, but we have so much communication throughout the week that the one-on-one, like I don’t hold on to information and wait until my one-on-one meeting to bring her up to speed with stuff or get approvals for stuff.

[31:12] Don Costante:

Gotcha. Now, when you’re talking to her and in your particular area pertaining to in-stadium, when you’re serving that role directing games, are you allowed some freedom to be creative and try new things?

[31:24] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah, both her and Jamie Roots, who’s our team president, they work in tandem with me. There’s something that I might pitch both of them. There’s something that I might pitch her, and then we get on the same page and we pitch Jamie. But both of them have been super open in allowing me to just try things.

[31:41] Don Costante:

So they encourage you to be innovative or creative in what you’re doing.

[31:44] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah, absolutely. And they challenge me to be creative. Now, there’s a couple of examples that were big examples for us that helped us turn the tide. I came here in 2013, and we had normal stadium lights. In 2014 or during the offseason in 2013, we renovated our stadium lights and switched them to LED lights. The reason that’s a big deal is because in 2014, now that we have LED lights, it made things so much easier to be able to go lights out versus having stadium lights where you shut them off and it takes 20 minutes for these lights to come back on. Yeah, so this was such a plus for game presentation. So knowing that we had these LED lights, you know, I came to them and said, Hey, guys, like now that we have these LED lights, I would love to be able to capitalize on our night games and go lights out for a halftime show. Never been done before. So it was one of those like, Jackie, are you sure? Do you know what you’re doing? Like we’ve never, the stadium has never gone dark. I was like, no, trust me. Like, I’ve done this before from an NBA side. Granted, not, you know, from an NFL perspective, but I will do my due diligence. I can make it happen. So we had Eli Youngband performing at halftime at our first night game in 2014.

Using LED Lighting to Transform the Show

[32:52] Jackie Maldonado:

I worked with our production team to bring in intelligent lighting and really enhance the halftime show. And I really wanted to prove to them the benefits of going lights out at halftime and how that can enhance your, not just your halftime show, but game presentation in general. They trusted me to do that. Show went well. And from then we adopted going lights out, not just at halftime, but then we adopted player intros the following year along with halftime. So they trusted me to do that, which was awesome. It was a big risk because, you know, God forbid the lights didn’t come back on.

[33:23] Don Costante:

They don’t come back on. Well, Jackie, thanks for working for us.

[33:27] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah, it’s been real. I’ll let myself out. Thanks, guys.

[33:30] Don Costante:

Do other teams do that or no?

[33:32] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah. Okay. There’s some teams that have a better advantage. For example, the Saints, they’ve got a dome so they can go lights out every game, regardless of time. Other teams who have outdoor stadiums may not go lights out as much because they don’t have that dome to help create the visual. For us, the only opportunity that we have to go lights out to create the story that you’re trying to tell at halftime is for our night games. It doesn’t make any sense to go lights out at noon, although we have a closed stadium because there’s so much natural light that comes in through the windows and through the roof.

Preparing for an NFL Game

[34:04] Don Costante:

So what’s your preparation for a game? When does that begin? And what’s involved in that process as you’re preparing for an individual game coming up?

[34:14] Jackie Maldonado:

It comes in waves. So the communication that I have with booking talent. So let’s say it’s a big national recording artist that we have at halftime. That preparation and communication to book flights and hotels and ground transportation, getting their track, getting music, working on choreography. All of that is usually done, you know, a few weeks ahead of game day because there’s so much that goes into getting that artist here. From actual game planning, producing and doing the run a show, the PA deck, that typically, if we don’t have back-to-back games, then it’s usually the week prior to game day or the week prior to game week. This season, we had several back-to-back-to-back games. So I’d start the process on Monday. Game would end on Sunday and we’d start, turn everything over with run a show and PA deck and working. Really, it’s run a show and PA deck that kind of go in tandem. That starts on Monday. And then we’ll start game sheet productions Tuesday and Wednesday. But that’s only if we’ve had back-to-back-to-back games and we don’t have enough time to prep. Otherwise, it’s usually a week out.

[35:24] Don Costante:

Jackie, when you talk about not having enough time to prep, I’m thinking in my league with Major League Baseball, we have 10 games in a row. Yeah. So you can imagine that’s quite complicated sometimes.

[35:34] Jackie Maldonado:

Well, see, and this is what I don’t understand. What I don’t understand, I still haven’t figured out, Don. I came from basketball where we had 41 games. There were times where I would come in on game day and I would do my game sheets on game day. But in the NFL, that’s not realistic whatsoever. And there takes so much time. And I don’t know if it’s because of – and I know we’ll get to it in a second. But I don’t know if it’s because of the level of people that see it prior to it being a final PA deck or if it’s because of the volume of show that is expected to happen from game one to game ten. Or the combination. Yeah, or a combination of it. But we joke about it. You know, there’s other people in the organization that have come from the NBA and we’re like, how the hell? How the hell are we more busy in the NFL with 10 home games versus the NBA with 41 home games? Like one plus one does not equal two here.

Rehearsal and Game Day Execution

[36:38] Don Costante:

Let’s talk about execution now. As you’ve built the program, how do you ensure proper execution on game day for all the different elements that you’re going to implement?

[36:49] Jackie Maldonado:

Sure. So, it’s rehearsal. It’s preparation is communication. On game day, we start with a production meeting with our team and we talk through everything. We’ll talk through what to expect on game day, everyone’s responsibilities. We’ll have fields laid out and we’ll show people on a field where everything needs to go. We’ll talk through everything in our production meeting. Then once we wrap our production meeting, we go into actual execution. We go into rehearsals. And our rehearsals will go from 8 a.m. until 10. So, we’re in solid rehearsals from 8 to 10. And it doesn’t sound like a lot of time, but it is when you’re breaking things up between 30 minutes and 15 minutes. So, if you’re constantly having 30-minute rehearsals, 15-minute rehearsal intervals, that’s a lot of rehearsals that you’ve got going on before doors open. But it’s all about preparation. For big elements or big halftime shows, whether it be a Ring of Honor halftime show, national recording artist at halftime, we have two days. So, we’ll rehearse Saturday before the Sunday game. And we’ll have our Saturday rehearsals are usually on average about four hours for that one piece. For the five and a half minutes, we will rehearse four hours to make sure that we are thorough with expectation and execution and timing.

[38:11] Jackie Maldonado:

That we’re planning for the expected and the unexpected. That we’re ready for plan A and plan B. And then we’ll do it all over again on game day. So, I think the answer to that is communication and rehearsal.

[38:24] Don Costante:

Right. Do you know there are a lot of organizations out there that don’t rehearse?

[38:29] Jackie Maldonado:

Isn’t that crazy? Dawn, I had to learn the hard way. I had to learn the hard way because I didn’t rehearse a halftime show for the Rockets one year. And I still have nightmares about it. And from that day forward, I was like, what?

[38:43] Don Costante:

You brought it up. You’re going to have to tell everybody what you’re talking about.

[38:46] Jackie Maldonado:

Oh, my gosh. So, this was, it was Hispanic Heritage Night for the Rockets. We had booked Grammy Award winning band La Mafia. Like, this is like multi Grammy Award winners. We had communicated in advance with them timing. They knew they had five minutes. We had three songs that they were going to perform in those five minutes. They had chosen to perform a live show. Like, live, live. They were going to bring in their back line and perform live. I’ll tell you in a second why that mattered. So, we were all on the same page. Five minutes, great. Got it. Worked on their back line. They knew expectations. I knew what to expect of them. Knew their set list ready to go. Come game day, I did rehearse. To my defense, I quit. Quasi rehearsed, right? So, I rehearsed getting all of the back line from off the court onto the court. Patching audio in. Good. We knew roles, responsibilities. We knew timing. We felt comfortable with that. Awesome. We rehearsed that. Come game time. Time’s ticking down. I’m waiting for halftime to hit. I’ve got the band in the tunnel. I’ve got back line in the tunnel. Audio’s on standby. We’re just waiting for it to be zeros on the clock for us to take the court. It happens.

A Halftime Show That Went Wrong

[40:02] Jackie Maldonado:

We’re hustling on court. During rehearsal, it took us about five minutes to set up back line and get patched in. To put things in perspective, an NBA halftime show is 15 minutes. 15 minutes total. Now, mind you, yes, you have 15 minutes, but the team usually is coming back right around the six-minute mark, five-minute mark. Home team, visiting team is taking the court to shoot around. Okay, so halftime hits, we’re taking the court, setting up back line, and it’s taking forever. Back line took forever to get on the court because the officials were reviewing a play, and the tunnel that we were coming out is the same tunnel that the officials come in, and we don’t take the court until the officials have passed us. So we’re losing time, but I had a little buffer, so I felt okay. But as we started setting everything up, I know we’re in the danger zone, but again, I’m just kind of going with the flow. We get patched in. The band starts. Time is ticking. The crowd is responding well to them. Like, they know who this band is. They’re Grammy Award winners. They put on a great show. We’re getting to their third song, and the CEO comes down from his seat and comes up, stands right next to me.

[41:21] Jackie Maldonado:

I’m on headset watching the show, and he’s in my ear, and he’s like, Jackie, how much longer? And I was like, what? And I look up at the clock, and there’s two minutes on the clock. There’s two minutes left on the clock. The band is still playing. They’re on their third song. So even if they finished in those 30 seconds, we still have to clear the court, right? Like, the last thing you want is to have a delay of game because of halftime, right? So there’s two minutes on the clock. Band is still playing. I got CEO in my ear. How much longer? How much longer? The director is in my ear on the other ear. Jackie, how much longer? How much longer? I’m looking at the manager, and I’m like, how much longer? And he’s like, they’re almost done. I’m like, that doesn’t help me. How much longer? He’s like, almost done. Almost done. So our director decides to fade out of music because, again, there was two minutes on the clock. He fades out of music. He cues the gay announcer. He does an outro for them, but they’re mid-song. And, like, the band is playing and, like, super confused because they’re not done with their set. And it was such an embarrassment. And it was so bad. They did go over from their performance time.

[42:31] Jackie Maldonado:

Their performance was a little closer to five and a half minutes. So it was just, like, it was just, you know, a snowball of things that went wrong. But if I would have rehearsed, if I would have rehearsed everybody together, like I do now, if I would have rehearsed backline coming on the court, patching in audio, rehearsing from start to finish with Ben, I would have had my true timing. And I would have known prior to halftime either, A, if we need to speed things up, or, B, if we need to cut a song from their set. So a couple of things that I learned from that. One, do a true full rehearsal. And two, if possible, always do a track to live vocals because then at least you know you’ve got a track. You know how long the performance is. And then what you’re working around now is set up in breakdown time. But, oh, man, what an embarrassment. There were not enough sorries to smooth over how pissed the band was. And rightfully so. Rightfully so.

[43:34] Don Costante:

Obviously, you learned, right? You’re not going to make the same mistake.

[43:37] Jackie Maldonado:

Absolutely. Exactly.

[43:38] Don Costante:

That’s probably the best viewpoint on it. We’ve all been down the road of making mistakes, something like that. Tell listeners about a typical game day. So you’re just arriving at the stadium. Talk about from that moment when you arrive all the way through the end of the game.

A Typical Houston Texans Game Day

[43:51] Jackie Maldonado:

Sure. Production meeting starts at 7 a.m. for a normal noon kick. So I’ll meet with our game day staff. As I mentioned, coming out of those meetings, we’ll go straight into rehearsals. We start with our halftime rehearsal, then transition to our on-field promotions and presentations for that game. Once that’s done, we go into our Toro skit rehearsal. Whatever he’s doing on-field, we’ll rehearse that during that time. Then we go into sound check for our Houston Texans cheer chant. It’s a tradition that we have in game. Toro has this big bass drum that he hits the cadence to the vamp of the cheer chant. And then we have our deep steel thunder that is there on snares performing the vamp in unison with Toro. So we do a sound check for all of those drums to make sure that we’re solid for a cheer chant for that game. Then I move on to mic check with our Houston Texans cheerleader MC that’s doing the touchdown deal for the game. And then we go into cheer rehearsal. Coming out of cheer rehearsal, we’ll go into anthem and color guard rehearsal. Then normally we’d go to a pyro test, but the NFL banned pyro this year. So this year we do cryo test. All that happens before doors open. Once I’m done with cryo test, then I transition over to meet with our home field advantage captain,

[45:05] Jackie Maldonado:

who’s usually a celebrity, a local celebrity and has ties to the team or a fan of the team. So I’ll go over and meet with them. And then I will move over to check on media hits with our anthem and halftime. So if we have some celebrities or big name anthems, big name halftimes, big name home field advantage captains, I put a schedule of media hits for them. So they’ll do radio out in a Bud Light Plaza or a TV hit on the sideline with Texans TV, or they’ll do media interviews in our media workroom. So once I’m done saying hi or meeting our home field advantage captain, I’ll go check to see how the rest of our talent is doing with their media hits. Then by that time, it’s usually about 1130. So I’ll head up to my post and get ready for a pregame show. Our pregame show starts roughly around 1140. And then from that point on, it’s producing the show. Then after the game, I host post game meetings with our game day staff. And we’ll go over wins for that game and then opportunities for improvements. Like what do we need to do? What do we need to fix for the next game? And then I’ll shout out like teammates that did something super awesome. You know, someone. Well, you know, I feel really fortunate to have the team that I do

[46:20] Jackie Maldonado:

because they are harder on themselves than I can ever be for them. Like I truly say, like these guys are the best in the business. They’re passionate about game presentation. You know, they are very vocal in speaking up. I might have a certain idea or direction for execution for something, but they are really quick to speak up on finding another way or finding a better way, which is awesome. So I’ll shout out people that have done a great job. I take notes during the game. So it helps me with my recap post game. If somebody did something really well, I’ll make a note of it. So I’m recapping it at the end of the game. And then I’ll close out our meeting with talking about what to expect for the next home game. What’s the theme game? What talent have we booked? And what are the unique elements that they can expect at the next game?

[47:05] Don Costante:

Well, that makes for a full day.

[47:06] Jackie Maldonado:

It does.

[47:07] Don Costante:

Now you said 1130 on a normal game day, you head to your post. Where’s your post located in the stadium?

The Press Box and Communication Setup

[47:12] Jackie Maldonado:

So I’m up in the press box. That’s my home base.

[47:15] Don Costante:

Who’s seated around you?

[47:16] Jackie Maldonado:

So in the press box, we have like two levels. To the right of me, I’m on the first level. So to the right of me are LED operators. And then to the left of me is our run of show spotter for our PA announcer. Our PA announcer, our play-by-play spotter for our PA announcer. And then above me is Gavin, our executive producer. And to the right of him is closed captioning and engineering. And to the left of him are our audio engineers and our DJ.

[47:44] Don Costante:

Do you have any kind of specific setup at your location, like an intercom panel or cameras, etc.? That type of thing?

[47:51] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah. I mean, my station alone is, I’m pretty sure you can communicate to the moon.

[48:00] Don Costante:

That’s awesome.

[48:03] Jackie Maldonado:

So I’ve got a clear calm panel. I’ve got several channels on the clear calm. I can listen to program feed, which helps me when I’m trying to cue. For example, I’m in Toro’s ear and I have music cues that I’m cueing in his ear in order to hit the choreography for our big home field advantage moment. So I’m listening to program to make sure that the audio, I’m giving him the right cues from my audio cues. So I’ve got program feed on that clear calm panel. I’ve got our RF feed. The RF feed is a wireless comms. So it’s everyone on field. Our run of show spotter, our DJ. And then I also have a stadium feed that allows me to talk to the production room if I need to talk to the production room. But typically, Gavin communicates directly with Kenny in the production room. On the top level are the screens. So Gavin is looking at all of our screens that show both the broadcast. And the reason the broadcast feed is important for us is because one of the challenges that I found in the NFL is that we don’t have designated breaks. In the NBA, you knew when your media timeouts were going to hit. You can expect and you can plan for these media timeouts. Where in the NFL, there aren’t these natural 12, 9, and 6 or whatever it was in the NBA.

[49:19] Jackie Maldonado:

Like these media breaks, we are relying on the white hat and we’re looking at the white hat to go out onto the field and signal when they’re going to break. But sometimes the white hat might take a little longer than what broadcast does. And we can see a lot faster if broadcast is going to break. So above, like on the second level, Gavin’s looking at the broadcast feed kind of as a second reference to see whether or not they’re going to break. And then he has all of our camera angles on screens as well. But looking at my station, so I’ve got the clear comm panel. I’ve also got three different radios that’s communicating to different people. I’ve got one radio that’s communicating directly to our cheerleader leads. Another radio that’s communicating to our staff because we don’t have enough headsets for all of our staff. So if we’re short headsets, but I’ve got a staff member going into the stadium to do a live hit, they’re taking a radio so I can communicate to them. And then the third radio is for Toro and his team so I can communicate to Toro and his team directly.

[50:14] Don Costante:

That’s awesome.

[50:14] Jackie Maldonado:

Then I got my cell phone. So my cell phone is used as a communication device, right? So I’m constantly getting text messages from people around the organization, whether it’s sending me information for telegater to the game winners or communicating our 50-50 jackpot final numbers or designated driver to the game. Or just being accessible, like my boss and our team president will text me questions or to communicate something specifically for our show. So there’s like three different communication channels that I’m juggling.

[50:44] Don Costante:

Does your football ops get involved and try to contact you in any way?

[50:47] Jackie Maldonado:

Football ops does. We’ve got the bat line. So we’ve got the red phone that goes off. You pick it up as soon as that goes on. It goes off. You’re picking it up. We know what they’re calling about, right? We know that they want to replay.

[51:00] Don Costante:

That’s exactly right.

[51:01] Jackie Maldonado:

So the phone rings. We’re like, just wait. Cut that video and go right into the replay. Yeah. So they’ll call and it’s essentially saying it’s on its way. It’ll hang up and then you’ll see the replay going up.

[51:12] Don Costante:

Wow.

[51:12] Jackie Maldonado:

But yeah.

Broadcast Breaks and In-Game Collaboration

[51:13] Don Costante:

You know, when you’re talking about the white hat, I had a question for you. When you said you’re waiting for the breaks, you’re waiting for that white hat to walk out. Have you seen or do you guys, do you put the broadcast countdown time up on the board somewhere that shows like a three, three and a half, two minute, whatever the break is that counts down? Have you seen that?

[51:28] Jackie Maldonado:

I have. And this is something that we have talked about from a league perspective. At our game presentation league meetings, we’ve asked for it. MLB does it. NBA does it. And we really want the NFL to adopt this. The NFL is looking into it. As of last year, they weren’t ready to make the transition to have that clock ready to go. But it’s something that we fought for. And we’re hoping that if it’s not in 2020, 2021, it’ll be there. It helps from a consistency perspective, both on broadcast and in game. And it’s super helpful. I mean, obviously, it’s super helpful for game presentation. So we’re hoping that the NFL adopts that.

[52:01] Don Costante:

Now, you talked about all these people that you’re communicating with. How often do you collaborate with your staff before making a show called during a game, if at all?

[52:11] Jackie Maldonado:

We’re collaborating quite a bit. They’ll check in with me and say, hey, I’ve got my contestants. I got props ready to go. And then I’ll follow up with them, making sure, like, hey, are we good with our necessary talent? Do we have our host? Do we have cheerleaders? Is prizing ready to go? Once they’re like, yep, we’re ready to go and they’re on standby, then we’ll have them ready one timeout prior to. So if, let’s say, something is happening first quarter, second timeout, then they are on standby. Wherever it is on the field or whatever is in the stands, they’re on standby, ready to go 1-1. And they’re checking in with us. And they’re saying, hey, ready to go. Camera’s ready to go. Da-da-da-da-da-da. We’re on standby. Then once we go into the break, they’re waiting on our cue. And the reason, just like we talked about earlier, the reason they’re waiting for us to say, take the field, is because we’re waiting for that white hat. Like, once we can see the white hat takes the field, then we’ll cue our staff to take the field to execute whatever promotion they’re on standby for. But, yeah, they’re really good about checking in and making sure, like, they’re going down the checklist. Like, hey, just FYI, I don’t have wireless camera yet.

[53:13] Jackie Maldonado:

Can you find out what ETA is for wireless camera? So then I’ll follow up and be like, hey, wireless is coming from the 500. Be on standby. They’re coming to you by the next break.

[53:22] Don Costante:

Now, outside of just cues, are they giving you any kind of opinions on situational things that are about to happen?

[53:31] Jackie Maldonado:

Yes. So more so when it’s game flow. So if we’ve got something happening in the southwest 10-yard line, but the game flow is moving in that direction and our offense is moving in that direction, then they’ll call in and be like, hey, Jackie, like, we’re not going to set up the Plinko board right now. We recommend that we put it in the south end zone instead of southwest 10 because it just doesn’t look like it’s safe for our players. They’re moving in this direction. And then we’ll adjust things accordingly. They have, although I can see it from the press box, they have better depth as to distance and whether or not something is safe or not.

Creating Home Field Advantage

[54:06] Don Costante:

Now, in the NBA, emotion dictates the calls that director makes, right? I’m talking about when the action, let’s say you’re going into a hot timeout, you’re going to bump what you previously maybe had planned to go with the emotions of the fans. The question I have, does that happen in the NFL at all?

[54:24] Jackie Maldonado:

It’s a good question. It’s something that we have been trying to find a way how to insert hot timeouts. Hot timeouts in the NFL exist on defense, right? Because on offense, you want to create the home field advantage. So you want it to be quiet. You want your quarterback, for us, Deshaun Watson, you want him to be able to communicate to his line, communicate to his receivers, and be able to call off a play. You don’t want it to be loud. So creating that environment and creating that energy on offense makes no sense for us in the NFL, but it does on defense. That’s when you elicit the energy. That’s when you elicit the emotion for the fans. That’s when you want them to get loud. So how do you do that, right? How do you do that? Because for us, they are possessions. You need them to progress from first down, second down, and then crazy loud third down. But it’s not a timeout. It’s not like the NBA where you go into break and you’re creating that energy so the intensity of the energy is at its peak by the time they’re coming back into gameplay. That’s not really how it works in the NFL. So you want to create that home field advantage. So what we have created in the last couple years is something that we call progressions.

[55:34] Jackie Maldonado:

So we take advantage of each down, and we have all these tools in our arsenal. What we have found a lot of success with is using our mascot for these progressions. Our fans really respond to Toro. So first down, he’ll come in with on your feet sign, right? And he’s eliciting fan reaction. Then we go to gameplay. Fans are getting excited. We get a stop. We go back to him, and he’ll say loud. Elicits fan reaction. Fans reacting to him. We go to gameplay. We get a stop. And then we’ll go back to him for third down, and then that’s when he has get third down loud or loudest or whatever the progression is that we’ve decided to go with for that series on defense. We switch it up. So aside from it just being Toro on these progressions, we might go Toro for first down and then go to video make noise, and it’s like a video and graphic package that is eliciting or using those call to actions for our fans. And then go back to Toro. But we use our defensive series to create what the NBA calls hot timeouts.

[56:40] Don Costante:

The use of the mascot as a conductor to create emotional responses is such a great thing. It just isn’t done enough.

[56:46] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah.

[56:46] Don Costante:

It amazes me all the time how little people utilize their mascot to do something like that.

[56:51] Jackie Maldonado:

You know, and we are really fortunate to have Andrew Johnson.

[56:55] Don Costante:

Yeah, he came from Kansas City.

[56:57] Jackie Maldonado:

Oh, are you going to take care of him?

[56:59] Don Costante:

He was trained here, so.

[57:02] Jackie Maldonado:

You’re absolutely right. I’ll give you that, Don Cassini. You trained him well. He’s very good. No, he’s amazing, and thanks to him, we’ve been able to really use Toro as the conductor of the crowd, and he’s creative.

[57:16] Don Costante:

So we’ve talked a lot about directing. Obviously, we can’t go into every detail, but one last question before we move on to the next category here. What qualities do you think make for a great director?

Qualities of a Great Director

[57:29] Jackie Maldonado:

That’s a good question. I think someone who – someone that knows that it takes a team to produce a show, right? One sector isn’t more important than the other, and we need each part to work together to make a moment memorable, impactful. Everybody needs to work together to just make one down, one second down impactful. Everyone needs to be on the same page. Music, LED, video board, mascot. Everyone needs to be on the same page. So someone who understands the team is important to produce a show. I also think someone who can communicate efficiently and also can be concise. Because as you know, when you’re directing a game, you’ve got seconds to communicate things. So not only do you have to be efficient, but you have to be very concise with what your show call is going to be because you can’t be talking forever, and then you lose the moment, and now you’re late into your break. And I think someone who can work under pressure can stay calm under pressure and can think fast on their feet because it’s live entertainment. So you need to be able to think fast on your feet when it’s the fourth quarter. There’s, you know, a minute and a half left. It is third down. What song do you want to play to elicit that crowd reaction that you want to get that big stop and hype up the defense and get the fans into it?

[58:44] Jackie Maldonado:

Like, it’s all a chess game, but you need to be able to think fast on your feet. And I think the last quality would be someone who loves what they do, right? When you love what you do, your passion comes through, you have fun, and then you can lead your team to create just great moments.

[59:01] Don Costante:

I think you just gave the formula for a great director. So who’s out there?

[59:07] Jackie Maldonado:

I know. It’s fictitious. You know, not everybody has all those qualities.

Communication Documents and Planning

[59:12] Don Costante:

Let’s shift gears to communication. When I’m talking about communication, specifically documents and meetings, right? So for me, the key to obtaining successful results, no question can be defined by one word, and that’s communication. I mean, in real estate, it’s what? Location, location, location is so important. Well, in event presentation, it’s communication, communication, communication. I tell my staff all the time, I’m going to over-communicate until, you know, you get to a point where you’re like, enough, enough. I’ve heard it already. But, you know, you can have the best plan in the world, but if you don’t communicate that plan appropriately, you’re going to have some problems. That lack of communication is going to cause you frustration, resentment, mistakes, and most importantly, missed opportunities. So that being said, properly preparing for your game days is so critical, and it begins with the establishment of documents that are necessary to facilitate that clear communication. What communication documents do you create for the Houston Texans to maintain that communication level?

[1:00:07] Jackie Maldonado:

Sure. So we’ve got several documents, and that’s one thing I think the Texans do, right? We communicate, and to your point, we communicate, where it’s like, if you don’t know, come Friday, what’s happening, then where have you been? You just haven’t been paying attention. Yeah, what is going on? Like, I think the Texans do a really good job of communication. Some documents that I use to help keep us in order is our GEMS spreadsheet. So we have a GEMS committee. These are people in key positions on game day that make game day come to life. I help run these committees and these meetings, and I am the holder of the spreadsheet with all communication of what is happening on game day. So this GEMS spreadsheet tracks game day execution outside, what’s happening on the concourses, what’s happening in stadium, what talent performances are going to be, what performances are Houston Texans cheerleaders doing? What skits is Toro doing? Is Deep Steel Thunder performing? What unique video board elements do we have specific to this game? What are our marketing plans leading up to game day? What are the PR plans leading up to game day? It also has information about our social media plans, any sort of corporate integration or title, game day partner, and then season ticket member communication leading up to game day.

[1:01:19] Jackie Maldonado:

So all of that is on one spreadsheet, and that is just for one game, and I hold that document for all 10 home games and for playoffs.

[1:01:29] Don Costante:

You’re the gatekeeper of that?

[1:01:30] Jackie Maldonado:

I am, yeah. So in our meetings, taking notes, writing everything down, update this document, share it with our committee, and then the onus is on me to make sure that things are moving forward and whatever we said is going to happen is actually coming to fruition.

[1:01:45] Don Costante:

Now, is that being shared on a shared network so everybody can look at it as a read-only file or no?

[1:01:50] Jackie Maldonado:

No, I don’t have it on a shared document, but it does get emailed out to them, and they can edit it however they want, but they just don’t touch the edit that I have because then it goes away.

[1:02:04] Don Costante:

Okay. So what do you do once you have the gem document created?

[1:02:09] Jackie Maldonado:

What’s next? So from that gems document, that’s what I share. Gavin and I use that to put the run of show together because in there it’s everything that’s specific to game day, right? So run of show comes from the gems spreadsheet. Our run of show is our game day script. That run of show is typically about eight pages long. It’s pregame, first quarter, second quarter, halftime, third quarter, fourth quarter, postgame, and then we have our last sheet is drop-ins. So if there’s any filler or we have extra breaks or thirties, we know what drop-ins we can go to. Our run of show and PA deck work in tandem. So our PA deck or our reads, our PA deck goes from like 90 to 100 pages on average. Then from the run of show, the game sheet is created. The game sheet is a one-sheeter, front and back. This is used only for our game day staff. It’s our staffing sheet with staffing responsibilities and timing. The front of the sheet is everything that you can expect. It’s like a quick overview of game day, locker room assignments, pregame element, and then the front of the sheet is the run of show and when everything needs to be prepped and ready to go and what you need for a specific feature. All of that is on the front of the page.

[1:03:20] Jackie Maldonado:

The back of the page for our game sheet is all pregame. So what happens from our production meeting to kickoff? Then I also produce our entertainer game sheet that’s also a one-sheeter. This entertainer game sheet is a run of show that’s consolidated onto one page and this has talent assigned to it. So do we need Toro? Do we need cheer? Do we need Deep Steel Thunder? And if we need them, when and where do we need them? That’s what that sheet is for. And then I have our music sheet. Our music sheet is also one sheet, double-sided. The front of the sheet is all of our offensive music and the back of the sheet is our defensive music and kickoff songs.

[1:03:58] Don Costante:

So all these communication documents, how far in advance are you creating these?

[1:04:03] Jackie Maldonado:

The gem spreadsheet is updated pretty routinely. Like it’s almost on a weekly basis.

[1:04:09] Don Costante:

But like your run of show, how far are you doing that the week of?

[1:04:12] Jackie Maldonado:

The run of shows, the run of show and PA deck are usually the week prior to if we don’t have back-to-back games. And then same with the game sheet. The game sheet and entertainer game sheet are usually the week of. And then the music sheet is also one that’s constantly being updated with new music.

[1:04:29] Don Costante:

Are any of those documents going to the entire organization?

[1:04:32] Jackie Maldonado:

Yes, the entertainer game sheet does. That’s the one sheeter that has all of our talent on it and that gets emailed out to staff on Fridays.

[1:04:40] Don Costante:

Okay. Well, I mean, it’s not unlike what we do for the Royals and what we did with the Spurs as well. I think that there’s a formula there for success. So it’s definitely worked.

[1:04:50] Jackie Maldonado:

I learned from the best, Don Castillo.

[1:04:52] Don Costante:

Well, you’re doing a great job implementing it. So all steps should be taken to eliminate any chance of miscommunication. It means establishing the right game day meetings that provide all the information that you just talked about with those game sheets. What are your game day meetings that you’ve established and what time do these meetings take place and who facilitates them? Are you doing all of them or is there somebody else?

Game Week Meetings

[1:05:15] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah, so we actually have game day meetings prior to game day. Like there’s two really important meetings that happen before we get to Sunday. The first one is our game day mascot meeting. Those are usually on Tuesdays. Sometimes they fluctuate contingent on school shows that our mascot team may have. But at these meetings, we’re discussing pregame and in-game skit logistics. Like everything is getting bedded out in this Tuesday meeting. We go, we review skit logistics for both performances. We discuss new defensive progressions or hot timeouts that we want on standby for that specific game. And then we also talk about the next game. So we’re always one game ahead with those game day mascot meetings. And in there, we’ll talk about camera angles, music cues, PA read, coming on and off the field. All of that is happening on Tuesday. Then on Thursdays, we have our run a show meeting. In that meeting, it’s Gavin, our executive producer, Jennifer, my boss, and Jamie Roots, our team president. Jamie gets the run a show and PA deck from me typically Wednesdays at the very latest Thursdays. But usually he has the run a show and PA deck from me on Wednesdays. So our Thursday meetings, he’s coming to the meeting prepared with edits he may want from game presentation, which is usually just like PA reads that he has edits for.

[1:06:36] Jackie Maldonado:

Very rarely is he trying to change sequence or order for run a show. But predominantly, the purpose of that meeting is more to go over run a show, what to expect, and he’ll ask us questions. You know, he’s making sure that we’re ready to go. He’ll ask us about mascots, what are we doing, where are the funnies, how are we covering this? Or, hey, we’ve got this milestone for this player. You know, Jonathan Joseph is about to hit his thousandth game. What are we doing to make sure that we highlight that in game? You know, our run a show meeting on Thursdays is to talk about the entire game, making sure that he’s clear. If he has any questions about game presentation, we’re answering the questions for him then. And then he goes to every away game, which is beneficial for us because we can’t go to every stadium. So in these meetings, he might come to this meeting and say, hey, the Ravens did this when I was at the game last week. I think it’s pretty cool. It’s not a directive, but just an idea. So we’ll talk through that during our run a show meetings on Thursdays. So we meet quite a bit on game week before we even get to game day.

[1:07:38] Don Costante:

You know what? I’m thinking about this, but it’s so unique that your president’s involved with the run a show meeting.

[1:07:44] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that’s meaning that I schedule the meetings, I run the meetings. But Mr. Jamie is really passionate about game presentation, you know, and he gives us the tools to succeed. He gives us the tools to just be better, game in and game out, whatever it takes to put on the best show, even if it comes from a budget perspective. You know, a couple of years ago, Gavin was really pitching getting a Steadicam and was giving all the reasons as to why the Steadicam would enhance our show. And this year, in the budget season last year, it was approved and we were able to incorporate Steadicam in our show this year. And, you know, Jamie supported us. He supported the pitch and it’s enhanced our show. So I’m really glad that we’re able to have these meetings with Jamie and to be able to get in front of him and him really know what to expect on game day and be able to give us, you know, constructive criticism. There’s times where, you know, we might not we might have not hit the mark on something and he keeps us accountable for that, which I think is a good thing.

[1:08:39] Don Costante:

No, I think it’s great. You know, I’ve been doing this for so long. I think 26 years into it so far, I’ve never had a team president involved in any of the meetings. So, yeah, that’s pretty unique and special. Let’s shift gears. Let’s talk about one of the things I think you do a great job of. It’s tremendous real estate to add value to your fans, specifically in the NFL. It’s halftime entertainment. And with that being said, as I mentioned, I think you do a great job. What’s the Houston Texans philosophy for your halftimes?

Halftime Entertainment Philosophy

[1:09:09] Jackie Maldonado:

What’s your approach? We really listen to our season ticket members. I have section captain surveys that are done for us. And I’ll list the halftime shows that we did the year prior to and ask our season ticket members to rank them and tell us what they liked. We also do J.D. Power surveys. And in those surveys, our season ticket members are asked about halftimes and what they think about the halftime that they’re watching that game and then what they want to see in the future. So what we have come to find out through the verbatims and through survey results is that our season ticket members really enjoy marching bands. They really enjoy the national recording artists. They like the variety of genre of national recording artists that perform at halftime. And they like the variety acts. So knowing that those are three really important elements for our season ticket members, I want to make sure that we’re giving them the entertainment that they’re looking for. So it is my challenge year after year to find the same type of talent, like the same type of entertainment, but not the same show year in and year out. So if I have a national recording artist, it’s not going to be the same person year in and year out.

[1:10:15] Jackie Maldonado:

If I book a speed painter one year, I’m not going to book them the following year. If I book the spasmatics, you know, last year, I’m not doing it this year. So that’s a challenge for us, but it’s a really cool challenge. What I absolutely love in my passion from a halftime perspective is producing halftime shows for national recording artists. Like everything that comes with that, you know, the negotiating, the identifying. How about that, right? It’s the brainstorming of the artist and then everything that it takes. Like you might start with artist A and by the time you go through scheduling and budgets and availability, you might go from artist A and land with artist G, which isn’t bad. You know, it’s still probably someone that we’re really excited about. But going through that exercise, finding the artist, once we find the artist, sending that artist to contract, signing the contract, booking the talent, then executing everything that comes along with that contract, booking flights, booking hotels, booking ground transportation, working on their track. I think that’s the most fun that I have is getting their music and being able to have the freedom to tell their music story through visuals, whether it be complementing it with video elements on the side boards as we’re shooting their performance on the main board or it’s graphics or it’s cryo or it’s pyro or it’s a night game.

[1:11:41] Jackie Maldonado:

So we’re bringing in intelligent lighting or it’s our cheerleaders because our cheerleaders are, you know, marry the energy that the artist has or bringing in, you know, country dancers because it’s a country artist. So like our, our cheerleaders may not make sense, but having, you know, country dancers to stepping makes sense for the artist. Like being able to come up with that creative is something that I absolutely love.

Finding and Booking Artists

[1:12:06] Don Costante:

Jackie, how do you go about finding them though? Obviously you’re looking for them. You might start with a and end with G, but are you working through an agency or are you doing it yourself?

[1:12:13] Jackie Maldonado:

You know, it’s a couple of different avenues. Over the years I’ve been able to establish relationships. So it depends on the artist. I have a database or I should say I subscribe to a database called celebrity access for those people that don’t know what celebrity access is. I highly recommend to use it as a tool. That’s actually what helped me start the relationships that I have with some record labels or management teams was this database. What celebrity access does, it’s a subscription. You do pay a pretty penny for it. It could be a year, multi-year subscription. But you can purchase it monthly and it’s like a $99 monthly fee. So if you want to subscribe just for one month, cause you’re working on a project, it’s actually quite affordable.

[1:12:57] Don Costante:

No, you’re absolutely right. You’re absolutely right.

[1:12:59] Jackie Maldonado:

And what they do is you enter any artist, any artist, type in their name and it will give you all of the information that they have on that artist. It’ll give you record label. It’ll give you agency. It’ll give you their management teams. It’ll give you their PR rep if they have their PR rep. And that’s actually what helped me start building these relationships. So as I’m looking at an artist, as we’re identifying our top, you know, five artists that we’re looking at, the first thing I’ll do is go to their website and see who, like, who’s their record label. If I already have an established relationship with Sony, then I’ll go straight to my Sony contact. If I already have an established relationship with their management team. You know, over the years I’ve established a relationship with Big Machine Record label, which has a ton of really strong country national recording artists. A friend of the Texans is Triple Eight Management. George, who’s their CEO over at Triple Eight Management, has secured us Eli Young Band and Josh Abbott Band and just artist after artist. And we’ve done so many great things with their talent roster that if I’m going a country route with an artist, I’ll look at Triple Eight Management’s artist roster first to see who they have to plug them in for a halftime show.

[1:14:13] Jackie Maldonado:

I’ve worked with Red Light Management, and Red Light Management is also a huge management team that has just an array of different genres and artists to book from. WME is a big agency. I’ve booked a lot of talent from WME as well. So it’s kind of a puzzle piece now, like now over the years. Yeah, but it’s been really great to be able to establish these relationships. Because once I identify an artist, I look at agency, I look at management, I look at record label. And if I have a relationship with any one of them, then that’s where I’m going to start with.

[1:14:46] Don Costante:

When you’re picking these artists, sorry to cut you off, but who needs to approve that artist? Are you making the call? Are you thinking because you’ve been there a while, so you know what they’re looking for? Or do you need to go to Jamie or who?

[1:14:57] Jackie Maldonado:

Usually I’ll come up with our top three.

[1:15:00] Don Costante:

Gotcha.

[1:15:01] Jackie Maldonado:

And we’ll identify what genre we want, right? So I’ll say, hey, for Liberty Whiteout, I want to go, you know, maybe 90s, an artist from the 90s, or I want to go country. If it’s Battle Red Day, I know that I’m going to want to go a little bit more intense. I want something fun. I want something rock. If it’s playoffs, I want it to just be a party. Because contingent on where you are with score. At halftime, winning or losing, I just want fans to have fun, right? So I’ll kind of identify the genre that we want for halftime. And then I’ll come up with the top three. I’ll pitch it to Jennifer. Sometimes she’ll be like, go to Jamie. Or she’ll be like, hey, I’ll take it to Jamie. And nine times out of ten, to be completely honest, she’ll be like, yep, we’re good. Like, very, very rarely does she come back or does Jamie come back and say no wrong direction or no, what about, you know, this artist instead. I feel really fortunate that they trust me in this position now. But here’s hoping I don’t screw it up because I’ve changed their trust.

[1:15:58] Don Costante:

I think you’re fine. Let’s go back for a second. When do you start your planning for halftime and who’s involved in that process?

Planning Halftime Entertainment

[1:16:04] Jackie Maldonado:

Is it just you? We start the process in, let’s see, our schedule comes out in April. We set our themes late April to early May. Then we start our GEMS committee meetings in May. The beauty of the GEMS committee is that they’re there to challenge me. I’ll come to the meetings and have top three ideas for Anthem, for halftime, for home field managed captains. And I’ll pitch them the artists in this committee. And I’ll say, hey, here’s who I’m looking at, A, B, and C. I’ll play their music for them, show them what the impressions that they have from a social media perspective and why these three artists or any one of these three artists fits the game. And the committee will come back and be like, yeah, it’s a great idea. But actually, we think that B is more of an A or we don’t like C at all. Again, I’ve been really lucky to gain their trust. So in these committee meetings, very rarely are they saying, have you thought about this artist instead? Nine times out of ten, they’re like, oh, my God, that’s so great. I really hope you can get them. And I’m like, yeah, pressure’s on now. Let’s hope that they say yes. But yeah, the brainstorming starts in May.

[1:17:15] Don Costante:

Okay. Now, one of the things I love that you said is that you incorporate entertainment resources like the cheerleaders and, you know, utilize your digital boards, special effects. One thing you guys do that’s unique is your staging. Talk about your staging.

Halftime Staging and Rapid Setup

[1:17:29] Jackie Maldonado:

Oh, I love our stage hands. We have gotten down to science. We’ve gotten to a point where the artists that come in look at us and they’re like, holy crap. It’s amazing, right? They’re like, wow, this is great. Yeah. So we have a 16 by 16 stage that rolls out in two different decks. The decks are eight by eight. Because of the position of the wheels and how the stage locks into position, they come out of two different tunnels. And they come out of catty corner tunnels, so opposite ends. Decks are loaded in the tunnel. If it has, if we’ve got heavy backline or any backline for that matter, the backline is coming out of one tunnel. And then, so I should say upstage and downstage are coming from different areas. A downstage usually has our backline on it. So zeros on the clock are stage hands. We use Rhino staging. And for those of you guys who are looking for a company, Rhino staging does a lot of business in Texas, but they’re trying to branch out. They’re absolutely amazing. Like, I love this crew. I trust this crew. I book them for every show. So Rhino staging is our stage hands. They’ll wait for my cue. Zeros on the clock. We’ll bring them on. From the time that they are leading the tunnels to the time that the stage is locked into position, audio is patched in, lighting is patched in, and we’re ready to send the artist on stage, is on average 90 seconds.

[1:18:53] Don Costante:

Incredible.

[1:18:54] Jackie Maldonado:

Typically, we try to get everything done at about a minute 20. We hit a minute 30 when we add additional, like when we add our fling pots out there and our trusses to either shoot pyro cryo. That’s when the additional timing gets tacked on. But on average, it’s about a minute 20 for setup. And then 60 seconds for breakdown.

[1:19:13] Don Costante:

That’s incredible. That is unbelievable.

[1:19:16] Jackie Maldonado:

It’s fun. But again, it’s rehearsal. That’s what the four hours of rehearsal on Saturday is for.

Learning From Super Bowl Producer Ricky Kirshner

[1:19:23] Don Costante:

You had the privilege of working with Ricky Kirshner in 2017 during the Super Bowl that took place in Houston. Now, Ricky, for those listening, is an Emmy award-winning producer that is really the force behind Super Bowl halftimes, the Tony Awards, and other cultural phenomenons. And so I bring that up because I want to know, what did you learn from Ricky when working with him, and how did that experience impact the way that you approach your halftime shows?

[1:19:52] Jackie Maldonado:

Wow, a lot. You know, and it’s funny that you bring up Ricky. I actually just, I had a call with him yesterday.

[1:19:58] Don Costante:

Oh, look at you. Rubbing elbows. That’s awesome.

[1:20:02] Jackie Maldonado:

I mean, Ricky is my Michael Jordan, and Ricky is my Kobe, right? And I kind of felt very similar to how I approached you back really early when I was just trying to break into my career, right? When I was just trying to get a foot in the door, it was Don Costini. Don Costini had the keys to help me get to where I wanted to be next. And Jackie being crazy Jackie, and going back to, you know, square one, in my head, I was like, I need to continue learning. I need to continue growing. I need to reach out to Ricky. Like, Ricky is the best in the business. Like you said, he’s an 11-time Emmy Award winner. He’s produced the Emmys. He’s produced 13 Super Bowl halftime shows. Who else to get career advice from than Ricky Kirshner?

[1:20:44] Don Costante:

You’re right.

[1:20:45] Jackie Maldonado:

I met him at Super Bowl 51 when we hosted Super Bowl here in Houston, and I met him by chance. I was working for Michael Fuhrer, who hired me to do the trophy presentation, and we were in casual conversation, and we were joking about something. And, you know, Michael interjected and was like, Jackie, I’m so sorry. You know, I’m so rude. You know, this is Ricky Kirshner. Ricky, this is Jackie. I knew he, I knew of him. I didn’t know what he looked like. So the minute he introduced me to Ricky, I’m pretty sure, like, my face went white, and I didn’t know what to say, because this is my idol that I am meeting. And I was like, holy crap. I got the opportunity to watch rehearsal, the Lady Gaga halftime rehearsal, and to watch Ricky in action. And anyone else during rehearsal would be watching Lady Gaga in the show, but my head was at Ricky Kirshner at midfield, looking at him produce the rehearsal, run rehearsal. He had an eight-foot table, 50-yard line, probably about, you know, 30 rows up. He had this little light that was giving, like, just enough light, like, lights were out. So this light was giving him just enough light to look at what I would assume his run of show at halftime. He’s standing there, headset on, looking at the field, making calls.

[1:22:04] Jackie Maldonado:

You know, show is happening. He’s stopping the show, starting things from the beginning, making adjustments. Like, that was so impressive to me. To see him direct, to see him have run such a tight rehearsal, to see him and have him put so much value into rehearsals and getting it right and timing and lighting, like, all of that was just so impressive to me. And I was in awe. Like, I felt like one of those moments, like, holy crap, somebody pinched me. Like, I am sitting at the Super Bowl halftime rehearsal for Lady Gaga. I’m watching Lady Gaga on stage, going through soundcheck, going through rehearsal, all while my idol is to the right of me. And watching him run rehearsal and give directive to Gaga and give directive to lighting and give directive, you know, to his staff on bringing stuff on and off a little quicker. Or hey, which I thought was kind of cool. And there was this moment in the show where she transitioned from the main stage to her B stage. And when she was at her B stage, she was playing on the piano. During rehearsal, they were having a really hard time getting her from the A stage to the B stage because she had this really long train that went down the stairs. But the movement was too quick and the body of this, like, skirt that she had that draped around the stairs was taking up timing.

[1:23:35] Jackie Maldonado:

So he made this executive call to, like, kill that wardrobe piece. So what you ended up seeing at rehearsal or what you ended up seeing on game day was actually a little different come rehearsal time. So I was just in awe. I was taking notes. I loved the way he produced his rehearsal, his collaboration that he has with the artist. It was just all of it. All of it was just absolutely amazing. I felt so fortunate to have been in his presence. And then I worked Super Bowl 52 in Minnesota and got the opportunity to watch him again in rehearsal during Justin Timberlake’s halftime rehearsal because he performed the halftime show for Super Bowl 52.

[1:24:11] Don Costante:

So you took all of this that you witnessed and incorporated it now into your running of halftime?

[1:24:16] Jackie Maldonado:

Yeah. I mean, seeing him with his stopwatch before his stage hands brought on all of the pieces to build the stage, right? Like, he knew what time he had hit. He had his stopwatch on. He’s giving them timing. Like, you know, one minute in, three minutes in. You know, that’s something that I’ve adopted and now do at our rehearsals as well.

[1:24:37] Don Costante:

Good. Just a couple last quick questions pertaining to halftime entertainment. What have you seen elsewhere that you want to try?

Future Ideas and a Favorite Halftime Show

[1:24:45] Jackie Maldonado:

I would say lasers. I really like how Ricky incorporated the lasers to enhance lighting during the Shakira and J-Lo halftime performance. What’s difficult for us is that in order to create these beams, as you know, you know, you do have to pipe in some cryo in there. You have to pipe in some smoke in order to get these beams. So that’s the challenge that we run into. Like, how do I do that without this additional smoke lingering at the above of the stadium? I would love to be able to enhance our lighting. I would love to be able to use lasers. It’s something that challenges me. But, yeah, like being able to tell the story through lighting, I think, is visually impactful.

[1:25:29] Don Costante:

One last question. What’s the one halftime that you’ve done that you’re most proud of?

[1:25:34] Jackie Maldonado:

I loved the Outkast performance. Well, Big Boy from Outkast performed Pink Ribbon Day for us October 6th last year. The elements that we added to the show, like, we just kept building. Like, it was a night game. It was Big Boy from Outkast, like, multi-Grammy award winner, which is really cool that he ended up performing at halftime that same year. So that was kind of cool that he was at our game in October and then later was at the Super Bowl in February that same year. But the way we built the show was fun. We brought in additional lighting. We added intelligent lightings against the field wall to help light the cheerleaders on the field. We added our pyro, our flame pots on the field and trusses. The LED intelligent lights that we had on the stage were super fun. And his set list, which I thought was really cool that they gave me the flexibility to put the set list together. So they gave me a list of songs that he could perform. And of those songs, we built the show to have it slowly build until, you know, until it got to, like, its climax at the end of the show. So the pyro hits that we had didn’t hit until song four. Typically for an artist, we do three songs, five and a half minute track show.

[1:27:00] Jackie Maldonado:

But for Big Boy, he has so many songs. We ended up doing five. We did pyro during Bombs Over Baghdad, which was the fourth song. So although you saw the flame pots, although you saw the trusses, it almost looked like just like pageantry. Like it just looked like it was decor on the field to making like Texanizing it. But then when Bombs Over Baghdad hit and the intensity of one, two, one, two, three, four. And pyro goes off like the crowd went crazy. The choreography hit like everything was just so much fun. Like I love. Yeah, absolutely love that show.

Final Thoughts From Jackie Maldonado

[1:27:36] Don Costante:

So to wrap it up, Jack, we’ve talked about directing. We talked about communication and entertainment at halftime. What are your final thoughts for those listening today to our discussion?

[1:27:48] Jackie Maldonado:

I think I have a couple of notes. I think final thoughts, game presentation. Game presentation is fast paced. It’s exhilarating. You have to think fast on your feet and work well under pressure. But if you love what you do, it’s fun and it’s very rewarding when you create moments that elicit this home field advantage and create these memorable experiences. You know, keep your knees bent. Like I said, keep your knees bent because it’s live entertainment. You can plan. You can rehearse. You can have the perfect run of show. But then the game happens, which means anything can happen. Right. So have plan A, B and C ready to go and know that you may there may be some times that you even get to plan Z. But that’s OK. Keep your knees bent and be ready for it all. Right. So that’s that’s one point. And I think something else I would encourage people to do no matter what level you’re in, no matter if you’re an intern trying to build your career or if you are a seasoned vet in production and live entertainment. I would say stay hungry and keep learning. You know, the moment you think you know it all, it’s time to move on. Benchmark. Challenge yourself to try new things. Find someone or something that inspires you and just stay learning and growing.

[1:29:01] Jackie Maldonado:

You know, not only will it benefit you, but in turn, it’ll benefit your show. You know, and I’m challenging myself to do that as well with Ricky Kirshner. You know, that was the whole purpose of our conversation yesterday. Like I want to continue staying hungry. I want to continue learning because it’s not just going to benefit me. It’s going to benefit the Texans and it’s going to get it’s going to benefit game presentation in general.

[1:29:22] Don Costante:

Jackie, that’s just tremendous advice. And I can’t thank you enough for taking the time today. What a great discussion. Great content for those, like you said, who want to get into the industry and those that are already in the industry. Everything that we talked about today is so relevant. So thank you so much for being on the podcast today.

[1:29:41] Jackie Maldonado:

Thank you for having me. And thank you for giving me my chance, John Kastaini. Because again, like I said, if it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t be here. So thank you for believing in me.

[1:29:49] Don Costante:

You know, Jackie, it’s easy to believe in people like you who take a proactive approach to learning and work hard for what they want. Thanks again. And I wish you continued success. Wow. What a great conversation with Jackie. It’s amazing to think that just 16 years ago, she was shadowing with me at the Spurs. And today she’s on my podcast, sharing her knowledge and experience with everyone. During our chat, Jackie went into a lot of great information that normally people just don’t get the opportunity to hear. That said, there were a few points that she made that stood out to me. Persistence. In the pursuit of her career, she talked about hard work and preparation. You need to check all those boxes of experience to become that candidate that is just too good to turn down. Keep your knees bent. Expect the unexpected. We work in live programming. You can go into it with the intent that you’re going to have your plan A work, but you need to be ready to shift gears when the unexpected does happen. Have plan B, C, or D ready to go. Rehearse everything. Preparation is communication. What did Jackie say about their halftime rehearsals? They average four and a half hours of rehearsal time for a five and a half minute performance.

Don Costante’s Key Takeaways

[1:31:02] Don Costante:

Now that’s how you ensure proper communication. The qualities that make for a great game director. Somebody that understands that it takes a team to produce a show. Somebody who communicates efficiently and concisely. Somebody who works well under pressure, stays calm and thinks fast. And most importantly, somebody who loves what they do. And lastly, stay hungry and keep learning. Challenge yourself each and every day to try new things. It’s too easy to become complacent. Those who are best are always looking to develop their skills and implement new and innovative ideas to enhance the game day experience. So those were just a few items that I highlighted during our conversation. I hope that there were some things that stood out to you as well. I want to thank Jackie again for being on the podcast and for sharing her thoughts and best practices with all of us. Well, that wraps up another episode of The Rundown. As always, I encourage you to reach out to me and share your thoughts, opinions, and questions. Send them to [email protected]Email The Rundown. Until the next time, I’m Don Costante.