Picture seeing the Washington Capitals or Washington Wizards play live. Now imagine seeing them play while you’re working. Well, if you’re a part of KPMG or one of their clients, you won’t have to imagine for much longer.
On June 15, Monumental Sports & Entertainment (MSE) and KPMG LLP, a global network of professional firms providing, audit, tax, and advisory services, announced the opening of a revamped arena suite located at MSE’s Capital One Arena in Washington, DC. The transformed 28-person suite will act as KPMG’s newest Ignition Center, with more than 500 square feet of open space. It’s equipped with the latest technology, making it an ideal meeting place for KPMG and its clients to collaborate.
The arena is open to KPMG and its clients 365 days a year, any point in the day, so it can be utilized during the evening games of the Capitals or Wizards. Regardless of what game is being hosted in the arena, KPMG will have the opportunity to offer traditional live-event hospitality to their clients and create an experience that would otherwise be improbable among other business and client collaborations.
Ted Leonsis, the founder, chairman, and CEO of MSE, knew this idea was brilliant as soon as KPMG and the senior executives at MSE came together to collaborate.
“Taking a suite normally used to host clients to watch Capitals and Wizards games and innovate within it — bringing customers into an environment that’s unexpected and creating a destination to engage people to think differently — is such a big idea,” Leonsis says.
KPMG Ignition Centers have assisted numerous businesses across multiple industries. They curate experiences using a combination of talent, environment, assets, and methods tailored to help their clients reframe complex problems into future opportunities, and drive value from innovation.
Tim Gillis, KPMG Washington, DC area office managing partner, believes this is a blueprint for the future.
“We wanted to create a space where our clients could leave their traditional office space and enter into an immersive environment and experience where they can think differently about their business issues. The way we put it is, ‘You can start somewhere and go anywhere,’” Gillis says.
Gillis points out that disruptive transformation and innovation are synonymous with the KPMG brand.
“Innovation starts when you answer a question that has historically been answered with a no and you answer it with a yes,” Gillis says. “That’s what we have done here and that’s what we think our clients will experience here as well.”
With Capital One hosting more than 200 events per year and KPMG Ignition centers located across the country, the implementation of this novel but necessary suite will certainly be continually utilized.
“This reimagining of suite space is another innovation our team is bringing to our community of business partners,” Leonsis says. “So, I congratulate the leaders at KPMG for being a first mover and an exemplar in finding new uses for the convening operation we have built, and I’m sure others will soon join them.”
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