The Los Angeles Sports Council honored LAFC president Tom Penn as its Executive of the Year on Tuesday night, presenting the award in the organization’s 14th annual achievement ceremony.
“From the beginning, we had this really, really unique opportunity to create everything from nothing,” Penn said as he accepted the award. “I always see these awards as organizational awards, not individual awards… Everybody worked their tails off to make this happen.”
Penn is in good company in receiving the award, which has previously been given to powerhouses such as Casey Wasserman, Stan Kasten and Arte Moreno. The results of the team’s first year in MLS speak for themselves — a perfect season of sold-out home games, all-time MLS records as an expansion team and a third place finish in the Western Conference.
But Penn had more to do with what happened behind the scenes and off the field for the team, helping to create the focus on downtown, “street by street” development that has cemented LAFC as part of the local community.
This has been fortified by the construction and success of Banc of California Stadium, the home of LAFC which also serves as its own platform for sports anchored business development.
While the Banc is most widely known as the home for the soccer club, its reach expands wider in Los Angeles, and a majority of the stadium’s regular business is attended to by a separate business arm that focuses on bringing in events. The $350 million stadium is as much an investment into the events calendar of South Central, and its success has been reflected in Penn’s work to bring major events – from international soccer games to Iron Maiden concerts — into the building.
Although he is considered a veteran in the industry, Penn’s work with LAFC is his first introduction to the business of soccer in America. His previous wheelhouse was NBA basketball, and he worked with teams such as the Memphis Grizzlies and Portland Trail Blazers before joining ESPN as a basketball analyst for five years.
The early success of LAFC and Penn’s investment will be tested in the team’s sophomore season, as LAFC attempts to continue to ride the wave of momentum cut short by last year’s early playoff loss. But with three sell-outs and no losses so far this season, both Penn, and the club as a whole, is feeling confident that LAFC is here in Los Angeles to stay.