The doors to Agganis Arena opened at 6 p.m. on Friday for the Boston University men’s hockey game against Colgate — but for Charlotte Powers, game day began much earlier.
Powers, the senior marketing manager at Agganis, said her game days typically last 12 hours, usually starting at 11 a.m. She and Kristen Janes, the other marketing manager at the arena, are responsible for a lot of the communication that happens before, during and after hockey games.
“My job is what you call ‘show calling,’” Powers said. “That is essentially making sure that we are staying on track with the scripting format.”
The scripting format, Powers said, is what staff at Agganis use to coordinate the timing of events that occur during the game — from putting broadcast messages and sponsored content on the big screen to checking if giveaways are set to go.
Powers said Janes mainly operates at the “on-ice level,” overseeing the rally crew and game day staff. Powers, meanwhile, is up in the production cutout, monitoring visuals on the large, four-sided video board hanging above the rink.
Both of them are additionally in constant communication with other Agganis staff — such as the events team, the guest services team and security — to make sure everything is in order, Powers said.
“We want people to come into the lobby to make sure that we have the best fan experience possible,” she said. “It’s a lot. It’s a fun job, though. We love it.”
Many of the Agganis staff that Powers works with are also BU students.
The broadcast team is almost entirely run by students, and the guest services team is composed of student ushers and ticket takers. Some student staff members play major roles on the concessions team and the operations team, while others take on the responsibilities of operating cameras and assisting with audio.
Powers said the operations team is very “hands-on,” and their work is a lot more physical.
“You might find if we have a concert the next day, and we had hockey the night before, there’s going to be student staff that might be working through the night to make sure that the ice is covered and that the arena is ready, because tours tend to load in very early the next day,” she said.
BU senior Kenny Fang, a student operations supervisor at Agganis, said for the operations team, game days typically start five or six hours before the game, where they set up the lobby, concourse and suites.
“During the game, operations takes a more backseat [role],” Fang said. “We’re mostly making sure the concourse is clean. We’re still doing mostly the behind-the-scenes work, depending on the next event we’re getting ready to transition to.”
Fang started working at Agganis as a freshman in the Fall 2022 semester and became a student operations supervisor the following semester.
Fang said the best thing about working at Agganis is the friendly environment.
“When working long shifts and overnights and stuff, having a good vibe with the people you’re working with is really important,” Fang said.
This environment is not only important to the staff and fans — but also to the team that’s playing in the arena.
Gavin McCarthy, captain of the BU men’s hockey team, said the team has come to know how great of people the staff is after seeing them every day and getting to know them over time.
“They make sure everything is ready to go,” he said. “They make it really easy on us to just be able to focus and get dialed in for the game. I think that’s huge. I think that really contributes to the overall experience at Agganis for both us and the fans.”
At Agganis, the front office is a team of just 15 people, Powers said. However, the close, tight-knit group works together really well to make sure game nights run as smoothly as possible, she said.
“It’s a lot of late nights. It’s a lot of long days, but it really is a testament to the team that does it and how smoothly we all communicate across the board to make it happen,” Powers said. “It really feels like when the event is happening, the whole community pitched in to make it that way.”
