HOK and ROSSETTI Join Forces to Create Expanded Global Sports, Recreation and Entertainment Design Practice

Sports architecture firms HOK and ROSSETTI merge into 1,200-person global design powerhouse

James Okafor | GlobalBeat

HOK and ROSSETTI announced a merger on Monday that creates a 1,200-person sports, recreation and entertainment design practice spanning four continents.

The combined entity immediately becomes the world’s largest specialist studio for stadiums, arenas and mixed-use entertainment districts, with $150 million in annual sports revenue and 250 projects already in development.

The union pairs HOK’s global reach — the firm designed 8 of the 12 NFL stadiums opened since 2017 — with ROSSETTI’s innovation lab that produced the first pivoting seating bowl in NBA history for Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. Sports owners have pressured architects for faster delivery and revenue-generating fan spaces after pandemic delays pushed $12 billion in construction over budget industry-wide.

“This isn’t a takeover, it’s a fusion of cultures,” ROSSETTI CEO Matt Rossetti told reporters on a video call from Detroit. His 48-year-old family firm brings 130 employees and its 1-million-square-foot portfolio of U.S. college arenas to the table. HOK contributes 1,070 staffers across 23 offices and ongoing work on the $2.3 billion New Commanders Stadium near Washington.

The merger closed at 12:01 a.m. Eastern after a 45-day due-diligence sprint that began when HOK’s board approached Rossetti during the SXSW festival in March. Terms were not disclosed, but Rossetti will chair the new sports practice while HOK design principal Bob Carlson oversees delivery of projects already valued at $8.7 billion.

Fan experience drove the deal. Both firms lost bids last year to foreign competitors who promised AI-driven crowd-flow modeling and immersive retail pods inside venues. Combined, they now control 42 patents ranging from retractable field trays to carbon-fiber roof panels first used at SoFi Stadium.

“Scale matters when owners want a stadium, a training campus and a surrounding entertainment district delivered as one package,” Carlson said. He cited Sacramento’s $1.6 billion Downtown Sports and Entertainment District — now back on track after the merger secured financing through a sovereign wealth fund that had demanded a single point of accountability.

Staff integration starts Tuesday. ROSSETTI’s Detroit headquarters becomes the merged practice’s Midwest hub, while HOK keeps its sports studio in Kansas City. No layoffs are planned, both CEOs confirmed, though 30 overlapping administrative roles will be “redeployed” to project teams by September.

Competitors reacted quickly. Populous, the Kansas City-based rival that designed Yankee Stadium and Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, emailed clients a 4-page briefing headlined “Choosing Stability Over Conglomeration.” The note, seen by GlobalBeat, argues that bigger rarely means faster after Gensler’s 2015 acquisition of 360 Architecture led to a 18-month slowdown in stadium deliveries.

Investors see otherwise. Shares of venue-tech supplier Daktronics surged 7% on the news, while construction giant AECOM added 2.4% amid bets that consolidated design teams will order more premium ribbon-board and immersive audio systems. “We’re looking at a new arms race for super-stadiums,” MoffettNathanson analyst Michael Lebovitch wrote in a client note.

Athletes weighed in too. NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo posted an Instagram story praising the merger, calling ROSSETTI’s work on the Bucks’ home court “the best locker room I’ve ever had.” The league itself issued a terse statement wishing both firms “continued success” while reminding teams that arena design contracts remain subject to competitive bidding.

Background

HOK entered sports architecture in 1967 when it added boxes to the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The firm went on to design Camden Yards, sparking the retro-ballpark boom, and later built the bulk of NFL palaces including AT&T Stadium and Levi’s Stadium. Its sports division generated $95 million last year but growth stalled as soccer and basketball clients defected to boutique studios promising tighter fan intimacy.

ROSSETTI started as a Detroit shopping-mall designer in 1969 before pivoting to arenas with The Palace of Auburn Hills in 1988. The privately held firm kept a lower profile yet pioneered revenue-generating features such as courtside club suites and glass-wall player tunnels that became NBA standards. Last year it posted $55 million in sports revenue, a company record, but lacked the overseas footprint needed to chase Saudi and Asian arena projects.

What’s Next

The merged practice will pitch jointly for 3 mega-projects due for RFP release before August: a $3 billion NFL stadium in suburban Chicago, a $2.2 billion expansion of London’s Stamford Bridge, and a 22,000-seat indoor venue in Riyadh that forms part of Saudi Arabia’s 2034 World Cup plan. Decisions on all 3 are expected by December, setting up a head-to-head battle with Populous and MANICA Architecture that could determine market leadership for the decade.

The deal also pressures mid-tier firms to partner or perish. Sources at Kansas City-based Ellerbe Becket, now part of AECOM, told GlobalBeat that management has revived talks with European soccer specialist Pattern Design amid fears of being boxed out of Premier League work. “We either bulk up or become a subcontractor,” one Ellerbe director said on condition of anonymity because the discussions are ongoing.