How different are Taylor Swift and Luke Combs fans? Paycor Stadium knows

Paycor Stadium is in for a busy month. Cincinnati Music Festival, Luke Combs and the Bengals' first preseason game are all on the docket for the next three weekends.

Over the years, the venue has hosted over a dozen Cincinnati Music Festivals and numerous A-list artists, such as Demi Lovato, Guns N' Roses and, of course, Taylor Swift.

So how do organizers do it?

Duane Haring, director of stadium and event operations with the Bengals, has worked with the team for nearly nine years, helping coordinate between stadium events, football games and concerts alike. The Enquirer spoke to Haring to learn more about what goes on behind the scenes.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How Paycor Stadium is preparing for Cincinnati Music Festival, Luke Combs

Q: Does Paycor Stadium have a separate events team for concerts vs. Bengals games?

A: Every show is unique and certainly every major event here can be unique. So what we have tried to do is create a system where you'll see a lot of the familiar faces that are here for Bengals games, that are here for concerts particularly on the front line. But what you'll find is that every event has different demands, different needs, different requests, even.

So every tour will have some of their own people who will absolutely be involved and we welcome that. And we can supplement our expertise here at the stadium and flag the different things that are unique about Paycor Stadium, about our city.

Can you give more detail as to what kind of personnel artists like Taylor Swift bring in to work with the stadium?

I'm not able to get into those details, but what I can tell you is there's a lot of collaboration. There are people that artists will bring to the table who we work closely with on a day-to-day, hour-to-hour, if not minute-to-minute basis to ensure that things are operating smoothly. But, there's no doubt we review the security plan and the security detail with an artist's team at a high level.

What did Paycor Stadium learn from Taylor Swift's Eras Tour stop? What was successful and what needed changing?

We've been told we were one of the friendliest stops on the Taylor Swift tour for fans. And I think that has a lot to do with the preparation that this community put in place. I think everything from the show promoters to our organization to the local community, the fans, our public partners, first responders, there was so much tremendous collaboration.

It really showed that we were not only prepared but really we were thriving with the onset of the shows. I think we showed that we can handle those types of mega-tours quite well.

What did the weeks leading up to Taylor Swift's June 2023 tour stop look like for Paycor Stadium?

The preparation goes sometimes even years in advance, from the show being booked and the space being reserved to accelerating as you get much closer to the few months leading up to the shows.

There's so many logistics to work out and things people might not even think about, like getting the trucks pulled in so they can do load-in, getting the field covered to put the concert floor down, getting the stadium clean and ready. For us, we have Cincinnati Music Festival this weekend and we're anticipating huge crowds for both nights. We're excited for that.

There has been construction to expand the stadium's northeast plaza near Elm Street and Freedom Way. What led to that decision? And how might the expansion impact/improve the experience of concertgoers?

With enhanced security over the last several years, this entrance had become a pinch-point. Together, the club and the county agreed that expanding the entrance to the plaza from Elm Street would significantly improve the fan experience.

Will it be completed for Cincinnati Music Festival?

The construction will be complete for the opening night of the Cincinnati Music Festival.

In your tenure at Paycor Stadium, can you remember a time as busy as these next three weekends?

It's not unheard of for us. This is certainly going to be pretty booked for three consecutive weekends, but it's not anything that we're not prepared for or that we can't handle.

For each show, we understand the fan needs, the fan expectations and we love working with the promoters to try to plan accordingly to meet and hopefully exceed their expectations.

What does Paycor Stadium focus on in terms of concert attendee needs and expectations?

What I really enjoy about this industry is that there are other venues hosting these same types of shows all across the country, and the information-sharing with my counterparts to better understand what to expect is invaluable. What we're really doing is leaning into the data and analytics that help us to understand things like the food and beverage desires of a particular crowd and what was the weather situation for an indoor versus outdoor stadium like Paycor.

Anytime you're going to put 65,000 fans together in one place, there's going to be some lines, there's going to be some delays at times. But we work really hard to ensure that that experience goes as seamlessly as possible, like adding more food and beverage options that are just grab-and-go so you don't have to spend a lot of time in line.

What exactly will different stadium venues discuss amid hosting a touring artist?

Sometimes, talking to the show promoters of a particular tour is not what's needed because they're almost too close to the fire, they're backstage. They're not going to see how many bottles of water did they sell at a Taylor Swift concert versus a country show, which can be dramatically different. So those things are really going to come to us from the venue and from the operators at each venue, the ones that don't necessarily tour with the show but are experiencing it in the flesh for two nights consecutively.

Cincinnati Music Festival and Luke Combs are both performing for two consecutive nights at Paycor Stadium. Does preparation look any different when Paycor is hosting the same show two nights in a row?

The biggest thing you have to think about when it's two nights is turning the building over in a very, very short period of time. It's prepping to have staff ready to roll in as fans are rolling out, because the building needs to get cleaned, we have to reload and restock all our food and beverage options. And obviously it's a staffing question because we aren't asking people to give up one night we're asking them to give up two nights, because having those consistent faces in the same areas allows us to excel in this venue.

What is your advice to fans preparing to attend Cincinnati Music Festival and/or Luke Combs?

Fans coming to our shows should absolutely plan in advance. This is the big mantra we shared out last year for Taylor Swift.

Plan everything from your traffic route or how you're going to be getting to the stadium. If you're going to be driving, plan in advance where you'll be parking. Look at where your seats are in the stadium and determine which gate would make the most sense for you to enter. Pack your patience and then everybody will have a great time.

Lastly, I'd love to share, that here at Paycor Stadium I think we've shown we can handle these mega-concerts like Luke Combs, like Taylor Swift, like the Cincinnati Music Festival. And we would love to continue to host mega-shows like that here in the future.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: How different are Taylor Swift, Luke Combs fans? Paycor Stadium knows