Back home at the Met: Veteran sports administrator named complex manager

The Hoover Metropolitan Complex has a new general manager who just moved from Wisconsin, but he’s no stranger to Hoover.

Shannon Ealy has spent about 30 years in sports management, including 19 years based in Birmingham, where he previously ran the SEC Baseball Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium for the SEC and Bruno Event Team for 10 years.

“He knows what we’re about. He knows the events that are important to us,” Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice said.

John Sparks, a vice president for The Sports Facilities Companies, whose subsidiary manages the Hoover Met Complex, said Ealy’s background and experience in the Birmingham and Hoover communities carried him to the top of the pack among applicants to fill the job vacancy.

E.J. Brophy was general manager for the Hoover Met Complex for about nine months in 2021 but left for another opportunity in October, Sparks said.

Ealy, who was hired to replace Brophy in February, has a long history of sports administration. He got his start in 1992 as an assistant to the athletic director at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville and after two years there spent a year as a marketing assistant at the University of Florida.

In 1996, he moved to Birmingham, taking a job as the director of championships marketing and operations for the SEC for four years. In that role, he was responsible for event planning and operations for the SEC Football Championship game, men’s and women’s SEC Basketball Tournament, SEC Softball Tournament, SEC Baseball Tournament and part of the NCAA Basketball Tournament.

Starting in 2000, he spent seven years with the Bruno Event Team and Alabama Sports Foundation, planning and coordinating events such as SEC Baseball Tournament, SEC Gymnastics Championships, Magic City Classic, Southwestern Athletic Conference Football Championship, Association of Volleyball Professionals Pro Beach Volleyball, U.S. soccer matches and U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials.

At the same time, he provided consulting services to the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex to assist with the planning, programming and support for a downtown Birmingham stadium, entertainment district and lodging accommodations as president of Birmingham Sports Ventures.

He then spent almost eight years with the University of Alabama at Birmingham, most as a senior associate athletic director with oversight of day-to-day operations and a budget of more than $30 million annually. He was named interim athletic director at the same time the university canceled the football, bowling and rifle programs and then assisted in getting all three sports reinstated within six months after a public outcry.

Ealy said that the whole experience was tough but made him a better leader and provided insight into how to handle adversity.

Shortly after a new athletic director was hired, Ealy took a settlement package from UAB and went on to become athletic director at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville for two years. The past two years, he has run a company called Outsource Sports Management that served sports, entertainment and tourism organizations.

Ealy applied for the Hoover Met Complex general manager job when it was first created in late 2016 and was the runner-up for the job, he said. He said he has kept his eye on it ever since and was eager to get back to the Birmingham-Hoover area to be closer to his children.

His familiarity with the complex and the people in Hoover has made the learning curve shorter, and he’s been working to understand the daily operations, structures and procedures, he said. “It’s going great. I love it.”

He’s also been busy working to rebuild the administrative team, including key positions such as finance manager, marketing manager, human resources manager and concessions coordinator.

His priorities are to solidify the relationships that the management company has with the city of Hoover and make sure Sports Facilities Management is being a good partner with the city, he said. The city has invested a lot of money into the complex, and he wants to make sure the city sees a good economic return on its investment while at the same time serving the needs of the local community, Ealy said.

He wants to be the model facility for the 30 or so athletic facilities his company manages, he said. “I think it’s a lofty goal, but that’s what I’m shooting for.”