For the 2024 Eucharistic Revival, DeSales Media Group faced the difficult task of turning Louis Armstrong Stadium at the USTA Tennis Center from a place of elite athleticism to one of public worship headed by Bishop Robert J. Brennan. Thousands of the faithful from parishes all over Brooklyn and Queens flocked to Flushing Meadows to attend as an outward display of their faith.
Though many arrived with mobile tickets ready to display on their smartphones in the Ticketmaster app, thousands could not do so, and DeSales needed to figure out a workable solution given that the USTA Tennis Center exclusively offers entrance tickets through Ticketmaster. Working very closely with Father Joseph Gibino, the Vicar for Evangelization and Catechesis, and his staff, External Affairs liaised with the USTA Tennis Center staff and Ticketmaster to develop a workaround. This solution required thousands of these free tickets to be transferred into individual accounts for DeSales staff who volunteered to be at the entrance gates so they could use these tickets to grant entry to the faithful. DeSales also supplemented Evangelization’s outreach efforts to pastors and those that the pastors designated as responsible for gathering RSVPs from each parish by calling through the list to figure out which congregations still needed help.
Though many attendees arrived on an individual basis, driving or taking Mass transit, many decided to come as groups. These groups came in the form of 40+ buses all arriving at around the same time in the morning for dropoff, as well as multiple processions, including three traditional street processions and one subway procession that Bishop Brennan would lead personally. Anticipating gridlock, External Affairs prepared by arranging meetings with the NYPD, MTA, and USTA Tennis Center security to determine the best bus pickup and dropoff points and procession routes, and also to ensure that enough police officers would be on site at all these different places simultaneously, including:
Our Lady of Sorrows went along 37th Avenue, making a right onto 114th Street, then a left onto Roosevelt Avenue.
St. Leo’s headed down 48th Avenue, then left onto 111th Street, right onto 41st Avenue, then left onto 114th Street, then a right onto Roosevelt Avenue.
Our Lady of Sorrows and St. Leo’s met at 114th Street and Roosevelt Avenue.
St. Michael’s traversed 41st Avenue, with a right onto Main Street, and a left onto Roosevelt Avenue.
The subway procession was even more complex. Bishop Brennan had specifically asked to lead this non-traditional approach and tasked External Affairs with coming up with something that could maximize access and participation, while preserving the safety of participants. This required research in advance as well as multiple in-person walkthroughs and meetings, determining a minute-by-minute plan with deacons stationed at each train stop and security posted with the bishop on the subway:
7:42 – Court Square (Side platform with 1 staircase access, no construction)
7:45 – Queensboro Plaza (Center platform accessed via 2 staircases, middle clear with
construction on ends)
7:53 – 61 St-Woodside (Side platform with 2 staircase access, middle clear with construction
on ends)
7:56 – 74 St-Broadway (Side platform with 2 staircase access, no construction)
8:06 – Mets-Willets Pt (Special Events access closed during walkthrough)
8:10 – Beginning of Pedestrian Bridge/Walkway
8:17 – East Gate
8:27 – At the Home Run Apple on the Citi Field side
External Affairs also made possible something that no one expected to actually happen: drone coverage of the arrival of the processions. Having worked with NYPD’s Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) previously for drone coverage of other events, the team was told of the difficulties of getting drone approval for a location so close to LaGuardia Airport. Furthermore, DeSales was told that the USTA specifically did not want drones over their property for legal reasons. In the end, the NYPD came through with their drone, which provided coverage of the processions crossing the pedestrian walkway to the USTA entrance.
