Featured in Blooloop: Drew Oppenhuis on attraction supplier coordination
November 12, 2026 — Drew Oppenhuis, Director of Operations for ARCO/Murray’s Sports & Entertainment team, has a new opinion piece out in Blooloop, the attractions industry publication. Read Drew’s full article on attraction supplier coordination on Blooloop.
The topic is one ARCO deals with on every entertainment build. On a typical family entertainment center (FEC) or competitive socializing project, operators hire their own suppliers for bowling, go-karts, arcade games, laser tag, kitchen equipment and AV. Every one of those packages affects the building. When their requirements show up late, walls move, utilities get rerouted and the operator ends up solving construction problems instead of getting ready to open. When they’re planned in from the start, opening day gets a lot easier.
Drew breaks it down into four steps:
- Bring attraction suppliers in early, before the design is set.
- Build their requirements into the drawings and agree on who owns each piece of the scope.
- Track supplier lead times, deliveries and site readiness right alongside the construction schedule.
- Treat installation, testing and turnover as one venue, not a stack of separate contracts.
“A requirement caught during design is a drawing change. Once drawings are issued or work is underway, the same requirement can affect cost, schedule and the operator’s intended experience.”
– Drew Oppenhuis
The full article covers how each attraction shapes the building, what to ask suppliers up front and what still has to happen after the equipment is installed.
Thank you for reading!
Contact the ARCO/Murray Sports & Entertainment team to discuss your next project.