Say you’re at a New England Patriots game, and you get fired up by the song playing over the loudspeakers. Or you get drawn in by a hype video playing on the scoreboard. Or you’re at a team party and your favorite former player shows up.
In each case, it’s the same person making it happen. Cape Elizabeth native Abbey Thistle is the senior director of event presentation and fan engagement for the New England Patriots, which means it’s her job to manage the game-day atmosphere at Gillette Stadium, connect with former players and oversee the team’s fan-facing events.
She’s had the job since 2013, and it’s taken her everywhere from watch parties to NFL drafts to the Super Bowl. She is on a first-name basis with some of the best players in Patriots history, including Tom Brady.
Twelve years later, Thistle says she still gets a jolt.
“We had a rally out in Denver (for the AFC championship game), and we had like 1,800 people show up. I just remember sitting there going ‘Holy crap. This is still really cool,’” said Thistle, 47, who now lives in Pelham, New Hampshire. “We had Adam Vinatieri there and David Andrews and Logan Ryan, and all these fans. It was so amazing. I do still have those moments of ‘Yeah, I love this.’”
It wasn’t a job Thistle envisioned, however. A sports fan growing up, Thistle (nee Thelin) graduated from Cape Elizabeth High School and went to the University of Delaware to study history and English, but wanted a career in a different field.
“I played sports and I loved watching with my dad, so I thought ‘Hey, let’s see about working in sports,’” she said.
Thistle got her master’s in sports management at the University of Denver in 2005, which led first to an internship with the Denver Broncos from 2003-07, followed by a job with the Worcester Sharks in the American Hockey League until 2011. She then worked for the Boston Red Sox until 2013 before joining the Patriots organization.
The jobs were game presentation. Again, a fortunate misdirection.
“When I interviewed for the internship with the Broncos, I was told by my adviser at school that it was in the communications department, so I just assumed PR or marketing,” she said. “I had no idea that this sort of level of fan engagement existed. But once I started … I was like ‘Nope, this is it, this is what I want to do.’”
With the Patriots, Thistle coordinates all aspects of the in-game entertainment. She oversees the songs that get played, the videos that get shown, the games for fans that pop up on the scoreboard, and any pregame or halftime ceremonies, directing the sequences like the conductor of an orchestra.
When a pump-up song gets played, it’s the result of a strategic discussion on when to use it.
“You have to walk through those situations,” she said. “We talk through ‘We know we have this in our arsenal, we know this is going to be a big moment, when is that time to pull the trigger to create that big moment?’”
Around seven or eight years ago, however, her role expanded to include fan engagement. Now she coordinates fan outreach, mascot and cheerleader showings, as well as draft and watch parties. She also helps organize all events involving former players.
Whenever a player returns to ring the bell at the lighthouse at Gillette Stadium? Thistle sets it up. She was also part of the team that pitched the three-year-old custom, which is an anticipated part of every home game.
“It ended up taking off,” she said. “I think we really nailed (it).”
Wearing all those hats has put a lifelong Patriots fan into some memorable encounters, where she’s been on the phone or stood shoulder to shoulder with some of the most celebrated players the team has had.
“There have been a few moments like that,” she said. “When I first started doing all of this, (seeing) Ty Law and Lawyer Milloy, these were the guys. I don’t get that way anymore, just because I’ve done it for so long and I’ve kind of known them now.”
Well, there was one exception.
“The most star-struck I’ve ever been was (Jon) Bon Jovi,” she said. “When we had him do the bell, that was my childhood growing up. That was the one and only time I was like ‘I want to be up there.’”
Her favorite moments, though, have been seeing the feedback from the fans about her work, whether it’s dozens of people at a fan event, or 68,000 strong at a game. When the right song is played, or the right video is shown, there can be a surge in the energy of the crowd that she can feel up in the box.
One example was the 2014 AFC divisional round game against the Ravens, a dramatic 35-31 New England victory. In the fourth quarter, the fans sang along with The Outfield’s “Your Love,” their voices bellowing in the 8-degree wind chill. When the song was interrupted and restarted following an official’s announcement, the fans picked it back up.
More than a decade later, in the win over Houston on Jan. 18, Thistle saw that kind of reaction again when the fans sang along to Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer.” As the Patriots have returned to the front of the league this year, a moment like that told Thistle the team, and its fans, were back.
“The press box was shaking. We haven’t had those press box shaking moments in so long,” she said. “Those are those moments that will stick with me forever. … I love being able to be a part of that, and to affect how the fans experience the game.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.pressherald.com ’
