Riverside’s Connor Holds Court in the Final Four
No matter which teams make it past the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Final Four round this weekend, Riverside Co. portfolio company Connor Sport Court International feels like a champion.
The company has supplied all the portable basketball courts for the tournament since 2006, including this year’s finals to be played at the AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
“It is the biggest floor and toughest we’ve ever built,” said Connor Chief Executive Ron Cerny.
Unlike previous Final Four rounds, this year’s games will be held at a football field. Apart from the NCAA-approved maple hardwood flooring for the court, Connor laid flooring on the rest of the stadium ground measuring just under 10,000 square feet.
Connor this week installed the courts for this weekend’s games. Mr. Cerny said he believes the work is a testament to Riverside’s investment and commitment to improve its operations, going back to the early days of the investment when it took the company three weeks to build a basketball court.
“Now we can make at least three every week,” he said. “We would never have been able to do that without Riverside.”
The Cleveland firm acquired Connor Sports Flooring in 2004. Riverside Managing Partner Suzanne Kriscunas said the firm acquired Sports Court International the following year and merged it with Connor. Sports Court has been a contractor for providing the flooring for the NCAA’s volleyball events for 15 years.
The combined entity provides a variety of sports flooring, from red rubber tracks to tennis surfaces.
Mr. Cerny said Riverside’s international presence allowed Connor to expand beyond the U.S. In Asia, Connor provides licensees in Thailand, China, Qatar and even Afghanistan with the maple hardwood flooring used in amateur and professional sporting events. About 30% of Connor’s revenue comes from overseas operations, although the company wouldn’t provide dollar figures.
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