Sports? Check. Management? Check. Jerry Rodriguez loving his job? Check. As general manager of Lagasse’s Stadium at The Palazzo, the east Chicago native says his job combines his love for sports with his hardworking ethos of running a successful venue. “I think the best way I would put it is that I manage three major components,” he explains. “Guest service, the financials and team member morale.”
But he certainly doesn’t overlook the awesome spot he manages. “If I had a dollar for every time someone walked into the place and said, ‘Wow!’ It’s a sports lover’s dream,” he says.
For Rodriguez, it was a long road to get to the dream. While attending Purdue University to study engineering, he eventually switched his career to human resources and management. One year after arriving in Vegas in 2002, he started working in the HR department at The Venetian. By 2008 he entered the company’s leadership program, training within 30 different departments on property, including sister property The Palazzo. When Lagasse’s opened, he kept his eye on the prize, and eventually joined the venue in 2012.
Off the clock, you can find Rodriguez playing in a nationally sanctioned baseball league, a league he’s been a part of for nearly a decade. His team, the Black Sox, have even played on the spring training field in Tempe, Ariz. “For five days you feel like a professional baseball player,” he says, grinning.
Spicy Cadillac Margarita
Order up a specialty cocktail, place a wager at the race and sports book located inside Lagasse’s Stadium and sit back and watch games on more than 100 HD screens. A popular cocktail pick to get you going is the Spicy Cadillac Margarita mixed with Don Julio Blanco, Cointreau, sour mix, Grand Marnier and lime juice. Lagasse’s now welcomes football season, creating specially themed food menus for Monday and Thursday night football all season long. Catch the Steelers vs. Redskins Sept. 12 and Jets vs. Bills Sept. 15.
