FROM THE EDITOR

Shocked. Saddened. Surprised.
That was the universal industry reaction to news Feld Entertainment will close the 146-year-old memory maker that is Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus in May of this year.
In the first week since the announcement, the focus is on the circus family, and it’s global. Flavio Togni, who produces his family circus in Italy and toured with Ringling from 1989-1991, the 120th edition, put it poignantly. “RBBB is not just part of America. Since I was a child, the dream of my life was to perform with Ringling.”
Ironically, Flavio told me that 20 years ago, they were ready to pull the plug and announced they were closing their circus. The next performance sold out. The tent stayed open.
It’s different for Feld Entertainment. I could hear a tear in Juliette Feld’s voice as she told me about the tough decision to close Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, the original family show that led the Felds down the path they’re on. It’s about the people and helping them find a new life right now.
And it’s about the arenas that count on the Feld Entertainment shows. Jeff Gaines, NRG Park, Houston, said his stadium hosts as many as 76 family show performances annually, of which 28 were the circus, drawing 130,000 people. “There are not a lot of shows that do that level of business.”
Like other arena managers, Jeff expressed total faith in Feld Entertainment and their commitment to fill those dates with new product. Carl Hall, at Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky., had already made preliminary plans with his Feld rep to sub a second run of Disney on Ice this year, and something else by 2018.
The announcement probably broke the internet, as Steve Payne, VP of corporate communications said retiring the elephants did last year. It’s certainly got email and cellphones buzzing as the industry reaches out to Feld and one another. That was my first reaction when I heard about the circus while in Sugar Land, Texas, for the opening of Smart Financial Center Jan. 14. I called and emailed. I reached out in all directions.
We all thought the circus would be around forever, said Tim Ryan, Honda Center, Anaheim. “Everyone on a personal level is quite sad.”
On a professional level, Tim said he wouldn’t be surprised if down the road, Feld doesn’t produce a new iteration of the circus, a bus and truck show. It won’t be elephants on parade, but it would be spectacular. Others dreamt of Feld opening a circus-style theme park to house all those memories and moments, complete with a hotel that used to be the circus train. If it’s too expensive to tour, let the tour come to them.
Collectively, arenas have about a thousand shows to replace now and 400 people need to find a new family. And the Feld family is in mourning for a tradition, a heritage, a legacy, an irreplaceable part of their history, our history, the world’s history.
God grant you many years to keep the memories alive for The Greatest Show on Earth.