Kentucky and Tennessee venues had a down year overall, but there were several bright spots. The general consensus was that competition from new venues was making attracting talent and events difficult, especially for the older venues. Reported concert and event grosses from the top 10 Top Stops on Venues Today’s yearly chart for the two states are down slightly over 10 percent; going from $86 million down to $78 million year over year.
Jason Rittenberry, president & CEO, Kentucky State Fair Board, which oversees several Kentucky venues including Freedom Hall, Louisville, Ky., said he bucked the trend and the venue was up almost 30 percent.
“Primarily the bump was from strong in-house shows such as Feld shows like Monster Jam and Arenacross and USA BMX,” said Rittenberry.
Tickets ranged from $25-$55. There were no VIP programs associated with the events, but Rittenberry, who just completed his first 100 days in his post, said one of his goals is to implement new premium options.
“We have the area and the space and we need to get some capital and make the investment to develop a lounge,” he said.
Freedom Hall is in the process of evaluating the facility and looking to make large capital improvements, including replacing the stadium seats, making Green Room renovations and adding a new center-hung scoreboard. Rittenberry is planning on a $10 million-$12 million budget for the improvements. The yearly budget for all the properties is $40 million.
Rittenberry said he was working with Freedom Hall’s food provider, Levy Restaurants, to ramp up the food and beverage offerings using local offerings with local flair. “We want to tie the food into what’s Kentucky, what’s Louisville, and find out what are the specialty items that will please this marketplace.”
Mostly, Rittenberry hopes to “bring back the Freedom Hall brand. Freedom Hall saw new competition from new venues in the area and lost a lot of business. I intend to get that business back and find our niche in the market.”
Brent Hyams, chief operating officer, Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC) and War Memorial Auditorium, Nashville, Tenn., said, “TPAC’s fiscal year 2015-16 performed really well, so it’s going to be a hard one to beat. Seven months into this season we’ve seen a slightly lower response to Broadway subscription tickets, but very strong single ticket sales at TPAC, which offsets the drop in season ticket sales.”
The War Memorial Auditorium (WMA) also had a really strong 2015-16 and helped contribute more than a $72 million economic impact. “We haven’t booked as many concerts for the first half of the year as we had hoped to, but most all of the shows performed really well,” he said. “Weddings, rental clients, and state events keep us very busy at WMA.”
Top shows at TPAC included “Evita” and “The Book of Mormon.” Top performers at WMA were Willie Nelson and Friends, Chevelle with the Dead Deads and AEGES.
Hyams mentioned intense competition from nearby venues. “The popularity of Nashville has also brought even more competition for artists and acts,” he said. “There is an abundance of entertainment options in ‘Music City.’ We don’t see this changing anytime soon.”
Tickets at TPAC and WMA range from $25 to $90 plus. The yearly budget was $19 million for 2015-16 and $18 million for 2016-17.
Hyams was especially pleased with the performance of a new point of sale (POS) system. “This, plus some newly implemented thinking, has helped increase our revenues by approximately 50 percent,” he said.
Improvements this year include an update to the 1,075- seat James K. Polk Theater, with new carpet, aisle lighting and new handrails. The capital improvement budget was over $200,000.
The War Memorial Auditorium will install an in-house JBL sound system and a new Martin lighting system.
Hyams also said that TPAC is adding a sixth arts-in-education program under the TPAC education umbrella and a partnership with Lipscomb University’s College of Entertainment & the Arts to implement and expand the university’s Nashville High School Musical Theatre Awards, now nicknamed “The Spotlight Awards.”
Bill Owen, president & CEO, Lexington (Ky.) Center, which runs the 23,000-seat Rupp Arena, described the $15 million upgrade to Rupp Arena that began in 2015. “We installed LED ribbon fascia on the upper part of the arena, replaced the 40-year-old sound system with an acoustic system, added a new center-hung scoreboard, extended the rigging grid with support steel to accommodate all the extra weight from the new systems and added new WiFi capabilities,” said Owens.
Work went from June 2016 through September 2016, and Rupp Arena was closed through most of that time, which affected their revenue for the year.
Despite the closing, it was a record revenue year for Lexington Center, and Owen felt that, “there’s a cycle that goes on every few years where artists only want to play outdoors.”
The annual operating budget for the venues was $18 million. Tickets range from $75-$145.
Owen said the arena was having success with an express lane for getting the fans in. “If they have no bag, we tried a fast lane that really helped speed up the process,” he said.
He also discussed the trend toward paperless tickets which brings with it fans showing up with fraudulent secondary tickets. “Paperless ticketing is great, but some people scan the barcodes and print multiple tickets and sell them. The first barcode in is the only one that works. We see this only getting worse.”
“We’re going to wind up with 24 shows for the year which is pretty good for this marketplace,” said Dennis Petrullo, GM, KFC Yum! Center, Louisville, Ky.
Top grossing shows included Madonna, Garth Brooks, Bruce Springsteen, Blake Shelton and Carrie Underwood. “It was a strong year,” he said, “And that’s with a Kanye West cancellation.”
Ticket prices ranged from $60-$120, with the bigger stars getting $250.
The building has four different lounges for beverages, and they started bringing in a DJ to play before the shows and at intermission. “It’s been a big hit and people love it,” said Petrullo.
KFC Yum! Center is currently looking at capital improvements such as replacing existing equipment, furnishing and carpeting. “Our building is seven years old and it’s time to freshen things up,” he said.
Although 2016 was flat for the venue, Petrullo anticipates “a banner 2017.”
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CLASSIC VENUES GET UPGRADES
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