It was a good year for venues in the Mid-Atlantic. Based on Venues Today’s Top Stops chart, the region rocked its way up $54 million in 2016, going from $522 million in gross sales in 2015, to $575 million in 2016, a healthy nine percent climb. With so many world-class venues competing for shows, the race is on to get the best shows, biggest acts, and brightest stars.
Is this a problem for Mid-Atlantic venue managers? Fuhgeddaboudit.
The highest grossing venue on our chart, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J., had its busiest year since opening in 2010, drawing nearly three million fans to a record 61 major events, including National Football League games, and 210 smaller private events, said Ron VanDeVeen, president and CEO, MetLife Stadium.
Of those, 39 non-NFL events grossed $123,421,040 in ticket sales from an attendance of 1,288,494, he added.
“The last three years have been our best and it will be hard to beat 2016; it was a tremendous year,” said VanDeVeen. “Ticket sales showed the most dramatic increase. For the non-NFL ticketed events — concerts, soccer, college football, Monster Jam — the gross more than doubled from 2015 to 2016.”
In this year of the stadium tour, MetLife Stadium went from eight to 11 concerts and hosted the Copa America Centenario soccer final. “We had 15 shows that grossed over $5 million and the Copa final generated over $21 million in ticket sales,” he said. “Soccer was extremely strong for us in 2016. We hosted four games that generated over $44 million in ticket sales.”
VanDeVeen is looking forward to a unique event scheduled for later this year, the 18th annual International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Weekend and Awards on July 14-15. “This is the largest annual Bollywood entertainment show and will feature the ‘IIFA Rocks’ concert and ‘IIFA Awards’,” said VanDeVeen.
“So far, so good, everything is going very well,” said Frank Remesch, GM, Royal Farms Arena, Baltimore, Md., an SMG-managed property. “The Baltimore market is healthy. When we put in the right shows, we sell out.”
The hottest show of the year was the trio of “hair bands from the 90’s”, Def Leppard, Poison and Tesla; coming up are Chance the Rapper, Neil Diamond and Journey and Asia co-headlining. “I’m cautious but optimistic about the rest of the year,” he said.
Tickets range from $15 for indoor football to $250 for concerts.
Food and drink sales are up. “I’m seeing a positive trend and in the right direction,” said Remesch. One effort that went down well with the fans was a promotion with local animal rescue group, Barcs. “We created a souvenir cup and gave a dollar to the organization for every cup sold. We sold $35,000 so far, and the circus is still coming up.”
Improvements include new digital menu boards and Hi-Def TV’s throughout the concourses that cost $20,000. Other capital improvements included new production offices with bathrooms, upgraded dressing rooms and a brand-new box-office. “We ripped out the individual kiosks and replaced them with racetrack-style windows,” he said. The budget for the improvements was almost $2 million.
“2016 was an incredible year for us when you look at our event calendar; we were up around 20 percent in 2016,” said John Page, president, Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia.
He attributes the rise to the event mix. “The Democratic National Convention (DNC) was probably the biggest component,” he said. “The deal we struck with the DNC mitigated any revenue loss from losing shows,” explained Page. “To rank as high as we did is incredible when you realize that the arena was shut down for over three months to accommodate the production of the DNC.”
On the concert side, Page cited Pearl Jam, Adele, Garth Brooks, Eric Church and the Drake/Future shows as the best on the books. Ticket prices ranged from $35 to $600 for a VIP package.
Page said that the influx of young talent on the Philadelphia Flyers’ side and the Philadelphia 76ers’ side has created a lot of excitement for the building, which he believes also added to the great results Wells Fargo Center had in 2016.
2016 also marked the arena’s 20th anniversary. “To give back to our fans, we were able to create a unique ‘birthday party’ event, where the arena was displaying half of the Philadelphia Flyers ice and half of the Philadelphia 76ers court. This was the first time the arena was setup in this manner. The Birthday Party event was free to the public,” said Page.
F&B was similarly up. Page pegs it at a 15 percent increase.
Comcast Spectacor and Aramark, the F&B provider at Wells Fargo brought onboard Shake Shack this year, making the center the first-ever National Basketball Association (NBA) and National Hockey League (NHL) arena to feature the hot franchise.
Wells Fargo Center launched an online team store that allows fans the opportunity to purchase Philadelphia Flyers’ and 76ers’ items before they come to the venue.
“The online store is doing great,” he said. “It’s a wonderful convenience. Preorder, prepay and the fans pick their gear up in what we call ‘Click and Collect Lockers’.
The building spent $17 million on capital improvements in 2016. Most of the work was done from Aug. 1 thru Oct. 15. “We worked around the schedule,” said Page.
Changes included renovating the 82 luxury suites, enhancing the arena’s WiFi connectivity and upgrades to its lighting system.
“2016 was an incredibly successful year for both Radio City and The Beacon,” said Clinton Neils, SVP and GM, Radio City Music Hall and Beacon Theater, New York City. “Both venues saw an increase in residencies and multi-night bookings which are great for the artist, the fans and the venue.”
The Beacon Theatre is having tremendous success with their mini-residencies, which Neils said is a “growing trend.” The Beacon launched a Jerry Seinfeld residency in 2016. “That residency has been so successful that we’ve expanded it to 24 shows for 2017,” said Neils. Seinfeld was the highest-grossing act overall for the venue.
Other mini-residencies included Steely Dan, Mariah Carey, Sebastian Maniscalco and Tedeschi Trucks Band.
At Radio City, the hottest acts included Bryson Tiller, Meghan Trainor, Tony Bennett’s 90th Birthday and Mel Brooks’ “Back in the Saddle Again.” Marc Anthony was another huge success story at Radio City and was the highest-grossing act overall for the venue.
Neils also saw growth in VIP packages. “You used to see VIP packages at the arena level exclusively, but now you see it in every size venue,” he said.
Neils believes the live event business is looking very healthy for the rest of 2017.
He is especially pleased with programming like the Harry Potter franchise, shows like Brooks’ “Back In The Saddle Again” and the Tribeca Film Festival. “It’s very exciting to see Radio City get in touch with its movie-house roots a bit.”
“From a content perspective we had a really great year as good a year as we’ve had since we opened” said Keith Sheldon, Senior SVP, Programming, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment which runs Barclays Center, Brooklyn, N.Y. “Our goal is focus on the big event business in Brooklyn.”
Hot acts included Bruce Springsteen, Justin Bieber and Barbra Streisand. “Barbra is from Brooklyn, so it’s always great to have that homecoming. When she plays here it’s a pretty special moment for New York.”
Surprisingly, Barclays Center is also doing strong country music business. Eric Church, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban are just a few of the many country acts that have sold out. Brooklyn is also “the home of hip-hop in New York,” according to Sheldon. “We pride ourselves on bringing diversity. There’s something for everyone and price points for everyone.”
Tickets can range from $10-$250 and there are occasional VIP packages that can go much higher.
In 2015, Barclays Center transformed the Vault Bunker Suite into the Billboard Lounge, a 300-capacity space on the event level. “It’s a VIP space or a one-off space for private events,” said Sheldon. “In any given year, we expect to do about 40 shows in that space.”
“We had our best year ever,” said Sean Saadeh, EVP, entertainment programming, Prudential Center, Newark, N.J. “The strategy was more shows and more quality shows.”
The strategy worked: Prudential Center was up 10 percent in ticket sales, attendance was up 30 percent and overall revenue was up 15 percent.
Highlights of the year included Bruce Springsteen (who sold the most tickets ever for a concert at Prudential Center), UFC, Muse, and the NACC Never Forget Tribute Classic. They introduced college basketball in 2016.
Saadeh thinks Prudential Center’s diversity in programming is a big plus to the bottom line “We are a multicultural business,” said Saadeh. “We’ve been successful in K-Pop, KCON has become an annual two day event here, Exo sold out and we continue to grow our Latin business.”
“When we talk about the New Jersey market, we have 4.5 million people living in Northern Jersey alone,” said Hugh Weber, president, N.J. Devils and Prudential Center. “We have one of the highest household incomes, a diverse population and we believe that long term the Prudential Center is well positioned. The Jersey play is real and it’s not just a stop in New York.”
Both Saadeh and Weber are looking forward to the 10th anniversary of the building in October. “It’s going to be a seminal moment for this building,” said Weber. “We have a lot of content booked to celebrate the anniversary.”
The anniversary will also see the opening of the Grammy Museum, which is a ticketed experience and will be open to the public both on event days and nonevent days.
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DIVERSITY DRIVES THE MID-ATLANTIC
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