The flyover states were anything but a route between coasts for the live touring business in 2017, with big acts taking to ground in record numbers. Attendance was up, revenue was up, the number of events at venues was up and many are upgrading, with concessions and technology leading the way. Operators of facilities on our Top Stops chart agreed that business is on the uptick in the region and that 2018 shows no signs of slowing down.
BOK Center in Tulsa, Okla., has begun celebrating its 10th anniversary this year in high style, putting on a Ten for Ten Concert Series featuring heavy hitters Blake Shelton, Pink, George Strait, U2, The Eagles, Elton John, Bruno Mars, Imagine Dragons, Metallica, and Justin Timberlake.
That’s a blockbuster way to build on a big 2017. “It was a good year, and it’s a fantastic market for selling tickets,” said Casey Sparks, BOK Center assistant general manager. “Our bookings were 100 percent strong. It was a great year for live touring. Red Hot Chili Peppers sold out, Twenty One Pilots sold out. Tim (McGraw) and Faith (Hill) filmed their Showtime special here.”
On the sports side, BOK Center hosted NCAA men’s basketball tournament first- and second-round games.
Tickets range from $99 to $150 with VIP packages running up to $1,500.
A $5 million investment in new technology will go mainly upgrades to the Wi-Fi. “Paperless ticketing is coming, and we need to be sure we are ready,” she said.
“People also want to share their experiences on Instagram and (Snapchat), and the tech upgrade will allow all that to happen without interruption.”
Eight new digital boards are being installed. New signage and a huge new outdoor marquee are also part of the renovations.
An overhaul is also coming to BOK Center’s premium clubs. “We’re adding in four new premium suites,” Sparks said. “We’re sold out of our current inventory.”
New point-of-sale systems from Appetize were introduced; F&B is provided by Savor. “We’re also buying a food truck to put out on the plaza prior to the shows for an outdoor event,” she said. The truck will cost about $60,000.
Quarterly meetings with local law enforcement, state officials and the FBI make sure that everyone is on the same page regarding security. “Communication is the key,” Sparks said. “Sometimes it takes an outsider to sense where we may be vulnerable and to address and fix that.” Sparks said one idea they are actively pursuing is facial recognition.
“Spending money to make money is how we look at things here,” she said. “We’re really big on putting things in place to keep the fans happy.”
“It was one of our best years ever,” said Jack Larson, vice president and general manager of Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn. “It was a record-breaking year; we were up in revenue; we saw 2.2 million guests. We hosted 45 concerts, which is a big number for us. We also hosted the WNBA’s champions, the Minnesota Lynx, because Target Center was closed for remodeling.” Attendance for the games ranged from 8,000 to 10,000.
Chris Stapleton, Bruno Mars, Ed Sheeran, Neil Diamond and Lady Gaga were among the hot shows, and Larsen said multiple shows were a hot trend. Tickets range from $35 to $250 with VIP packages running higher.
Concessions are provided by Levy, which introduced new menu items “mostly inspired by local flavor.”
Over the past two years new seats have gone in, new video boards have gone up and Xcel Energy Center is looking at enhancing the premium areas by adding all-inclusive options. Gate sponsorships are also up.
The venue was part of the Twin Cities’ Super Bowl LII experience. “We did the media day here and we hosted Dave Matthews the night before the game,” Larsen said.
A yearly high school hockey tournament continued to be a success at the facility. “We saw over 100,000 people come through the door, which is almost unheard of for that kind of event,” Larsen said.
Adam Schneider, senior vice president of entertainment for 313 Presents, said DTE Energy Music Theatre in Clarkston, Mich., “did great last year” and “we were fortunate to have a partner in Live Nation.”
The 313 Presents joint venture between Olympia Entertainment and Palace Sports & Entertainment programs the amphitheater, taking over from Powell Entertainment in September, and also programs Detroit-area venues Little Caesars Arena, Fox Theatre, Comerica Park, Meadow Brook Amphitheatre and Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill.
Perennial shows, such as the Dave Matthews Band, classic rock, hip-hop, country, and multi-act shows brought in the crowds, with “quality over quantity” being the mandate. Ticket prices “have been going up due to higher production values” and range from $10 for a lawn event to $375. “We do a $20 all-in promotion, including service fees, every year to build new fans to come out to a show,” Schneider said.
The venue put on more than 45 shows last year, and Schneider said revenue was up “around 20 percent last year.”
F&B is provided by Levy. “We’re very big on mobile vending,” said Schneider. “We want to get the F&B to the customers as quickly as possible so they can get back to the show, so we set up a lot of mini-stations scattered throughout the venue.”
“It’s a good time to be in the live business,” he said. “The live experience is irreplaceable and it’s enhanced by social media. We love it when people post during shows and share their experience.”
Erika Newton, general manager of the Tyson Events Center and Orpheum Theatre in Sioux City, Iowa, said “it was a good year but a transition year” and was thrilled with the venues’ management switch to Spectra after 14 years of managing the venue in-house. Spectra has also taken over foodservice from Centerplate at both venues.
“We’re excited about the opportunity Spectra brings us to use their national resources to help get content and create long-term partnerships,” Newton said.
Hot shows included Brantley Gilbert and Toby Keith at the Tyson Events Center and the Broadway series at the Orpheum Theatre. TRG Arts, based in Colorado Springs, is the consultant on the Broadway shows. “They’ve been really helpful in getting the subscriber base up,” Newton said. Ticket range was $25-$150.
Another highlight at the Orpheum was an AEG-produced Lumineers show, a fundraiser in support of the Dakota Access Pipeline protesters. “To get the Lumineers to play the Orpheum, with only 2,500 seats, was a big deal,” Newton said.
The City Council has allocated $55 million for capital improvements at both venues in the coming year. “We are completely gutting and remodeling our concourse, concession area and food stands at Tyson Events Center,” she said. “A big focus of Spectra’s F&B plans is to bring in local tastes to the arena. We’re looking for a pizza partner, a Mexican restaurant partner, and Sioux City is the home of Jolly Time Popcorn, Palmer Candy and Wells Dairy, which makes novelty ice cream products, and we’re working to bring all of them into the venue.”
A new permanent merchandise store is being built and new lighting is being added. VIP upgrades are also on the agenda, along with a new scoreboard and an LED ribbon board. The front of the building, and the outdoor spaces, is also getting a makeover. “We’re 14 years old and need a major refresh,” Newton said.
All safety protocols have been revaluated and the city just bought 18 new magnetometers, at a cost of $100,000, to be spread between both venues.
“We’re looking really good on bookings for 2018,” Newton said. “We’re focusing on bringing in at least one major show a month to Tyson Events Center and we’ve been discussing ways to get attendance up for our tenant teams,” the Sioux City Bandits of Champions Indoor Football and the United States Hockey League’s Sioux City Musketeers.
“At the theater, we’re going to up our partnership with Sioux City Symphony,” she said.
Patrick Talty, general manager of U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, said things at the year-and-a-half-old building are “going great.” The venue hosted Super Bowl LII in February and hasn’t slowed down since. “Eight days after the Super Bowl we had the Home Show,” he said. “Life moves on quickly.”
The venue hosted the X Games last year and will host the event again this summer. “We’re the first NFL stadium to get the X Games,” he said.
Kenny Chesney, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran and the men’s Final Four are all coming up.
“We saw a huge amount of corporate events, weddings, and other events last year,” he said. “The building is well designed to accommodate all types of events.”
Operationally, the venue received LEED Gold status after a zero-waste program was put in place.
“Bling and wow” is how Brenda Tinnen, an AEG senior vice president and the general manager of Sprint Center in Kansas City, Mo., described the building’s 10-year anniversary. “We celebrated all year and it turned out to be the best year we’ve ever had, economically, attendance-wise, performance-wise.”
The anniversary programming started in January with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the first time Sprint Center has hosted the event, and ended with a Kid Rock show on New Year’s Eve. Seven Garth Brooks shows, Roger Waters, Eric Church and One Republic were sandwiched in between. Brooks played the venue in its first year. “Having him back was the perfect way to circle back from when we opened,” said Tinnen. Average ticket price was $107.
Tinnen said that “paying attention to the artist and making them feel special” is one way she ensures that top artists play her building. “There’s no building without content and we do whatever we have to do to make the acts that come here remember our facility and want to return.”
Last year Sprint Center hosted the NCAA women’s volleyball championship, which Tinnen said was sold out before any of the teams were seeded. “That was a home run,” she said.
Capital improvements included new Wi-Fi, a refresh of the premium seating, all new carpet and paint for the Founders Club, a new scoreboard, updated security systems, new phone systems, new hot water tanks, new LED lights, and new televisions.
The budget for the upgrades was $8 million. “Some came from the city and some came from AEG,” Tinnen said.
Another improvement, digital menu boards, were a great revenue generator.
“They make life easier and provided profit,” she said. Changing the CO2 tank system to a three-tank setup was another revenue booster. “The beer poured out faster, there was less waste, and we served more people,” she said.
Levy is concessionaire at the facility. “We refresh our menu every year, and this year craft beer is the hot item. We brought in a hometown company, Boulevard Brewery, and it’s outdoing everything.”
Vegetable and nontraditional meat items are new to the menu and doing well with health-conscious guests. “We try to have something for everyone,” she said. “We have a turkey burger that’s amazing.” The venue also has a carvery and a 400-pound smoker for the meat lovers in the crowd. Chopper Chicken, from founding partner Price Chopper, has “every kind of chicken imaginable.”
Coming this month will be a new Coca-Cola stand. “It will have frozen Jack and Cokes, as well as all sorts of other Coca-Cola products from a freestyle machine,” said Tinnen.
‘BOLD NORTH’ SUPER BOWL LII BEATS COLD
Hosting the Super Bowl takes intense planning, flexibility and nerves of steel.
Super Bowl LII, which U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis hosted in February, went off without a hitch, which is remarkable for a building that opened a mere 18 months earlier.
“It was a beautiful sunny day, a little cold, but we moved the crowds in well, the building showed well, it was a great game and a great halftime show,” said General Manager Patrick Talty. “It was a huge win for the stadium, Minnesota and Minneapolis.”
“We like to say operationally it was a pretty boring game day,” Talty said. “We planned for everything, executed well, and by the time the actual game started we had already done most of the work.”
Planning started “the day we arrived.” Staff worked with the NFL all year long.
“We had five or six meetings per month,” he said. “We spent a lot of time figuring out how to pile everything in and sequence it.”
Complicating things, the Minnesota Vikings, who play at the stadium, made the playoffs. “We had a playoff game in January, which cut down on our prep time,” said Talty. “Instead of a month, we had two weeks.”
When the NFL arrived, “they knew exactly what we needed to do because by that point they had crawled through the bowels of the building,” recalled Talty.
Assigning a staff member to everyone who comes in the building is a tip Talty wanted to give future Super Bowl hosts. “It was a really effective way to manage the contractors and other entities that came to the building,” he said. Another piece of advice: “Communication between the staff and with the NFL is the key.”
There were firsts that day. “We had 5,800 credentialed media, which is a record, and the largest Wi-Fi usage ever,” said Talty. “We went through 16.3 terabytes of data and at one point had 40,000 unique users in the stadium on it. We had a zero-waste Super Bowl and diverted 91 percent of the waste from the landfill by recycling and other measures.”
If Talty had to change anything he would send the cleaning manager to the previous Super Bowl. “It’s such a different and unique F&B story than a normal game,” he said. “The amount of time people spend in the building and how much they consumed surprised us. Living it a year before would have worked out well.”
Talty said it was “a 20-hour day” and nerve-racking but entirely worth it. “We’d host one every other year if they’d let us,” he said. “It went by really fast. In the blink of an eye it was over.”
— Brad Weissberg