Baylor Stadium in Waco, Texas is one of the new venue projects to open in 2014
FROM THE DESK OF THE MANAGING EDITOR — Happy New Year everyone. Like many of my New Years resolutions, Jan. 1 has come and gone — I can’t believe it’s been a full year since I didn’t become a better person.
I’m not going to lie — I make many resolutions each year, and usually keep only a few. This year, I’m making only one — I am resolved to keep my eye on the middle.
As a journalist it’s my job to follow trends in our industry, and in 2014 I think most growth will take place in the middle markets. Everything from 5,000-seat theaters to cities with populations in the 500,000-range. Professional sports franchises, major cities and global festivals are either locked up long term, or too expensive to pursue. For concessionaires, ticketing companies and management firms looking for growth in 2014, the focus is midsize. That's venues like theatres and 12,000-cap arenas, muncipalities like Oklahoma City and Durham, N.C., and events entering years 3 through 5.
Very few new pro sports facilities will be built between 2015 and 2018 — only three in the National Football League and two in Major League Baseball — and the cost to compete for new clients in the big five sports leagues continues to rise. A number of companies are scaling down their offerings to lower their own costs and go after clients with less volume than pro sports, but also lower costs to compete (and potentially higher margins)
“Companies are looking at markets they have never looked at before,” said concessions consultant Chris Bigelow, who tracks the sports and entertainment business. Bigelow didn’t entirely agree with my premise and said big league contracts for teams like the Cleveland Browns and the new Las Vegas Arena to be built by AEG and MGM Grand are going to bid, and a few big announcements are around the corner.
“But you are also seeing a lot more college market facilities coming online with venues for hockey and basketball, and that’s opening markets that hadn’t been available before,” he said.
Buildings like Hatcher Auditorium in Iowa City, Iowa and a new football stadium for Baylor University in Waco, Texas are part of the class of buildings slated to open in 2014, along with the Meridian Centre in St. Catherines, Ontario, and the Performance Center in Asheville, N.C.
They’re smaller venues, opening in smaller cities and it’s also meant a shift for the ticketing industry, which is scaling its product lines to deal with the change in demand. Earlier this year AudienceView rolled out its cloud-based MarketView program, which abandoned expensive mainframe servers in exchange for simplified, and lower costs services.
Keep in mind, there’s also a middle market for talent although it’s becoming increasingly unclear how the middle is defined. The IPO launch for Bob’s Sillerman’s SFX Entertainment and popularity of artists like David Guetta and Avicii has pushed Electronic Dance Music way out of the middle and into the mainstream.
The popularity of shows like Nashville has helped keep country a strong box-office performer and strengthened the alt country and Americana categories. TV shows like The Voice and American Idol have created a permanent middle for artists who don’t win the competition, but go on to sustainable careers.
What seems to be growing in popularity are food-related events, craft beer festivals, video game competitions and athletic events like the Electric Run 5K. As these events grow into the middle category, they’ll naturally require professional services from the events industry and create new opportunities for growth. Some will linger in the middle for years and decades, and others will mature into world-class events. It’s the vendors, agents and promoters who make early alliances with these ventures that have the best opportunity to grow together and create something sustainable.
