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by R.V. Baugus

Reunion Arena opened in 1980, seats 19,200 and is located on the fringe of downtown Dallas. A couple of long football throws north up Interstate 35 (1.1 mile, to be exact) sits American Airlines Center, a 20,000-seat arena opened just last year.

In Philadelphia, it doesn’t even require a thrown football to link the distance between the First Union Center, a 21,000-seat arena that opened in 1996, and the First Union Spectrum, an 18,000-seat facility that opened in 1967. A simple lob pass instead would get you from one facility to the other, which sits side-by-side.

Similar situations play out in other cities like Miami and Portland, where comparable sized arenas exist to vie for events. It’s usually said that two is company and three is a crowd, but when it comes to the above is two suddenly a crowd? After all, it would seem that there is only so much of the marketplace pie to slice up and feed to the hungry venues.

In Dallas, the busier building has tilted heavily to the advantage of the new $420-million American Airlines Center. Center Operating Company, which was managing both facilities, recently turned over the reins to running Reunion Arena to the City, which is now exploring what next to do with the building’s management.

Global Spectrum, the division of Comcast-Spectacor that manages public assembly facilities and events worldwide, manages both the First Union Center and the First Union Spectrum. The same management team oversees both facilities.

So the issue becomes whether cities even as large as a Dallas and Philadelphia are big enough to keep two arenas at their optimum. Multiple arenas reminds of two gunslingers decreeing that, “This town ain’t big enough for the two of us,” before they take 10 paces and fire.

Seen Its Better Day?
Make no mistake, Reunion Arena was not gunned down, but that doesn’t mean it is not bleeding a little. The numbers don’t lie. American Airlines Center hosted 181 events in its first year of operation, compared with 62 for Reunion Arena over the same time span. The new kid on the block attracted 2.7 million in attendance at those events, compared to 450,000 for the grizzled graybeard. It didn’t help suite-less Reunion Arena that the anchor tenants Dallas Mavericks and Dallas Stars moved when American Airlines Center was built. The financial strain almost immediately became heavier for Reunion Arena.

“Reunion Arena is hampered financially by obligations entered into when the facility was first built,” said Dave Brown, vice president and general manager of American Airlines Center. “It was not a problem while the facility hosted both professional franchises and all other major arena events. Now that base of financially beneficial events has been moved to the market’s primary facility—American Airlines Center. But the financial obligations remain and the remaining events cannot cover the fixed cost burden. Additionally, major facilities like Reunion Arena require substantial funding for capital and major maintenance projects.”

Center Operating also has the right of first refusal for events at Reunion Arena, making it more difficult for the older building to operate as a top entertainment venue. How Reunion resurfaces is still almost anyone’s guess. Right now the facility is home to the Major Indoor Soccer League Dallas Sidekicks. A number of top-notch acts have filed in to play the venue the last few months, including Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Creed, Aerosmith and more. Some specialty conferences have also popped up there.

“Tearing down Reunion was never an option,” said Brown. “Different options were evaluated for alternative uses, but nothing viable ever emerged. There are no alternative plans (for its proposed future use) at this time.”

Brown said he thinks that Reunion will continue to host indoor soccer, family shows, graduations, corporate meetings, dirt events and some concerts.

For its part, Center Operating is merely exercising its right to no longer operate Reunion Arena under a five-year agreement signed with the city in December 1997. Both sides were given the right to terminate the agreement with 60 days’ notice.

Alike In Name Only
Aside from its naming-rights sponsor, the First Union Center and First Union Spectrum really don’t share much in common. Well, take that back. The venues have one staff that operates both buildings, and the distance of 758 feet, 9 ½ inches between the two means a parking lot is shared.
“We are able to reduce expenses comparatively due to proximity,” said John Page, Comcast-Spectacor senior vice president and general manager at the First Union Complex. “It basically comes down to since the two arenas are so close we operate both buildings as if they are one in the areas of box office, cleaning, event staff, marketing, promotions, sponsor sales, etc.”

Okay, but we promised that the two don’t share much in common, and that is still also true. The 35-year-old Spectrum was once home to the soaring dunks of Julius “Dr. J” Erving, but today it pretty much takes on the same role as Reunion Arena by hosting the American Hockey League Philadelphia Phantoms, the Major Indoor Soccer League Philadelphia Kixx, along with concerts, family shows and dirt shows like the Monster Jam, Freestyle MotoCross and rodeos.

The First Union Center, meanwhile, is home to the NBA Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL Philadelphia Flyers. The Philadelphia Wings of the National Lacrosse League and numerous concerts and family shows also play at the First Union Center. Combined, the two arenas have brought in more than 400 annual events attracting more than four million visitors.

Since opening its doors six years ago, the First Union Center has helped Philadelphia garner national events and attractions, including the 1996 World Cup of Hockey, the 1997 Stanley Cup Finals, the 1998 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the 1999 American Hockey League All-Star Game, the 2000 NCAA Women’s Final Four, the 2000 Republican National Convention, the 2001 NCAA Men’s East Regionals, the 2001 NBA Finals, the 2001 and 2002 ESPN X Games and the 2002 NBA All-Star Weekend.

Close To You
For all of the obvious drawbacks that come with having two existing arenas built in different eras (doesn’t everyone seem to always prefer the newer, sexier model?), there are also a number of advantages that come with operating in pairs.

“There’s the ability to schedule two major events simultaneously,” said Brown. “In the past without two venues, many shows would skip the Dallas market and play other cities. For example, Paul McCartney played two sellout shows at Reunion Arena while the American Airlines Center hosted the NBA playoffs.”

But as Brown noted earlier, one negative is the ability to operate a secondary facility at break-even or better financially. “That can be a real challenge,” he said.

Page agreed with Brown about the luxury of having extra event dates automatically created by the virtue of having two facilities.
“Having two facilities side-by-side allows us instead of 52 Fridays and 52 Saturdays, we now have 104 Fridays and 104 Saturdays, which allows us tremendous flexibility,” said Page. “It affords acts to be able to look at a calendar and know that there is not too much difference in capacity, so they have the benefits of a first-class full-scale building in a major market.”

Page said that on September 20 the Rolling Stones will play at the First Union Center while Bow Wow will play at the First Union Spectrum. “There is enough logistics (parking, staff, etc.) to handle both events,” he said.
Philadelphia also used some creative facility juggling in 1999 to make sure Bruce Springsteen would be able to play a sixth show.

“When Springsteen reunited with the E Street Band that year, the band played five shows at First Union Center,” said Page. “Not to miss a show due to a preseason Flyers game at First Union Center, the sixth show was moved across the parking lot to the First Union Spectrum. Ironically, the Spectrum is the first arena Springsteen ever performed in (1973 as an opening act for Chicago).”

Born to run, indeed, even if it was just across the parking lot. It could never have happened with just one arena.

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© 2002 International Association of Assembly Managers
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