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Photo courtesy of Denver Theatres & Arenas

By Kelly Pedone

Photo courtesy of Denver Theatres & Arenas

 Any act that wanted to reach a large audience from the late 1960s through the 1980s knew they needed to play the Mid South Coliseum in Memphis. The Beatles played their last tour there; Elvis performed in front of a full house two weeks before his death; the Rolling Stones played three times; Old Blue Eyes crooned the ladies on several occasions; and Danny Thomas began his fundraising efforts for St. Jude Children’s Hospital there. Now its future is unknown.

Event managers for the Denver Coliseum were able to sit back for nearly 50 years and simply answer the calls of promoters who wanted to book their shows in the building that first opened its doors in 1952. Today the aging facility sits in the shadows of the Pepsi Center, Colorado Convention Center, Budweiser Events Center and a host of newer buildings now gobbling up business.

San Francisco’s Cow Palace was the place to be in the 1940s. More than 50 million people have walked through its doors including John F. Kennedy, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Liberace and the Grateful Dead. But new facilities closer to the city’s center and large hotels grab the big shows and top acts.

No matter what city you visit, if it has a newer building for sporting, entertainment or community events, chances are there is an older building standing in its shadow. During the past 15 years cities and communities have raised taxpayer money to create new buildings that leaders hope will boost the city’s economy through sporting and entertainment events or conventions and trade shows. The result is a score of facilities still operational but that have seen the best of their years fade away. In order to keep their operations running, managers of older facilities have realized that they must be creative in order to remain viable.

“There was a time when I could just sit back and let the business come to me,” says Rodney Smith, director of business development for Denver Theatres & Arenas which includes the Denver Coliseum. “Now we’re struggling to figure out our focus.”

Check Your Ego At The Door
One of the hardest things that Ron Lederkramer had to let go of over the years has been his ego. As the assistant general manager and director of finance for the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena, he has had to come to grips with the fact that the high profile events are more interested in booking with the larger and newer Staples Center, the Great Western Forum or The Pond in Anaheim.

The Arena and Coliseum have worked in tandem since 1959, though the history of the complex dates back to the 1920s. The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum opened to the public in 1923 to 12,836 people who attended the University of Southern California and Pomona College football game. It is the only facility in the world to host two Olympiads. In addition, the complex has been the transitional home to the Lakers, Rams, Dodgers and Chargers. In 1963, the Coliseum hosted a record crowd of 134,254 for Billy Graham and played host to the first U.S. Papal Mass by Pope John Paul II in 1987.

Photo courtesy of Denver Theatres & Arenas

The complex holds its own today, but it’s a challenge. The Coliseum is still home to USC football and international soccer so the trick to making the complex successful is keeping the Arena running.

“People come to us if other facilities are cost prohibitive or if the other buildings can’t fit their dates,” Lederkramer says. “We’ve become a second-tier facility, which is hard to grasp at times based on our history. Your ego takes a hit if you used to have those premier events but you have to understand that the dynamics of the market have changed.”

Today the Arena is used for a host of community events and is also used to stage some movie scenes.

“Movie directors that need a large set or a sports setting typically call us,” he says.

Adina Alford Erwin, assistant general manager for Atlanta’s Fox Theatre, says that it is important to evolve with the times. The 1929 facility was once a place where people who wanted to see and be seen went for the latest movie premieres. While today it is home to the Atlanta Ballet, the Fox does not reserve itself for highbrow entertainment. In fact, its ballrooms have been used for boxing and wrestling matches in recent years.

“There is a part of your job to maintain the integrity of the building, but you also have to keep up with modern trends to remain competitive,” Alford Erwin says. “We can’t simply view ourselves as a theater house. To keep ourselves viable we don’t limit ourselves.”

Entertain Your Neighbors
It is no surprise that the face of the American population is changing. Large communities of Hispanic and Asian residents can be found in most cities that have their own forms of entertainment preferences. Smith has used the changing demographics in his city to his advantage.

A couple of years ago a promoter who specialized in events for the Hispanic market approached Smith and his staff. The Coliseum hosted a Hispanic concert or dance about once every other month then found themselves filling their calendar with more Hispanic concerts, dances and other events. Today, three promoters bring Hispanic events to the Denver Coliseum, adding a nice mix to their annual National Western Stock Show and various family events such as the circus and Disney On Ice. The last census figures from 2000 show that Denver’s Hispanic population is about 23 percent of the 2.8 million in the area.

Photo courtesy of Denver Theatres & Arenas

”We just kind of fell into the market; now our calendar is full,” Smith says. “Then after seeing the census, we discovered that it was a market that we weren’t reaching.” In addition to a booming Hispanic population, Smith says that they have noticed an increase in Russian immigrants to Denver. He and his staff are now talking with leaders of that community to see how they can bring entertainment options that would attract Russian audiences.

“The key is finding your niche,” Smith says. “Find out who you are not reaching out to, because you stand to make a buck as long as your building is not dark.”

Photo courtesy of LA Coliseum & Sports Arena

Diana Colvin, rentals and operations manager for the San Francisco Cow Palace, says that they have restructured to whom they market their facility. With a large Asian population, the Cow Palace has been host to a slew of Filipino concerts, many of which are broadcast live to the Philippines.

“Now we’re looking to bring more sports-related events that appeal to those markets,” Colvin says. “Karate matches and boxing matches are a couple of events that attract the Filipino and Hispanic communities.”

Use All Of Your Assets
Since November 1941 the Cow Palace has been home to the Grand National Rodeo. Through the years it was the premier facility for San Francisco events but newer facilities built closer to the city’s center have greater appeal.

“The newer facilities have the glitz and glamour,” Colvin says. “We need to get our creative juices flowing to keep business coming here.”

Colvin says that one of the things she has done is break down her facility into pieces. Instead of viewing the Cow Palace as a building, she looks at the entire area as a piece of real estate – many components that can work independently.

Photo courtesy of LA Coliseum & Sports Arena

“We’re not just a building but we’re also a parking lot,” she says. “I look at what we have and try to use it to our advantage.”

Because of their large space (maximum seating of 16,500 in the main arena), Colvin says they are looking to book more trade shows. And because many facilities are too large for some clients, Colvin says she is working on a way to do half arenas.

The large parking lot can be used on two levels – as a venue itself for driving exhibitions and also as an asset over facilities closer to downtown. “Parking is a premium in San Francisco and a lot of the newer facilities don’t have a lot of parking space,” she says. “That is something that I can use to my advantage.”

Lederkramer with the Los Angeles Sports Arena says that an advantage his facility has over others in Southern California is their large floor space. The building can accommodate 6,500 to 7,500 people on the floor, which is attractive for some smaller acts who like their fans up close.

“We won’t get U2, but we are attractive to groups who want a large floor space,” he says. And though the Sports Arena may not host thousands of people to see U2 perform, the band recently used the facility to rehearse and prepare for their recent concert.

Steve Fox of the Mid South Coliseum says that they, too, have a large floor space that appeals to the many rap and hip-hop groups they attract. However, his facility is faced with an additional challenge – a first-right-of-refusal contract that the city of Memphis signed with the Fed Ex Forum. The Coliseum used to host 235-260 event days in the past; with no staple tenant, they hosted a mere 104 event days last fiscal year.

“It creates a different playing field,” he says. “They have the right to negotiate and if they (officials with the Fed Ex Forum) don't want the event, then chances are the event won't play Memphis. We do everything we can to get business, but unfortunately we can't do solicitations.”

Watch Your Costs
Most managers agree that it is best to have a small event in a facility than to have a dark building. But in order to remain viable, facility managers must be cautious of operating expenses.

“For us, because there are so many competitive places here, the challenge is not landing the event but making a profit,” Lederkramer says.

Many managers of older facilities have had to pare down their staff and have most employees double up their duties.

The staff at the Mid South Coliseum is about half of what it was five years ago, with many full time employees now part time. Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Sports Arena are run with 32 full-time staff members, most of whom have multiple job duties.

“We watch every dollar that we spend,” says Steve Fox of the Mid South Coliseum. “We used to keep the energy running 365 days a year to avoid surges in cost, but now we shut down the entire plant when we have no events going for two or three weeks.”

Colvin says that a major challenge at the Cow Palace is that it is a union house. Costs associated with working with unionized ticket sales and stage employees tend to make their facility too expensive for some smaller events.

“We have to look at creative ways to price the use of our facility to stay in the game,” she says. “One way is for us to book more and more concurrent events and touring shows since they take up multiple dates.”

The Cow Palace is a two-time site for American Idol tryouts and hosts an annual garden show and dog show. They host about 250 event days a year.

Book Early And Often
“Book yourself to death,” says Tisha Shelden, membership services coordinator for the League for Historic American Theaters. “Get out there and find business.”

For some facility managers the type of business they have found has been a bit surprising.

The Denver Coliseum once hosted a national cup stacking competition. The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena was the place to see a midget rodeo a few years ago.

“It was a sell out,” Lederkramer says. “It was brought to us by a Hispanic promoter and, well, it was a success.”

Fox says they have not had many quirky events at the Mid South Coliseum, but they do try to host anything that is civic minded to generate income. “We do brunches, graduations, college basketball games,” he says. “If we can generate the same kind of profitability with 200 events that we can with 100 events, then that’s the way to go.”

Many managers say that old business that left when a new facility came to town sometimes returns. Many people – event producers and spectators – feel at home in the older facilities because they have a long-standing history in the community.

“There is a level in comfort in the older facilities,” Smith says. “People have been coming here for years – they came to the circus with their parents and now they want to come back with their own kids.”

Mexico vs. Argentina, LA Coliseum	Photo courtesy of LA Coliseum & Sports Arena

Lederkramer says that they have discovered the same sentimentality in Los Angeles. “Because we have been here so long, people are comfortable coming here and promoters realize that we are part of the community,” he says. “Use that to your advantage.”

Kelly Pedone is a freelance writer in Houston, TX

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