by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
What do the Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, Dolly Parton, Cheetah Girls and Nine Inch Nails all have in common?
They will all be performing at Jacksonville Veteran’s Memorial Arena in October.
The cooler weather of fall reduces the amount of outdoor concerts and SMG is offering a wide variety of entertainment at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium, the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, the Times Union Center for the Performing Arts, Jacksonville Veteran’s Memorial Arena, Osborn Convention Center and Jacksonville Equestrian Center, all Downtown venues it operates.
Sports fans can get a taste of the National Basketball Association when the Miami Heat takes on the Orlando Magic during a preseason game Saturday.
Country music fans will have the chance to see Dolly Parton on Tuesday. Pop music fans can check out the Cheetah Girls Oct. 24.
And finally, the annual Georgia-Florida party can start earlier than expected when rock band Nine Inch Nails comes to town Oct. 29 followed by Neil Diamond Oct. 30.
Venue managers hope the show variety fills the seats at the five-year-old Arena.
“The economy is making it harder and harder to get shows,” said Bob Downey, SMG general manager. “We want to get shows, but we don’t want to give the building away.”
Getting a fair price for rental of the venue is part of SMG’s revenue stream, which also includes parking around the Arena and food and beverage sales during the show. The problem with the last three moneymakers is they are all dependent on how many people are in the seats.
SMG fears a lack of revenue generated by attendance will start taking away from the quality of entertainment Jacksonville will be able to attract.
“Lately, we are not being looked at as a strong market,” said Robin Timothy, assistant general manager for SMG. “We have been underperforming. We need people to buy tickets or promoters are going to start taking shows elsewhere.”
This wasn’t a problem this summer as the Arena hosted six concerts, which was an improvement over the two the previous summer, according to Timothy.
Getting people in the seats also wasn’t a problem when the 15,000 seat multipurpose arena first opened in 2003. The home of the Jacksonville Sports Hall of Fame has hosted events including the first two rounds of the 2006 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the NFL Super Bowl Concert Series, Elton John or Bruce Springsteen
As it did in 2006, the Arena will again host the first two rounds of the 2010 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
That’s not to say the Arena hasn’t had gate success, though, as it has been packed during numerous events in its time. The biggest response Downey could remember was for the Prince concert in 2004.
“He had a stage in the center of the arena, a 360 degree stage,” he said. “That allowed him to see the entire audience and for us to get the most amount of seats.”
Attendance that night was over 13,000.
Prince’s crowd was duplicated for The Eagles concert in 2005, but the band had a bigger stage resulting in not as many people having seats.
Both Downey and Timothy wish sporting events would get the same response as concerts at the Arena, but finding the right draw has been difficult.
Minor league hockey was popular at Jacksonville Memorial Coliseum, the Arena’s smaller predecessor, but organizations have had a hard time turning a profit even with better sight lines and improved facilities.
“Fan support has not really justified the cost,” said Downey. “Expenses are not being able to be absorbed when you have 1,800 people attending, especially when half have bought tickets and the other half had the tickets given to them.”
The Arena has hosted hockey, arena football, the Professional Bull Riders tour and basketball, and will host the majority of the Jacksonville University Dolphins men’s basketball home games this season.
“It wasn’t a quick decision to pull hockey,” said Downey. “It would be great to have a team and 8,000 fans, but that just hasn’t happened. We are always thinking about what we might be able to bring in . We’ve even talked about indoor soccer and lacrosse.”
One of the misconceptions about the arena is that management selects certain entertainers to perform in Jacksonville, but it can only select from what is available.
“We can’t risk City dollars on shows, so we don’t act as promoters and actively pursue entertainers,” said Downey. “We make the process and the facility as user-friendly as possible so promoters want to bring shows here. We are more of a rental facility.”
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