Business musing: Prepping for Kane Brown

It's all a day on the job at the Show Me Center: doubleheader SEMO basketball games followed the next night by a 6,000-seat sold-out Kane Brown concert, followed the next afternoon by another doubleheader. A crew of 55 to 60 people will carry out the conversions of the arena. During these events, the Show Me Center will be in operation for 72 hours.

The initial conversion, which will begin immediately after the last basketball fans leave the building Thursday night, will take three and a half to four hours, and include tasks such as cleaning the seats, pushing back the bleachers and pulling up the basketball floor. Then workers will set up the 44 x 60-foot stage and clean the locker rooms, concourse and bathrooms.

At 7 a.m. with the arrival of Kane Brown's semitrucks, they will put up the lights, video boards, speakers and screens for the concert, which takes four to five hours.

When the concert ends around 10:30 p.m., the load-out will take two to three hours. Between 1 and 2 a.m., they will begin prepping for the next doubleheader.

"It's quite hectic," says Wil Gorman, Show Me Center director. "But to have 6,000 people come from the tri-state area, spend money at restaurants, bars, gas stations ... some people might get a hotel room -- it's a great impact."