ALTHOUGH CONCERTS ARE FEWER, SHOW ME CENTER TURNS PROFIT

James "Jumbo" Bacon spins the red, white and blue basketball on the tip of his finger over and over again as a newspaper photographer clicks away.

A member of the famed Harlem Globetrotters, Bacon stopped off at the Show Me Center Tuesday as part of a publicity swing promoting the group's upcoming performance in Cape Girardeau.

The Globetrotters will perform at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 22 at the Show Me Center.

The 6-foot-9 Bacon played for the Arizona State Sun Devils team that advanced to the NCAA "Sweet 16" in spring 1995. He has been with the Globetrotters since May 1995.

The 24-year-old Bacon said he enjoys being both a competitor and an entertainer. The Globetrotters do some 200 shows a year.

The group has toured all over the world. Last summer the Globetrotters visited South Africa and raised $1 million for charities.

"We want people to come to our shows and just relax," said Bacon, who is a substitute teacher in Phoenix, Ariz., in the off season.

The Globetrotters is just one of the entertainment events slated for the Show Me Center this year.

Since it opened 10 years ago, the center has proved profitable.

The center on the Southeast Missouri State University campus was designed to be self-supporting. David Ross, center director, said it has done just that.

It costs $1.3 million a year to operate the center, which last fiscal year generated a $55,000 profit, university officials said.

From its opening in summer 1987 to the end of the 1996 fiscal year last June 30, the center had accumulated a fund balance of $330,000.

The number of concerts at the Show Me Center has declined over the years. "We were doing 20 to 22 musical shows a year at first," Ross said. "New buildings go through that."

The center went through about a three-year period where it booked numerous country music acts. Garth Brooks and other country music stars proved good draws.

But Ross said the popularity of country music shows has declined slightly.

Also, rock 'n' roll bands don't tour like they once did. "Rock 'n' roll doesn't exist as we knew it," said Ross.

Aging rock 'n' roll stars often appear together. But they do fewer concerts and those they do are often in large stadiums.

Smaller arenas like the Show Me Center can't afford such acts, Ross said. Even the country music bands command higher prices today than they did just a few years ago.

"There is not a lot of touring traffic," he said.

It costs more to go to a concert today. That also affects ticket sales, Ross said.

The center, however, continues to be busy, booking everything from rodeos to children's shows.

"We will do about 160 arena dates a year," said Ross. The figure includes university basketball games.

In fiscal 1996, there were 152 arena events at the center, down from 178 the previous year.

But both totals are well above the center's first year of operation when there were 103 arena events.

The building's arena is a busy place these days. Many of the dates for 1997 are already filled.

Ross said the center has picked up the slack in musical entertainment by booking other events such as an indoor soccer tournament. The annual tournament drew 1,300 to 1,400 players and about 10,000 spectators last weekend.