Show Me Center getting over slow period with flat attendance

Things are bustling this week at the Show Me Center.

The 66th annual Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament is a big draw, with as many as 20,000 basketball fans expected to fill seats over the event's four-day run. That's a lot of people buying popcorn and soda, meaning a solid concessions take.

But business at the Show Me Center has been anything but booming over the past couple of years, slowed by a tepid economy, a limited pool of touring acts and some big-ticket busts at the Cape Girardeau venue built with city tax dollars and Southeast Missouri State University money nearly a quarter-century ago.

'Wake-up call'

The 2010 fiscal year, which ended June 30, marked the first time in the center's 23-year history it did not meet its operating expenses, according to David Ross, Show Me Center director.

"This was a wake-up call for us," Ross said. "Everything felt right. We're still having the same number of events, but the attendance was not there."

Attendance was basically flat in the 2010 fiscal year, with about 200,000 people passing through the turnstiles. The figures were down about 12 percent from 2008's attendance count of about 228,000 attendees, Ross said.

The Show Me Center's annual budget typically runs about $1.3 million. Its operational mission is to be self-sustaining, to meet its annual operational expenses. While Ross did not provide numbers on last year's shortfall, he said the university, by contract, is responsible for making up any funding gaps at the Show Me Center, an auxiliary entity of Southeast Missouri State University.

"That goes on our balance sheet for this year and we have to make that up," Ross said.

Taking chances

The Show Me Center has hosted a series of crowd-friendly events in 2010, from the Harlem Globetrotters and sports tournaments to family favorites, like Mickey's Rockin' Road Show. But events over the past couple of years that were expected to generate buzz -- and bodies in the seats -- didn't pan out, Ross said. The Ultimate Fighting Championship in October, for instance, brought in camera crews but not the expected attendance.

In December 2009, the Show Me Center took a chance on booking country artist Josh Turner, marking an infrequent turn in the concert promotions business. It didn't work out. There were a lot of empty seats and the center lost money, Ross said.

"Sometimes we're promoters of last resort. If we can't get anyone to buy it, we will," he said.

Ross and crew are back in the promotions business for the Blake Shelton show, slated for early February. The cost to bring in a big country performing artist like Shelton, Ross said, runs in the $80,000 to $85,000 range.

But even national names like stand-up comedian Rodney Carrington, who played the Show Me Center in October, have failed to fill the 7,000-seat multipurpose arena. Ross said attendance for that show was in the 2,500 range.

Show stopper

Things have been tough all over in the events and convention business, according to an industry expert.

Steve Schmader, president and CEO of the Boise, Idaho-based International Festivals & Events Association, said the recession and the subsequent sluggish recovery have hit ticket sales hard, and major events and venues nationwide have seen an exodus of corporate sponsors.

"They were the first taking hits and being demonized in political circles, so they didn't know if it was OK to keep sponsoring or not," Schmader said of a number of Fortune 500 companies who were chastised by the public and the media for spending big money on event sponsorships and venue naming rights as they cut payrolls and dividends.

North America concert sales in 2010 grossed $2.1 billion, off 26 percent from the previous year, according to numbers reported to Billboard Boxscore on Billboard.com. Attendance of 38 million people declined 24.4 percent, with a 15.8 percent drop in the number of shows, Billboard said.

"Everything got hit in 2010," Michael Rapino, CEO of promotion behemoth Live Nation Entertainment, told Billboard.

But while attendance may have declined, "A" act ticket prices haven't, Ross said. The top performers and their promoters canceled dates or pulled off the road altogether rather than lower prices, Ross said.

Much has changed since 1990, the early days of the Show Me Center, when the arena hit peak attendance of some 400,000 people. Those were the "honeymoon" days when the center boasted the biggest names in show business -- Bob Hope, Garth Brooks, Aerosmith, Kenny Rogers, George Strait, professional wrestlers like Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant.

But there are hopeful signs for the events trade, Schmader said, as the industry adjusts to a new normal.

"We are living in a new world and learning how to live in the new world of events management," he said.

With a variety of events scheduled in the first half of 2011, from Sesame Street to country icons to trade shows and commencements, Ross said the Show Me Center's calendar is "loaded."

"I think we're going to have a banner year this year. All indications point to it," he said. "we may be in the new reality of what life is economically like right now, but we're existing well."

mkittle@semissourian.com

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