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Independence, MO —
Despite the Independence Events Center being $59,000 off the projected budget so far this fiscal year, that could quickly turn around in the next two months.
Take March, for example. Eleven out of the first 12 days in the month are booked with already-scheduled events or potential playoff games.
“Really, two Mavericks playoff games, and our budget will be balanced, essentially,” said Events Center General Manager Mike Young, adding that while playoff games aren’t a guarantee, Events Center staff still budget for one or two each year. The Mavericks have made it to the playoffs every year of the team’s existence.
“Many times, the challenge for us in our budget is that we simply don’t know what events we’re going to have,” Young said during Thursday’s Independence Events Center Management Corporation board of directors meeting at City Hall. “...At the end of the day, it’s something that we don’t have confirmed generally until after our budget comes out. We can look forward to adjusting those numbers as we get events confirmed.”
While staff know that 33 Missouri Mavericks hockey games, 13 Missouri Comets soccer games and about five May graduations are a guarantee on the schedule, and other events are added – and sometimes canceled – throughout the year.
At the board’s last meeting in mid-October, the Events Center reported a loss of about $97,000 into the 2012-13 fiscal year, which runs July through June, much of which came from a couple of summer events that didn’t perform as expected, Young said.
“That kind of put us in the hole a little bit right off the bat, which is never a positive position to start in,” he said, “but knowing that, we just had to dig a little bit deeper through the year and find new revenue or reduce our overhead and expenses.”
The original budget had called for 97 events this fiscal year, but that projection is now at 107 events, Young said, including concerts and nonprofit organizations using the facility.
Also, the budget had projected 297,785 visitors at the Events Center, but the revised budget calls for 273,000 visitors. Three events originally projected for this year’s budget – two cheerleading events and the KU vs. MU hockey game – didn’t happen, which resulted in a loss of about 10,000 total visitors, Young said.
“We could have more events and less attendance or more attendance and less events,” he said. “It just depends on the nature of the event, really.”
Despite the Independence Events Center being $59,000 off the projected budget so far this fiscal year, that could quickly turn around in the next two months.
Take March, for example. Eleven out of the first 12 days in the month are booked with already-scheduled events or potential playoff games.
“Really, two Mavericks playoff games, and our budget will be balanced, essentially,” said Events Center General Manager Mike Young, adding that while playoff games aren’t a guarantee, Events Center staff still budget for one or two each year. The Mavericks have made it to the playoffs every year of the team’s existence.
“Many times, the challenge for us in our budget is that we simply don’t know what events we’re going to have,” Young said during Thursday’s Independence Events Center Management Corporation board of directors meeting at City Hall. “...At the end of the day, it’s something that we don’t have confirmed generally until after our budget comes out. We can look forward to adjusting those numbers as we get events confirmed.”
While staff know that 33 Missouri Mavericks hockey games, 13 Missouri Comets soccer games and about five May graduations are a guarantee on the schedule, and other events are added – and sometimes canceled – throughout the year.
At the board’s last meeting in mid-October, the Events Center reported a loss of about $97,000 into the 2012-13 fiscal year, which runs July through June, much of which came from a couple of summer events that didn’t perform as expected, Young said.
“That kind of put us in the hole a little bit right off the bat, which is never a positive position to start in,” he said, “but knowing that, we just had to dig a little bit deeper through the year and find new revenue or reduce our overhead and expenses.”
The original budget had called for 97 events this fiscal year, but that projection is now at 107 events, Young said, including concerts and nonprofit organizations using the facility.
Also, the budget had projected 297,785 visitors at the Events Center, but the revised budget calls for 273,000 visitors. Three events originally projected for this year’s budget – two cheerleading events and the KU vs. MU hockey game – didn’t happen, which resulted in a loss of about 10,000 total visitors, Young said.
“We could have more events and less attendance or more attendance and less events,” he said. “It just depends on the nature of the event, really.”
This year includes several returning performances to the Events Center. Lee’s Summit rapper Tech N9ne has already committed to the second annual Gift of Rap concert at the Events Center, Young said, and a live performance of Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb” also is coming back in early February.
As of Thursday afternoon, Young said, tickets were nearly sold out for country rock musician Brantley Gilbert’s Thursday evening performance at the Events Center, which kicked off his “Hell On Wheels” tour.
Efforts are ongoing to secure a naming rights partner for the Events Center. Staff members are now handling that effort since the Events Center is no longer partnering with the Philadelphia-based Front Row Marketing Services to secure a naming rights partner.
City Manager Robert Heacock wouldn’t offer a dollar range for that sponsorship, but he said it could result in a “game changer for the operation of the facility.” Heacock and Young both said the Events Center has “come close” several times in securing a naming rights partner.
“It’s not a small sponsorship,” Young said. “...We’re constantly looking for new opportunities to pitching our new naming rights sponsorship. ... It’s absolutely ongoing, and it’s not an easy thing to do.”
About 75 percent of the facility’s sponsorships also are renewed, Young said, with those agreements ranging from one to 10 years. Sponsorships can get tricky since the Kansas City market includes spaces like the Sprint Center, Starlight Theatre and others, he said.
When it comes to sponsorships, Young’s main focus the remainder of this fiscal year is securing a banking sponsorship for the facility.
“Buildings like the Events Center really live and breathe off of sponsorships,” he said, “especially in the summer, when cash flow gets to be a little bit slow. We really depend on those sponsorships to come in and help us support the facility financially.”
