By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – U.S. Cellular Coliseum celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, but the downtown Bloomington venue made headlines for plenty of reasons beyond that as WJBC recaps one of WJBC’s Top Stories of 2016.
When the Coliseum first opened in 2006 amid optimism from city leaders and cynicism from many in the community who thought it would become a white elephant, the venue had a contract with a firm called Central Illinois Arena Management, a 10-year arrangement that city officials said in hindsight was a bad deal for the city.
“We had to provide more clear benchmarks for higher performance – an industry standard – and more transparency with respect to records,” mayor Tari Renner said. “I thought we were going to be able to work things out.”
CIAM balked and later pulled out of negotiations with the city.
“(City officials) can ask a lot of questions, we just are not going to release that information to be published,” CIAM president John Butler said.
Bloomington looked for a new management team as CIAM’s contract – and U-S Cellular Coliseum’s naming rights deal – expired. Soon after, the city trumpeted a deal with an Ames, Iowa-based company called VenuWorks that would take over management of the venue.
“The biggest thing VenuWorks brings to the table as far as events is a network of managers,” VenuWorks Senior Vice President Tim Sullivan said. “We are excited to see what we can bring into town
VenuWorks touted its transparency. It reported on the city’s website one of its first concerts in Bloomington, classic rockers Boston, produced an $18,000 profit for a Tuesday concert in late May. Band members were paid $122,500.
Later, there were rumblings of an investigation into some fraudulent financial dealings at the Coliseum.
“People are going to ask more and ask for more documentation and we are fine giving that,” then-Coliseum director Curtis Webb said. “In fact it helps you to make sure everything you are doing is transparent and open.”
At the time, Webb said the coliseum was cooperating with an investigation. One month later, Webb was fired for allegedly using a company debit card for personal purchases.
“I’ve never had anybody use a credit card like this,” VenuWorks President Steve Peters. “We won’t tolerate it.” He said the company found the misspending during a routine audit.
Webb now faces criminal charges.
The coliseum’s finances according to the city’s website shows a $50,000 operating loss in the first five months of the budget year.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
