By Patrick Baron
BLOOMINGTON – Despite a profitable fourth quarter for Grossinger Motors Arena, the VenuWorks-operated arena saw an overall loss for fiscal year 2018.
The arena saw a total operating loss of $667,350. Arena executive director Lynn Cannon explained the Bloomington Edge being unable to play games played a role in the arena’s financial loss.
“We definitely lost revenue when the football team wasn’t able to play their spring season, so we didn’t have any revenue for any of the games that were scheduled during that period of time,” said Cannon.
Cannon added the lack of attendance at a number of events didn’t help the arena’s financial situation.
“Hockey attendance was down last year, so that impacted us, especially in food and beverage sales,” Cannon explained. “Although we did have quite a few concerts and outside events, we certainly could use more attendance at those as well.”
She also noted despite the arena seeing a net loss in the last fiscal year, the cost of recent renovations to the arena won’t be taken out of the operating budget.
“Renovations are part of the capital improvement, so it’s not tied to the operating budget,” said Cannon. “The building is now 12 years old, so we certainly do need to continue to update and make changes to equipment as they start to wear out.”
Some of those renovations have been aimed at making the arena more wheelchair-accessible.
The arena’s fourth quarter, consisting of February, March, and April, brought in a profit of $50,719. Cannon said the IHSA cheerleading and wrestling state finals in February drew large crowd numbers for the arena, as did concerts featuring Brad Paisley, Cole Swindell, and Judas Priest.
Patrick Baron can be reached at patrick,[email protected].
