By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – The executive director of the firm running the city-owned Grossinger Motors Arena in Downtown Bloomington is optimistic she’ll be able to book events that will draw larger crowds than for the hockey team that announced Thursday evening it won’t play next season.
Documents posted on the city government’s website show the Central Illinois Flying Aces have drawn an average crowd of 532 people for the 21 dates so far this season.
The announcement came on the same night the arena hosted more than 6,000 people for the Kane Brown concert, and followed by only a few weeks comments by Mayor Tari Renner that he was “cautiously optimistic” the city would eventually sell the arena, but a private buyer would need “deep pockets.”
Executive director Lynn Cannon, who works for arena management firm VenuWorks, said the 30 open dates that would have been reserved for hockey, provides some flexibility in attracting more popular events.
“When they’re playing in the building, their dates are generally Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. This opens up a ton of weekends for us that we’ll be able to look for additional shows and events that would bring more people to the arena,” Cannon said.
Last September, Cannon told Bloomington aldermen the best the city could hope for is for the venue to lose about a half-million dollars a year.
If the Flying Aces decide to return to the arena for the 2020-2021 season, Cannon said she’s would be “willing” and “able” to negotiate a new contract.
“The team has told us that they’ve lost money for the last two years, and that they don’t feel it’s financially viable for them to continue at this point,” said Cannon.
“I don’t know what the future is for them. I think that’s why they’re going to take this one year and try to make a decision,” Cannon added.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
