Council welcomes report showing arena losing less money

Posted on September 17, 2019
arena
City-owned Grossinger Motors Arena didn’t lose as much money last fiscal year, according to arena managers. (Grossinger Motors Arena photo)

 

 

By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – Bloomington city leaders think they may have turned a corner with taxpayer-owned Grossinger Motors Arena.

The firm running the downtown venue for the city reported the arena is not hemorrhaging money like it did only a year ago.

Lynn Cannon, VenuWorks executive director for the arena, told the city council Monday night the indoor sports and concert venue ran a $270,922 deficit for the just-completed fiscal year, from $665,099 the previous year.

Council member Kimberly Bray thinks the community is getting a good deal.

“The arena brings quality of life to our community to the tune of about $3.46 per citizen, and I think the talk and the naysayers about the albatross of the arena, I think those days are over,” said Bray.

Council member Mboka Mwilambwe praised the VenuWorks executive for showing significant improvement, while council member Jamie Mathy thanked Cannon for bringing a wide variety of shows to town.

Council member Donna Boelen noted the city is still responsible for paying off millions of dollars in debt, separate from operating costs, so she urged Cannon to work on trying to break even.

According to Cannon, the arena has sold almost all of its sponsorships, and it made money on every show.

“When we evaluate a show now, we are evaluating it for the potential revenue that it can drive for the arena,” said Cannon.

“We aren’t just looking at it as a fun thing to do for Bloomington,” Cannon also said.

Cannon says the arena also realized energy savings, and cut a full-time staffer.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]

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