Global plan pleases mayor

A Chevy Centre deal could be finalized in 30 days.

By DAVID SKOLNICK

CITY HALL REPORTER

YOUNGSTOWN — Global Spectrum officials “hit on a lot of key points” and were “well-prepared” during the company’s presentation to manage the city-owned Chevrolet Centre, said Mayor Jay Williams.

Global Spectrum “brought their A game; their best effort” when discussing why the Philadelphia company should be hired to run the center, Williams said.

Global Spectrum gave the first of three proposals from companies wanting to manage the facility. A team of five executives from the company and its sister companies met Tuesday with city officials in a public meeting at the center’s community room.

The Cavaliers Operating Co. of Cleveland and International Facilities Group of Chicago will make a joint presentation at 10 a.m. Thursday.

SMG, also of Philadelphia, will make its pitch to city officials at 1 p.m. Thursday. An SMG official attended Global Spectrum’s presentation.

After Tuesday’s presentation and a lengthy question-and-answer period, John Page, Global Spectrum’s chief operating officer, said he was pleased with his company’s proposal to the city.

City officials will get together after hearing all three presentations and decide with which firm or firms it will enter into private and more detailed negotiations and hope to approve a management deal in about 30 days, city Finance Director David Bozanich said.

Global Spectrum manages 70 venues, said Todd Glickman, the company’s vice president of business development and client relations.

Glickman and the others from Global and its sister companies focused on the Budweiser Event Center, an indoor arena in Fort Collins, Colo., that opened in September 2003, is about an hour from Denver, and is the home of a Central Hockey League team. The Chevrolet Centre opened in October 2005, is about an hour from Cleveland and Pittsburgh, and is the home of a CHL team.

The Fort Collins facility earned $577,000 in profit last year, about $111,000 more than estimated. The Colorado Eagles hockey team has a 147-game sell-out streak.

The Chevrolet Centre lost about $250,000 last year. Global Entertainment Corp., which managed the center until October 2007 and is not affiliated with Global Spectrum, had predicted more than $650,000 in profit.

Also, the Youngstown SteelHounds hockey team rarely sells out.

The Budweiser Event Center did better than expected, Glickman said, because of his company’s comprehensive effort to make the facility a destination location through creative marketing, the ability to sell luxury suites and sponsorships, using customer data to target certain events toward certain people, and making sure every visitor to the center has an enjoyable and memorable time.

The same effort can be duplicated in Youngstown, he added.

In its written proposal to Youngstown in November, Global Spectrum estimated the center’s annual profit between $241,986 and $297,611.

The city pays $755,650 a year just to cover the interest of the $11.9 million it borrowed as its share of the $45 million center’s construction cost.

City officials have hoped the profit from the center would cover the debt, but the facility has not turned a profit in its two-plus years.

The city is working to reduce that $11.9 million figure through different venues, Williams said.

Working to obtain state funding is one option, he said.

The state provided $2 million for the center in 2005. The city was expecting another $2 million in 2006 from the state’s capital budget, but didn’t get it.

The city is seeking money from the state’s capital budget that will be released late this year.

Additional money would reduce the debt service.

“We’d like to minimize our exposure,” Williams said. “If this facility breaks even I’d be ecstatic.”

Global Spectrum also touted its joint marketing relationship with the Mahoning Valley Scrappers minor league baseball team and the Mahoning Valley Phantoms minor league hockey team. That association will increase the amount of marketing options for the center, Global officials said.

Also, Global said it would consider the possibility of retaining Eric Ryan as the center’s executive director, a position he’s held on an interim basis since Nov. 1. Ryan said he’s interested in staying.

skolnick@vindy.com