By Joe Ragusa
BLOOMINGTON – Managers of the U.S. Cellular Coliseum stood before the Bloomington City Council to answer questions about why the arena can’t seem to turn a profit.
Many city council members want more communication from the Coliseum’s managers, like alderman David Sage, who said he wants more information on how the Coliseum’s management is adapting to the sluggish concert touring business during Monday night’s Committee of the Whole meeting.
“How are we going to re-purpose the building? How are we going to approach managing the facility differently with some of these changes in the business landscape?” Sage said.
Bart Rogers, vice president of Central Illinois Arena Management, said some changes are already happening, like the elimination of radius clauses that prohibit musicians from performing near the city of another festival or performance.
“The agents are trying now to write those out of contracts to allow the artists to play more freely,” Rogers said.
The Coliseum operated at a loss of $495,000 last year, not factoring in debt service payments. Alderman Kevin Lower said he has a problem with government-funded entertainment in general, especially if it’s a venue that operates in the red.
“If I was running my private business and I had an operating loss like that, I wouldn’t be here,” Lower said.
The issue of revenue from concession stands also came up during Monday’s meeting. CIAM president John Butler is also the owner of BMI Concessions, who runs the concession stands for several events at the Coliseum.
“My obligation in order to get the food and beverage rights was to pay up to $1 million, spend $1 million of my own money for the equipment in the building,” Butler said. “So I have skin in the game.”
The city receives between 32-42 percent of concession sales from BMI Concessions each year. Revenue from those concessions has dropped by 49 percent since 2009.
Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].