By Adam Studzinski
BLOOMINGTON – The deficit at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum through the first several months it’s been operated by VenuWorks was not a complete surprise, but it was larger than originally expected.
VenuWorks took over in April 2016. Coliseum officials updated the Bloomington City Council Tuesday night on the facility’s finances, which shows a $674,000 deficit over a seven month period.
CFO Tim Sullivan put part of the blame on the booking cycle. He explained most of the shows at the Coliseum in their first several months had already been set. Adding to that is the fact VenuWorks wasn’t able to set up as many additional shows as they would have liked.
“We were laying people off when we weren’t hitting the numbers, so I mean we take it very seriously,” said Sullivan. “I’m pretty confident with the spring lineup that we have that we can turn things around and get back on track with the budget.”
Sullivan said they have also been making several upgrades to the facility. He added he’s confident in their ability to eventually balance the budget completely; it’s just going to take more time.
“If we get there, I want to take a look at history and just recognize the accomplishment that would be,” said Sullivan. “Historically the subsidy has averaged somewhere north of, I think, a half-a-million dollars a year. So to turn that around in less than two years, that’s quite a task.”
Central Illinois Arena Management had operated the Coliseum the first 10 years of its existence.
Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].
