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Giant SMG selected to manage
New Haven Coliseum
A Private Affair
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Business New Haven
5/31/1999
By: BNH
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On South Orange Street did Richard Lee a stately pleasuredome decree.
Now, after seven years of talking about it, the New Haven Coliseum Authority has finally inked a pact with a private operator to manage the 30-year-old Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Philadelphia-based SMG (formerly Spectacor Management Group) is among the largest facilities-management firms in the nation, operating some 65 stadiums and arenas including the Louisiana Superdome, Chicago's Soldiers Field and Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
Under terms of the contract, which was approved May 27 by the coliseum authority, the city will split operating profits 65-35 with SMG. If the operator fails to generate a profit in any given year, it will not earn a fee.
SMG is scheduled to take over the reins of the coliseum July 1.
To sweeten the deal, SMG has offered a $500,000 grant for facilities improvements at the Coliseum, including upgrading concessions stands. The firm has also pledged to keep current Coliseum employees, including Executive Director James Perillo, employed for 12 months.
City and coliseum officials are buoyed by the increased leverage SMG will be able to bring to the facility. National arena managers book shows and entertainment tours in bulk to assure the most profitable deals. Thus the Philadelphia firm may be able to book shows and artists that the coliseum's public management may in the past have been unable to snag.
Veterans Memorial Coliseum has struggled to book touring shows in recent years, particularly following the opening of the Meadows Musical Theater - which has become the state's premier outdoor stage - and the reopening of the Oakdale Musical Theater in Wallingford.
In recent years the city has turned management of a number of publicly owned facilities top private management. These include Alling Memorial Golf Course and Tweed-New Haven Airport. In addition, the city has hired private management for the New Haven Parking Authority and the city's ice rink.
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