Sports, arts and entertainment are not just leisure activities, but enormous economic drivers for many cities in terms of revenue and employment. Erie is no different. Casey Wells, executive director of Erie Events, explains the importance of these industries as well as the local venues — Bayfront Convention Center, Erie Insurance Arena, Jerry Uht Park and Warner Theatre.
How would you describe the appetite for sports, arts and entertainment in Erie?
Clearly, we have a lot of cultural, sports and entertainment opportunities available to people in our region. For a community our size, that’s very unique. You’d be hard pressed to find any that have an NBA-affiliate team, a hockey team, a double AA baseball team, a philharmonic orchestra, Broadway series, Playhouse and two ballet companies.
What are you doing to make Erie more attractive to big-name performers?
There are many ways in which we try to attract artists here. Once they come here, we try to provide them with a top, first-class experience, make it easy for them and their crew, like it’s a day off because we have everything covered, which also makes it easier for us to attract them for a return engagement. There’s nothing that enables and encourages promoters and acts to come to Erie more than previous successes. If they see that Jason Aldean sold out in 13 minutes, I’m going to get more Jason Aldean. The more tickets we sell, the better it positions us to get more shows.
Erie is home to three professional sports affiliates. Describe the economic stimulus they provide.
We have as many as 100 people working on every Arena event. That’s significant. Some are even higher. We’re buying product from local vendors, beer, pop, food of all sorts. That’s locally sourced and has a significant economic impact for those vendors that supply those products. I would suspect we’re one of the largest soda and beer accounts in the community.
To keep the Otters here and to keep the BayHawks and the SeaWolves here, we also provide very aggressively friendly rental rates. We have to be sure that these teams make money, and we do everything we can to provide them as many revenue streams as possible because it makes no sense to have a ballpark or an arena or a theater without programmed events in them.
It’s been over two years since Erie Insurance Arena underwent its extensive $47-million renovation. How would you describe the return on investment today?
I can describe it in the fact that the Erie Otters are still here. I’m convinced that our hockey team would have gone to greener pastures had we not made that reinvestment. It also makes it a much more customer-friendly place for our patrons and much more comfortable for our teams.
Tell us how these venues are making Erie a tourist destination.
We are now attracting more folks from the 60- and 70-mile radius that we consider our market. They’ll come up to Erie to see a game as opposed to going to Pittsburgh or Cleveland because of the value that they get here and the enhancements in the facilities that make it a great experience.
What can we expect from Erie Events in 2016?
We’ve unveiled the development plan for the former GAF site. In 2016, we will have purchased the property necessary for the final phase of the restoration and expansion of the Warner Theatre. We’ll also be opening a Courtyard Erie Bayfront Hotel, a 192-room hotel on Erie’s magnificent bayfront and connected to the Convention Center, which will enable us to attract additional conventions and events to our community.
