Articles
Date: July 2003
Publication: Auditoria magazine
Author: David Greusel, HOK Venue
While major metropolitan areas can usually justify separate facilities for conventions, sports and entertainment events, cities in smaller markets sometimes find it advantageous to combine these venues into a single facility to save on construction and operational costs. This article explores the benefits of combined sport and convention facilities from the points of view of both entertainment and tourism development.
These second - and third - tier communities frequently resort to a combined facility that attempts to serve the needs of local teams, entertainment events, and the convention and meetings market at the same time. A combined facility is not the same as a multipurpose facility, where one facility tries to do many - at times too many - jobs. But it does gain many of the same advantages: lower initial cost, lower operating expenses, and more versatility for less total investment of public and private resources. And, like their big-city counterparts, combined facilities can result in significant economic impacts, in the form of new jobs, new revenues and new spin-off development.