Downtown Atlanta is no longer the region's only place for major event space and that logistical fact will make it more challenging to fill the 43 days suddenly available at Philips Arena because of the departure of the Atlanta Thrashers.
Since the Thrashers began play in 1999, the metro area has exploded with events venues, especially in the northern suburbs where residents no longer have to drive downtown for a concert or a play.
Since 2003, the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center (capacity: 2,750), the Gwinnett Arena (13,100) and the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Encore Park in Alpharetta (12,000) have joined longtime event spaces such as Chastain Park, Lakewood Amphitheater, the Fox Theater, the Atlanta Civic Center and Tabernacle in the hunt for customers.
If that is not enough competition for Philips, the entertainment business has also been flat in an economy where consumers are holding onto their cash, whether it's for higher gas prices or fear of layoffs.
Bob Williams, president of Philips, said the task will be challenging, but he expects to fare well. How well is another question.
Williams said the facility will target concerts, family shows, rodeos, figure skating shows, gymnastics meets, bull riding, multi-day events and big name sports contests like the NCAA basketball tournament. He'll also be able to place the Atlanta Hawks in some of the Thrashers' weekend dates, which attract bigger crowds.
"There's lots of events we haven't pursued in the past because we didn't have the availability," said Williams, who is also president of the Hawks.
That could prompt a mad scramble among the competing venues Veteran promoter Peter Conlon says the market has become over-crowded.
Though all have their niches, whether it be an evening outdoors at Verizon or the traveling King Tut exhibit a few years ago at the Civic Center, more available venue space can drive down prices and force some facilities to cut deals that could be detrimental.
"Acts are being very competitive and looking for the best deals and venues are paying a high premium to get shows," said Conlon, president of Live Nation Atlanta. "Are there winners and losers? Yes. Are there [venues] over-paying for acts? Yes."
Williams said Philips, which generally makes money on concessions, parking, suite sales, merchandising and sponsorships, has kept its rental rates flat for the last three years.
Heywood Sanders, a professor of public administration at the University of Texas at San Antonio, said the dilemma for Philips may be that the spread of venues to the northern suburbs, where much of metro Atlanta lives, has lessened the need for concert-goers or sports fans to go downtown. Why risk a night in Atlanta traffic if they can get what they are looking for closer to home?
Michael Taormina, managing director of the Cobb Energy Center, said business is much less subject to the vagaries of which acts or events can be booked at a facility as it is to the size of a venue. Philips will attract those who need and can fill 18,000 seats while the Cobb Center, for instance, will be more appealing to a booking agent looking for the intimacy of 2,750 seats.
"It's about what is the best fit," he said. "There is no one size fits all."
Williams agrees. He said Lady Gaga and Katy Perry, two acts that played at the Gwinnett Arena, could have played at the bigger Philips had the facility had the dates open to accommodate them.
He said the arena's booking department -- about six people -- are "aggressively" in pursuit of business, talking with promoters, family show operators and others to find business. The departure of the Thrashers will also open up more dates for the WNBA Atlanta Dream, he said.
Karen Caro, marketing manager for the Cobb Galleria Centre, said another factor is the type of audience being sought. Some conventions want the flavor of a big city with unique restaurants and nightlife that would make Philips appealing. But there are also those who prefer free parking and ease of access from interstates, which will push the business to the suburbs.
Still Conlon said Philips will have challenges because there is no one easy answer. They may pick up a few concerts that would have passed them by, had the Thrashers still be tenants. But in the prevailing market conditions, this doesn't mean a flood of business either.
"This is not a windfall for them," he said.
