Cleveland State University Selects New Private Manager, New Concessionaire, and New Ticketing Company to Improve Customer Experience and Rebrand Versatility of the Wolstein Center

(May 19, 2010 - Lowell, MA - Sun)

A new owner -- and now a new management company.

UMass Lowell, which took ownership of the 6,500-seat Tsongas Arena from the city in February and renamed it the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell, has hired a new management company for the facility.

Out is SMG, which has managed the facility for a decade but in recent years has come under some criticism for not aggressively marketing the debt-plagued building. In is Global Spectrum.

It's sort of a homecoming for Global Spectrum, a Philadelphia-based operation owned by Comcast-Spectacor, an international sports-management company. Global managed the arena for a couple of years after it first opened in 1998.

"The Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell is a place where our students and people from across the region can see world-class entertainment and sporting events, as well as participate in university and community events," said UMass Lowell Chancellor Marty Meehan. "Global Spectrum has an outstanding reputation for managing university-owned venues throughout North America. Its team will help the Tsongas Center realize its potential."

No other companies bid for the five-year deal. Global Spectrum will begin overseeing the Tsongas Center on July 1.

Under the terms of the soon-to-expire contract with SMG, the city paid SMG $75,000 annually. Peter Casey, UMass Lowell's director of athletic business enterprises, said SMG's latest bid was similar to the one it has. SMG's new bid also had a marketing proponent, as it proposed bringing on a Texas-based firm. Craig Gates, SMG's on-site manager, declined to discuss his firm's bid details.

Casey declined to discuss specifics of Global-Spectrum's bid because details are still being resolved. However, he did say, "The overall management fee, coupled with expenses, the Global Spectrum bid is a much better financial deal for the university."

Meehan spoke of "new and exciting opportunities" for the Tsongas Center, including the scheduling of concerts, family shows, sporting events and trade shows.

Of course the Tsongas Center will continue to host home games of UMass Lowell's Division 1 hockey team.

However, this winter there will likely be 40 additional prime dates to fill, dates when the ice arena would normally host games of the Lowell Devils, the American Hockey League franchise. Although there's been no official announcement from the team or the AHL, it is widely expected to move to Albany, N.Y. The team's contract to play at the Tsongas expires June 30.

With the Devils apparently on the move, it's a more lucrative time for UMass Lowell to be in the arena ownership business. For instance, the Devils retained all concession and non-ice advertising revenue. Meehan said in earlier interviews UMass Lowell has been successful booking other events on what normally would be Devils' dates.

"The Tsongas Center is a beautiful arena with tremendous potential," said Global Spectrum Chief Operating Officer John Page. "With the synergies we can create in the New England Region with several of our current facilities, we will work closely with the university to maximize opportunities for the students, the staff, and the surrounding region."

Global Spectrum will oversee all of the day-to-day management of the facility, including booking, scheduling, marketing, maintenance, contracted services, staffing, customer services and other operations.

In New England, Global Spectrum manages the MassMutual Center in Springfield, Mass.; the Mullins Center on the campus of the University of Massachusetts Amherst; and the Ryan Center at the University of Rhode Island.

With Global Spectrum already entrenched in Amherst, Casey said it made sense for the firm to establish a foot-hold here. "There's a natural tie-in with UMass Amherst," said Casey. "That was a major factor, the comfort level our sister university has with Global."

Gates said he was disappointed, but he harbors no ill-will to UMass Lowell.

"I would have to say it was a very rigorous selection process and I thought we had a great proposal," said Gates. "But obviously UMass Lowell felt Global Spectrum's bid was more suitable for the direction they wanted to go in.

"But I thought the process was absolutely fair and very above board," Gates added.

In terms of marketing the facility, Gates said SMG did all it can. He said the economy is the primary reason for the arena's lack of financial success, as it's consistently operated in the red. Gates also said that many weekend dates occupied by the Lowell Devils and the River Hawks make it hard to book the arena. 

   ABOUT US

Global Spectrum (global-spectrum.com) is the fastest growing venue management firm in the world with more than 85 facilities throughout the United States and Canada. The Philadelphia-based company is part of one of the world’s largest sports and entertainment firm Comcast-Spectacor, which also owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League, the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association, Flyers Skate Zone, a series of community ice skating rinks, Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, a regional sports programming network, Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage services provider, New Era Tickets, a full-service ticketing and marketing product for public assembly facilities, and Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company. In a partnership with Disson Skating, Comcast-Spectacor televises 10 ice skating extravaganzas annually on NBC-TV.