|
“Change Is Good”Mid-South Coliseum manager Beth Wade talks about the future of her arena.by MARY CASHIOLA
Built in 1964 for $4.9 million, the arena is showing its age. The Flyer sat down with Coliseum manager Beth Wade recently to get her thoughts on the past year and what the future holds for this venerable arena.
I think he was looking for a scapegoat for the decision that the RiverKings made to move to DeSoto County immediately following the signing of a new five-year deal. None of those issues that became the focal point of the lawsuit in his mind were ever mentioned during any of the negotiations that concluded no more than six months before. I think from a physical standpoint it is structurally one of the soundest buildings in Memphis. As a matter of fact, during meetings with the county mayor's office the comment was made, had we been able to afford to build The Pyramid at the same level of structural integrity as the Coliseum, it would have been millions more dollars. It is structurally a very sound building. Does it need some lighting improvements? Yeah. Does it need some sound improvements? Yes. But the statement that the building is deteriorating is false. Now that an agreement has been signed and the RiverKings will be here for one more year, do you think the staffs of the Coliseum and the RiverKings will be able to co-exist peacefully? We co-existed already. But it will never be the relationship that it was before they did this. The people we thought they were and the things we used to believe about them, we have found out have not been true. We have 35 more games, plus playoffs, and we will be delighted to have those games in the building, but there isn't that partnership there was before. That's the saddest part of this whole thing. It used to be such a fun relationship. We'd see ideas, we run them down the hallway. It was a riot. Even though they decided to go, there could have been better ways to do it. The lawsuit was based on one question: When are you going to go? It took a year; it took, on our part, over $50,000 in lawyer fees, and the deal we're at right now is the same deal we offered them a year ago. Every time we asked a question, we got, "When we're ready to tell you we're going to go, we'll tell you then." That didn't help us plan for our future. Our decision to allow them out of their remaining five-year deal and signing a one-year deal wasn't about them, it was about the future of the Coliseum. Looking back over the past year, is there anything you think you should've done differently? No, because I didn't do it. If they were so displeased with the Coliseum, why weren't those items included in that new five-year deal? I can't get past that. That five-year deal had just been signed; we hadn't even lived out one year of it and there's all these memos that I've now read because of the lawsuit saying they were ready to go in September and the deal just started in April. I guess I'd like to have had an honest story. But I wasn't the bearer of the news, I was the recipient. But the board had no other choice than to do what we had to do. We couldn't let them hold us hostage. And that's what it was about. But you are looking for another hockey team? I'm working long and hard and fast. I've already made my contacts; I've initiated the letters. The hope is that I can attend the East Coast Hockey League's board of governors meeting and make a presentation on behalf of the building. The East Coast League apparently has accepted some buildings that are too small or too old or whatever, so before they let a potential owner strike a deal with a building, they have to approve the building. The president of the East Coast League hopefully will be here fairly soon. He would have to put his stamp on the building before the board of governors could put their stamp on it, and then it would be a matter of negotiating with a potential owner for meeting our basic qualifications. We have several qualifications. For example, the team has to be affiliated with the NHL; it has to have local ownership. No more of this absentee-owner thing. Those are my two basic requirements. Actually, in order to qualify for the [state] tax rebate through the state legislature, I believe it works out better if it's an existing team that's looking for a new home. There are four teams in the East Coast that are in that position or could be in that position. There are options out there in that regard, but they have to meet those criteria. The tax-rebate program is significant to allowing us some of the income and helping the people who use the building generate the revenue to update the building. Because, if you think about it, the building was built in 1964 for $4.9 million. It's had a new roof, it's had its seats renovated, it's had a new parking lot, we've painted it, we got a new scoreboard. That's about it. We're working with a lot of the original equipment and it's not that it doesn't work, it's just not efficient energy-wise. But do you think this market can support another hockey team? No. Do I think the market is excited to support a higher grade of hockey? Absolutely. I'll be honest with you. When I was soliciting a hockey team, my first choice was the East Coast League. But East Coast hadn't moved this far south and really hadn't moved this far west. Maybe if I had waited a year, we could've had an East Coast team to begin with. Because right now, Little Rock is just opening up a new franchise in the ECL, New Orleans is going to have one, Biloxi's got one, Pensacola's got one, Nashville had one and then they went Central and that didn't work out, and now they've got the NHL. But East Coast was our first choice. For a long time, the Coliseum was THE place for concerts. But you've said yourself there aren't that many groups that can sell out The Pyramid. With the new DeSoto facility, what do you think about the Coliseum's viability? There's another part you have to put into that mix, too, and that's the casinos. You can't not consider them when you're looking at entertainment. Of anything that's hurt any of our facilities [it's] the casinos and paying a lot of money for acts that would normally, like Brooks and Dunn, play here. What do we see as the types of shows we're good at? We're definitely the family-show facility. Sesame Street tried our facilities and Barney the dinosaur is coming to the Coliseum this winter. The Pyramid does do some family shows, but I think that's our niche especially because we can bring it into a small scale -- you don't feel as if you're lost in all those seats. The Pyramid definitely has a role in this market, but each building has the right to be who they're going to be. How's DeSoto going to fit into that? I don't know. I know I'm planning for them coming online. I have multi-year contracts that I'm planning in order to prevent the type of erosion we had when The Pyramid came on line. Pretty much everything just left because they wanted to try the new facility. They found out new isn't always better, so I figure they realize they are in the right facility. I know when The Pyramid opened, we laid low because it was such a huge addition to the community. We made a lot of service changes. When I got here nine years ago, I had employees smoking cigarettes at the door while they were tearing tickets. We had a long way to go because we were the only facility and we got too comfortable in that role. We had to really look at what people wanted and change the way we did things. What kind of renovations do you think the Coliseum needs right now? And how much do you think it will cost? Since day one, we've put together wish lists. We look at things that would make it more efficient and cheaper for us to use the facility. We would like to see the ceiling tiles removed in the main building and acoustical spray put over the rigging and the steel. We'd like a new lighting system, we'd like a new sound system, we'd like a new rigging grid for the main building. There are also some ADA [American Disabilities Act] concerns we'd like to address -- like an elevator -- and moving the box office to a central location outside the west [gate] as opposed to having three separate box offices. Part and parcel with that is the addition of that second sheet of ice, which will do several things for us. It would let the youth hockey program grow, it would let the Lady Tigers have their own permanent dressing room in the building, as well as the new team having a new set of dressing rooms. I know the new building's about $5 million based on the drawings and plans I have for it right now. I would say we're looking at somewhere between $12 and $15 million to really bring it up to efficient technological standards. We're not looking to be a Mercedes-Benz, we just want to be a strong Chevrolet that just keeps trucking down that road. And I think we can be. It seems like the Coliseum has been pushed to the wayside. Do you see anyone ready to stand up and fight for this facility? I think that's one of the reasons that I'm a strong supporter of private management for this building. People say I'm nuts because it does mean that my job would be eliminated, but I would rather see the Coliseum win. This isn't about one person; I'm not trying to be some saint here. I've got nine years invested in this place and I really don't want to fight the fight again. I would like to see the plans that we worked so hard to develop actually come to be. Maybe my part was setting it up and somebody else can take it to the next level, but that's okay. This place has given me more than I could ever think of giving it. But I think private management is the way to go. I just do. Do you think the city and the county have neglected the Coliseum? I wouldn't say neglect. We've been so self-contained and so self-supporting. We're paid in full; we use our own revenue to make up whatever losses we have. I guess they just thought there were other things that really needed attention. I don't think they neglected us. It's always been such a stellar facility that they didn't need to worry about it. So when we do ask, it's like, what do you mean, you need something? And right now we need things. There's no doubt we need things. What other kinds of events are you looking for right now to help with the "dark" days at the Coliseum? We're looking at more religious events; that's been a little niche we seemed to fall into very nicely. Because the Coliseum is nationally known as the grandfather of wrestling facilities, that allows us to look at roller derby. As soon as they begin to book the national tour, we'll look forward to adding it to our calendar. We have had quite a bit of success doing alternative shows. We're the right-size facility and the ease of the building makes this the place to do an alternative show in town. We're looking to try to find more community events to do, but because our challenge is to pay the bills, we're not really afforded the opportunity to offer a charitable rate or a not-for-profit rate. But we do our best. I think we're doing 20 graduations this year, and we're now the site for jury selection. We try everything. There isn't any event that we won't try to think through and try. "Can't do" is not in our vocabulary. In your opinion, what will the Coliseum's future be? The Coliseum's future, I believe, can be just as grand as it's past. It won't be the dominant facility, as far as the one doing the Rolling Stones or the Beatles. With the understanding that hockey and figure skating are definitely part of the Mid-South community -- [they're] just as ingrained as football or basketball or soccer but are very limited because there's just not a place for people to play them. I guess that's what I would think the Coliseum's future is. It's different, but change is good. It's not the same as it was, but that doesn't mean it will be any less important. |
fter a year-long legal battle, the RiverKings and the Mid-South
Coliseum reached an agreement last month allowing the hockey team
to play in the round house for one more year. But while things
seem to be moving forward for the hockey team, where will the
Coliseum be after the 'Kings leave? 