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The Qwest Center Omaha did not escape the bumpy economy, as overall attendance at the city's flagship entertainment center dipped for the first time since it opened six years ago.
About 48,000 fewer people attended events at the arena convention center for the fiscal year that ended June 30, according to the annual financial report delivered Tuesday to the Metropolitan Entertainment and Convention Authority board.
The board oversees both the Qwest Center and the Omaha Civic Auditorium, which play host to the city's larger corporate and entertainment events, including big-name performers and large-scale conventions.
The Qwest Center opened in 2003, after voters approved the sale of bonds to finance it.
Not all the news Tuesday was bad.
Despite the drop in attendance, the Qwest Center and the Civic Auditorium managed to record a slight increase in operating profit. That's even without the annual subsidy of about $1.8 million from the city, which ended last year.
Operating profit for the two facilities was about $3.7 million — about $70,000 more than last year.
Both facilities ended the fiscal year in the black. The Civic recorded net profit of about $255,000, while the Qwest Center recorded net profit of about $3.5 million.
The profit from the Qwest Center is used for upkeep of the facility, and is not used to pay back the $198 million in bonds that the city issued to build the facility. However, some of the tax generated by the Qwest Center is used to pay off the bonds.
On the tax front, the facilities managed to generate record tax revenues for the City of Omaha, including $2.4 million in city sales tax and $3 million in state “turnback” sales tax, which was generated at the Qwest Center and the Hilton Omaha and returned to the city.
Overall, for the last six years, the Qwest Center has generated $47 million in tax revenue for the City of Omaha and the State of Nebraska.
“Qwest Center Omaha performed extremely well despite very challenging industry conditions,” said Gail Werner-Robertson, chairwoman of MECA.
The question now is what the coming year holds for the Qwest Center.
Roger Dixon, president of MECA, said all signs point to a tough year to come. The Qwest Center expects to book nine fewer concerts than in the previous fiscal year.
Many of the nation's top artists appear to be waiting out the economy and are not hitting the road, Dixon said.
“We're shaking every bush we can to try to pick up every business we can,” he said.
One of the problems that the Qwest Center and other entertainment venues are facing is a dip in the number of people who attend each concert.
The Qwest Center booked 31 concerts in the last fiscal year, up from 23 concerts the previous year. There was a range of top-notch acts last fiscal year, including Celine Dion, Fleetwood Mac and the Eagles.
The record number of concerts translated into a record 296,709 people packing concert seats last year in Omaha.
However, the average number of people who attended each concert has dropped. And, it's been dropping for the past four years.
Last year, the average concert attendance was 9,571, down sharply from 11,929 in the 2006 fiscal year.
“We understand this is a trend throughout the concert industry for our type of venue,” said Lea French, MECA's chief financial officer.
Another problem that the Qwest Center is struggling with is that many top artists have already visited Omaha, including Bruce Springsteen and U2.
Artists typically prefer playing in cities where they haven't recently performed. “You look at what's out there (artists on tour), and what's out there, we've already had,” said Dixon.
Contact the writer:
444-1309, robynn.tysver@owh.com
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