The Rapid City, South Dakota city council has voted to build a $180 million, 19,000-seat arena, to be entirely funded with local sales tax money, though there may yet be a public referendum on it, and — I’m sorry, I can’t get past Rapid City, South Dakota is building a 19,000-seat arena. And apparently some locals can’t either:
A financial plan for the proposed new arena has drawn some skepticism because it calls for the city luring two new sports franchises to the arena, and attracting concerts by top-flight acts like Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and Justin Timberlake.
I guess the sports teams would be minor-league hockey and basketball, maybe? Paying for it with “top-flight acts” is going to be difficult, though, not just because Paul McCartney only swings by individual cities at best every few years, but because Paul McCartney is going to be 75 years old before this thing can get built. I guess there’s always the occasional new arena-scale concert draw, but I seriously doubt the Foo Fighters are going to play Rapid City that often, either.
But here, don’t take it from me, take it from a guy who actually works in the concert industry:
A sparse population base, low area income and the high ticket prices that draw top-rate entertainment would block the success of a new arena here, predicted an independent consultant on concert promotion and touring.
“I would look at the ticket prices. McCartney is just expensive as hell,” Richard Barnet, president of the Association for Concert Industry Education, said. “Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney — I think God borrows money from those two.”…
“I just would be skeptical of the population. Can you get about 10 percent of the population to a concert?” Barnet said. “That’s a big chunk of your population base, and if you’re going to do several concerts a year, that is a whole bunch.”
Barnet said this in Sunday’s Rapid City Journal. The Rapid City council voted 7-3 to approve the arena plan on Monday. People, man.
So dumb. For that kind of money, they could easily build a 19,000-seat soccer stadium. I’m sure Don Garber would give them an expansion team in a heartbeat.
Stockton, South Dakota.
Nothing like 3,000 hockey fans watching minor league hockey in a 19,000 seat arena. Oh the excitement. 20 NHL arenas are smaller than 19,000 seats. This will be a giant white elephant sucking the city dry. Maybe they can book a Monster Truck Rally every week.
Wow!
If Rapid City can build an 19,000 arena for concerts, then I guess Bismarck, North Dakota can build a 20,000 arena for god knows what.
Seriously, Rapid City is a small portion of the tourist mecca known as the Black Hills so they might know what they are doing. Plus the arena might be the size of the Fargodome in Fargo, ND or the Dakotadome in Vermillion, SD. Who knows, maybe the city is working out an agreement to move the Florida Panthers to the Black Hills.
As for concerts, the area might be small, but there are plenty of people in both Dakotas, Montana, Nebraska, and Wyoming that might be able to buy tickets.
It’s close to Sturgis. They have some good acts at Sturgis, but that happens when the population of the town temporarily explodes each year. There are also shows at the Central States Rodeo which brings people into town. Maybe they will detour (hijack?) bus tours from Mount Rushmore.
@Jessy S:
Really stretching there. You do have a point, it is probably the biggest population center of the Upper Mountain area, with Laramie, Billings, and Bismarck a good while away. So, as Welkin alluded to, a 3-5,000-seat arena would probably suit the area just fine. But 19K?? Insane. Even IF Tay Tay or Macca were to come they would probably only get 6000 people to come out tops. If we’re going to talk reality, than one has to realize that even big-small cities (Metro areas with, like one or two mil plus people) like Sacramento, Jacksonville, Milwaukee, Richmond, etc., often have trouble filling arenas especially for mid-level acts. And there’s a lot more mid-level acts than Superstar acts.
And if we’re going to stay mired in reality, acts like Swift, McCartney, U2, are NOT coming to Rapid City. Sorry. Even the biggest country acts aren’t going there. The best Rapid City could hope for are up and comers and the old-time acts.
And Sturgis doesn’t count for much. People go there for the camaraderie, beer, reunions, beer, contests and beer. They’re not going to travel 30 miles out of their way for whatever concert Rapid City might be having. Plenty of acts got to Sturgis anyway for the rally.
As for residents in a surrounding radius traveling there for acts. I mean, the surrounding area is mostly national parks. I strongly doubt there’s more than 500,000 people within a 100-mile radius of RC.
@ Jessy
Bismarck does already have the 10,000 seat Bismarck Civic Center, Home of the Dakota Wizards.