Cleveland State University ponders the future of the Wolstein Center

CLEVELAND, Ohio - Cleveland State University, which won a hard-fought battle 30 years ago to obtain state funding and local support to build the 13,000-seat Wolstein Center, is now seriously considering whether the university should keep it.

Naysayers who warned when the center was proposed that it would be too large, would never turn a profit and would never consistently attract top music and sports events may have been proven right.

Hoping to generate more business, CSU hired a new company in August 2010 to manage the facility. But its inability to attract events and revenue has led university officials to believe it may be the market, not the marketing, that keeps the center empty.

"I think where we want to get to at the board level is to be very clear as to what is the best purpose for Wolstein in terms of CSU's overall plan and strategy," Stephanie McHenry vice president for business affairs and finances, said Friday.

"What do we need Wolstein to do for us? It is a great venue for basketball and commencement and some of the things we could put on that are core to what CSU does. Then we need to understand what is the cost of being able to provide that."

McHenry has said the university may decide to sell the facility and lease it for its own events.

"It is a very, very, big expensive venue to operate," CSU President Ronald Berkman said at a committee meeting of university trustees. "For the size of the university and what athletics need to be successful, it is really not optimal and there is a question of whether it can ever be optimal financially."

Board members said they want to do their own investigation, including talking to local concert promoters, to see why the center, at East 21st Street and Prospect Avenue, can't attract events.

It costs approximately $2.5 million a year to operate the Wolstein Center. CSU has always hoped for profits from revenues from sports events, concerts, trade shows, conventions and banquets. Instead, it has faced yearly deficits of up to $160,000 and those must be covered by profits from other university auxiliary operations, including the bookstore and parking services.

The facility never reached the potential envisioned by CSU trustees and local politicians in the late 1970s when they lobbied for state funds to build a convocation center, which had been part of the university's plan when it opened in 1968. Although they said it would not compete with the Coliseum in Richfield, many thought the university's center could provide a venue for the Cleveland Cavaliers and a hockey team.

The state in 1981 agreed to provide $47 million for its construction. A consultant hired by CSU recommended in 1984 that an 8,000- to 10,000-seat arena would meet its needs and cautioned that the university could face annual deficits of about $200,000 for several years with a larger building. But trustees opted to go big -- although they did agree to reduce the number of seats from 16,000 to 13,000.

The project was delayed for several years in the mid-1980s because the state would not release money to buy land since city officials and business leaders were discussing building a domed stadium and diverting CSU's money to that project.

Ground was broken in late 1988 and the center opened on Nov. 1, 1991 - just months after Cuyahoga County commissioners signed a lease with the owners of the Cavaliers to move the team to a new arena that was part of the Gateway project in downtown Cleveland.

The 20,000-seat Gund Arena opened in October, 1994. Now called Quicken Loans Arena, it has drawn major concerts and sporting events while the Wolstein Center has struggled.

In August, 2010 CSU hired Global Spectrum of Philadelphia to manage the center and agreed to pay it about $12,000 a month. But the Wolstein revenue has not markedly improved.

University officials said they are closely monitoring the performance of the company, which has a five-year contract.

Scott Warren, Global Spectrum's general manager of the Wolstein Center, on Friday deferred all comments on its operation to the university. But the company outlined its efforts in a report given to trustees in January.

The company said it was actively marketing the center and had fostered relationships with local promoters. It also said it was surveying students to see what they want.

Global said it hopes to host 10 concerts in the fiscal year ending June 30. Upcoming events including Cirque du Soleil from April 4-8 and championship bull riders on April 14.

In a list provided to trustees, it said it expected to host 33 events between January and July. But at least 17 are high school graduations, Berkman said.

Global wrote that it was not allowed to pursue mixed martial arts events and was not allowed to use the Wolstein Center as the host arena for Cleveland's team in the new Lingerie Football League.

McHenry said Friday that CSU reserves discretion over any events and will not endorse anything that is not respectful of women or is excessively violent.

"We have to be sensitive to all our constituencies," she said.

And CSU, unlike owners of other venues, does not take on the risk of guaranteeing a specific amount to a promoter regardless of ticket sales. That may result in lost opportunities, McHenry said.

Berkman said Global would like CSU to take on that risk but that the university needs to explore what that would entail and if money in its auxiliary funds could cover it.

Source: http://blog.cleveland.com/metro/2012/03/cleveland_state_university_pon.html

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