- PNC is proud to support "Business Forward," where community leaders discuss the issues confronting business in Central Illinois.

(gentle music) - Welcome to "Business Forward."

I'm your host Matt George.

Joining me tonight, Rik Edgar.

Rik is the General Manager of the Peoria Civic Center.

Welcome, Rik.

- Thanks for having me.

- Well, let's get right down to it.

Let's talk about you for a second, I know you don't want to, but I think that just kind of...

I'm interested how you get into the business that you're in, because I think people from the outside look at what you do and just think it's all fun and games.

'Cause you get to see rock and roll shows and all of that, and we're gonna get into the business, but how did you even get into this business?

- Well, it's one of those things that I always wanted to be in the business, but when I was growing up in my twenties, your uncle usually ran the building or you had to know someone.

When private management came around about 20 years ago.

It opened doors for folks like me who had a desire but no impasse.

So I went back and started working on a second master's degree and that, I started from the bottom.

It's like the masonry business, you start by building stages, and then, here we are 15 years later and I get to run a beautiful property here in Peoria.

- Yeah, and if you think about it, what you just said, not only getting your master's, but we're talking, this is a big business.

There's a lot of moving parts here, but for you to be able to really boots on the ground, and be able to say I've done that I've cleaned the bathrooms, I've set up stages, I've done security, all those different things, really also says something to your employees.

- Well, I think that the best way to be good in this business is to go to a small building where you have to do everything, you're not as compartmentalized and that's how I was trained, so I'm a little biased.

And then when you get to the bigger buildings, it's about becoming a general manager, when you do this for a while and I generally know a little bit about everything, but I'm not particularly good at any one thing.

So that works well in this industry.

- Well, that's good.

So, how are things been going with the Peoria Civic Center?

I know obviously COVID derailed things and everybody's sick of talking about that, but at the same time in the entertainment business which you're in, whether it's sports, music, whatever it may be, that transition was really, really bumpy for a long time.

What was your plan as you rolled back into the kind of some sort of normalcy?

- In our business, everything is income, that's disposable income, what can you do?

And coming back, it was changing and I think what we did well was we went with the changes as opposed to trying to fight 'em.

And one of the things that really worked out for us, I mean, we had a mask mandate in place through the end of February, which kind of hurt tenant sports.

Folks weren't really ready to high fives and cheer with their friends when they're still concerned about COVID.

But once we got into the little bit later into the spring, we had our big concerts, people came out in droves.

And shocking to us, we actually had our best fiscal year, which ends here in a couple weeks in the arena theater than the building's ever had.

So we're nowhere without the fans and they came and really brought us out of the depths and we have really high hopes for the rest of '22 and '23.

- You know, I wasn't even thinking this till you just started talking, but have you talked to some of the musicians that were pretty much on a two or three, two year hiatus, let's say, and did they think that there was a chance that it's not gonna get back to normalcy?

- I don't think we will ever be pre-pandemic normal again.

So it's what it is today.

And it varies by artists.

And we're very respectful, the artist calls the shots, to play your venues.

We literally just had to show our air supply that had been on sale for almost three years, between when we originally put it on sale and rescheduled.

So we're happy to say all of our pre-pandemic shows that were rescheduled had played off and now it's starting business over.

And like I said, things are looking really bright for this 22/23 season.

- Well, let's talk about that.

So give me a pulse of what you feel the next couple years is gonna look like.

- Well, we're more of a six month out business.

- Okay.

- Because market trends switch so heavily.

Now, with multiple parts of our business, convention center business was actually the slowest to return, but our staff's done a really good job and those shows seem to be coming back this year.

Because, again, it's companies paying for travel to a community like Peoria.

In the concert business, we saw a little bit of a rush that all of a sudden everybody wanted a tour and there was an excess of talent on the road.

So what happens is then you start to kinda cannibalize shows and shows are making 75, 80% of what they should do, 'cause there's too many events.

So we're kind of picking and choosing.

But with that being said, man, we've got Luke Bryan, Keith Urban, Ghost, and we've got a ton of stuff that we're gonna announce in September and our Broadway series, which we're so proud of.

We're actually 35% ahead in ticket sales at this point of this year on the season series than we were last year.

So again, things are looking positive.

- That's pretty cool.

And so the other thing too is, when you say you're in a six month, pretty much window because things can change.

Is that too because of the holiday season that, you know, 'cause coming in September is November, December a big season for you or for the Civic Center.

- Yeah, we actually we're chomping it a bit.

There's things we'd love to tell you on this air today, but we can't until September, that's coming out.

And what I mean by the sixth month is our industry is very flexible, you know, volatile, it can move around.

So what happened is, everybody was out and then we saw a little bit of a pause, but as secondary markets like in Peoria have really benefited with the primaries being overbooked.

So we're starting to get some acts that normally wouldn't play our venue.

The other thing is, is we're a seasonal business in the ticketed world.

Usually it's about mid-October through mid-April is our prime season.

So we still haven't announced, really much of our spring events.

And once we do that, I think people will get excited to come back down to the Civic Center.

- Yeah, you know, just another offshoot question here.

So, a lot of times there's a lot of ticket vendors out there that sell ticket, whether it's Ticketmaster, there's different sites, is it cheaper for the customer to come up to the Civic Center window and actually buy a ticket than it is to get it online?

- You know, we talk about this all the time and I know folks like we don't like to pay fees and we totally understand that, but there's an infrastructure in place that we have to be able to afford.

And what we're seeing is 97% of our tickets are bought online.

The world has changed.

So, you know, we've got used to Amazon during the pandemic.

So actually we are seeing box office hours shrink across the country.

Ours are open on Fridays from 10 to two every week, 'cause that's when shows typically go on sale.

So yes, you can come down and we're 90 minutes before showtime.

The reality is when we were open, not many people were coming down here.

So we had to focus our energy on what made sense for the customer as well as the venue.

So, and if you buy online at Ticketmaster, you know, you got a real ticket.

This third party companies, it's buyer beware.

We've had a lot of people with broken hearts here who bought what they thought was a legitimate ticket and then get to a sold out show and we have to turn 'em away because it wasn't a real ticket.

- That's probably the only heartbreaking thing on a big night at concert is seeing that disappointment, isn't it?

- Well, and we kind of saw that last night when we're taping this, we just had John Mulaney in our theater and our first show was completely sold out on a Wednesday in Peoria.

And a 9:30 show was 85% sold.

And watching people come in, and we saw some of that in the first show, people were literally coming down, just assuming there'd be tickets available.

The good news is there was a 9:30 show, but that doesn't always happen.

So yeah, a victim of our own success but if that's our worst problems, we'll take it any day.

- Yeah, just so you know, I have my ear to the ground all the time and the accolades that you and your team are getting for all of these new shows.

And it's almost like a new vibrancy that the Civic Center's feeling right now.

And I think that's pretty exciting, not only for the Civic Center, but for all of Central Illinois, because you get people from all over on big shows, they come from all over and that helps everything.

It's an economic driver for restaurants and you name it.

So I think that's pretty cool stuff.

- Well, I think what we really did is, sometimes when everybody in the industry is running left, it's good to go right.

And we really focused on rock because we made an assessment that country kind of stayed out there in the pandemic with outdoor festivals, but there was a definite market demand.

And we had monster shows like sold out, huge shows with Shinedown, Pretty Reckless, Slipknot, Megadeth did well, Judas Priest, the rock shows were just absolutely phenomenal.

And now Peoria's known as a primary rock market.

So if there's a big rock tour it's probably coming through and that's awesome.

The other thing we did is, we looked to diversify our portfolio.

You know, we brought in an ultimate demolition derby inside the venue this past year and everybody who participated wasn't from Peoria.

So our friends at the Pere Marquette in the courtyard, their hotel was filled with demolition drivers from other states.

And we have some other really cool, exciting announcements.

So if you do just one thing, eventually it's not gonna work.

But if you do a lot of different things, whether it's demolition derbies, monster trucks or, you know, basketball, hockey, concerts, if you keep it fresh, then you have people buying four tickets, five tickets a year and you spread 'em out.

So, you've got a great staff and they keep me on my toes.

But yeah, it's been a blast.

We love when people come to our venue.

- Yeah, is your business data driven?

Like, do you look at whether it's ticket sales or like decision making that you make to say, you know what, somebody big, like an Elton John, as an example, we've had him a year ago and he was maybe a bad example, but 80% tickets sold.

So we really don't wanna go that way.

But over here right now, Billy Joel's doing this.

I mean, do you track stuff like that, I'm guessing?

- Well, first I'd love to have both of those artists.

And if there was- - They were bad examples, yeah.

- No, what it is, absolutely it's data driven.

It's also market driven, and one thing is we don't buy shows, so we have to sell Peoria to promoters on why it's a good idea to bring the show here.

So that's a little bit of a misnomer.

I know a lot of folks believe that we just make call up and say, "Hey, Bob Seger come to town."

But what happens is, once those shows start working, you now have the data.

And we present that data to promoters and agents as a case for why to bring these shows to Peoria.

So, when shows are successful, it leads to other shows.

And you know, we're in show business.

And I'd like to say, this is a great phrase.

We're not in show fun.

We're not here to book shows that Rik wants to see, we're here to book shows that make business sense, make money.

And if promoters that bring us the events make money, then we get more shows and then it just drives the economy.

And the last point on that, when you talk about out of town visitors, our hard ticket shows, which is a phrase for concerts and the demolition derbies and stuff, over 60% of our tickets are bought from more than 60 miles from Peoria.

So that is a non recycled dollar.

Those are people coming from out of town, impacting our economy in a positive way.

- That's crazy.

That's a good stat right there.

And the average person doesn't know that.

- And just on that point, I'm sorry, I didn't step on you- - Go, go.

- We were in meetings in Chicago and it really crystallized it for us.

Is we were talking to folks there and they go, "Oh yeah, we're coming to your Megadeath show, "even though it might be playing in the Chicago market."

And I'm like, well, that doesn't make a lot of sense to me to go.

It's an hour and a half in traffic to get to the venue if we're lucky, but I know I can get to you in two hours and 15 minutes and you have this wonderful hotel attached.

It's a great weekend.

So we found out that Peoria's become kind of a destination, not only for the Southern part of the state, but we're actually selling tickets in Cook County, which is Chicago to come to Peoria because of the experience we offer.

- Isn't that pretty cool.

So, let's go back to your Bob Seger example.

So you may say, "Okay, he's back on tour."

So you don't pay the acts.

- Correct.

- Interesting.

So tell me the process of that.

'Cause I'm kind of lost.

- That was right after I got to the market and we knew that the market needed a little injection of something kind of cool.

And I had a list of four or five artists that I thought if I could get one of them, I think we could get things started and get the ball rolling.

And luckily, we were able to get to Live Nation and we made a compelling case and they took a shot on us with Bob Seger on a Tuesday night.

And it worked beyond our wildest dreams because not only did the show sell out, it's the highest person show in the venue's history.

And you know, when you make 1.1 million for Mr. Seger on a Tuesday night in Peoria, folks take notice.

- Wow!

1.1.

Now, is that on ticket sales, just ticket sales.?

- Just ticket sales.

So, you know, and the other thing about our business it's kind of cool is, you know, when we post box office numbers, that money's the artist, that's how you pay them.

You know, when you go to a movie, you expect Tom Hanks to get paid, same thing here.

So that's the reason why, you know, our real revenues on sellaries, which is, you know, the sodas, the beer, and that's how we keep the building afloat is with those revenues.

- Okay, so that was gonna be a question towards the end when we're talking this straight business.

So you do have concessions that's a huge driver.

- Yeah, concessions is, you know, that's a big part of us being able to afford a class act staff, you know, top level folks, they pay our bills.

So, you know, we understand that concessions can be a little higher when you come to an arena event, but I think it's an expectation because we have to pay all of our bills through that.

So again, we've been very fortunate.

We've had great numbers, we've had great acts and as long as we can keep the momentum going, I think Peoria stays on the map as a must play city.

- So how do you and your team stay on top of who's hot and who's not?

I go back to that data question, is it because you said, "Well, it's not what Rik wants."

But Rik does want Billy Joel.

He does want Ellen John.

So yeah, how do you pick those?

- Sometimes they pick us.

- Okay.

(static interference) Picking them.

It really is about, I have this phenomenal staff, especially my ops crew, my event staff.

And if they come and have a good experience, then we're competing for shows in the Midwest.

And one thing that came out of COVID, is our theater was ranked number 64 in the United States.

And we were only open for a half of the reporting period.

Our goal is to become a top 50 venue in the theater.

And we would like to get our arena rankings up too.

And we're in the top 100, but we sure would like to get it in that top 50, because when tours go out, usually they play 40 cities and you need to get in that upper echelon of 40 to get one of the venues.

So we've done that with rock, we're working on it with country and some other events.

So yeah, my job is great because it changes every day.

So there is no one way to pick a show.

- I mean, you say you're working on it with country, but these names coming up here in the next few months are enormous.

- Yep, Luke Bryan's a true A-lister, Keith Urban is right there with him.

And we even have Koe Wetzel who's one of the hottest folks in country music coming through.

And these are all arena shows between October and November this year.

- So I think I already know the answer.

I think you've already answered this, but I just...

So take a Luke Bryan, as an example.

Does he set or does his people set the price of the tickets or does the promoter and agent, or do you have a hand in that?

- It's a combination, it's never one way.

So, you know, some acts costs more money and it's certain basic math, really.

If an act needs X amount of dollars to make it work, because it costs 1000s and 1000s of dollars for these to take these artists and acts to go on the road.

So, you know, you got all these semis, bringing the equipment, you have bus drivers, you have truck drivers, you have the folks to build the stages.

So, you know, all of that increases a price of a ticket.

And a lot of artists wanna make it to where families can come to their shows or bigger acts.

And then you have a lot of pyro and things like that, that cost money.

So all of those factor into it.

And then you come to a price which you think is fair for the event.

- Do the promoters or agents or acts, do they have to provide the insurance if they have a certain, you know, fire at the shows or anything like that, you know, like, or demolition derby is an example.

I mean, you could actually get really hurt in a demolition derby or a rodeo.

- Yeah, just like every business we have insurance.

And again, it's determined by the type of event.

We try to do a really good job of safety and security of not only the artists, but of our fans too.

- Yeah, I mean, safety's key in this business as you well know.

So let's talk like logistics for a minute, because I've always wondered this.

I think it's easy to say, "Well, you know, there's gonna be shows "and there's gonna be all these other fun things "like the things in the theater."

But at the same time, you've got a college basketball team that plays there.

You've got hockey team, the Rivermen they play there.

Have you ever lost out on shows because Bradley's playing Loyola one nine?

- Well, I don't like to call it lost out on the show.

It's air traffic control.

You have a calendar, you try to do the best for the venue and for your partners.

So, you know, the weekends are always tough because everybody wants a weekend.

Our fans wanna come out on weekends, but again, I'll go back to the Bob Seger example.

Sometimes, you know your choices, you can have Bob Seger on Tuesday night or no, Bob Seeger.

So you take Bob Seeger and hope it works out for the best, which again, (static interference) work out fantastic for us.

- Right that's awesome.

So, I was gonna ask you this question.

I don't wanna 100% put you on the spot, but like, I'm gonna reword the question here.

So, I was gonna say, what's the best show you've seen here in the last couple years?

I don't think that's fair.

But let me ask you this, what's one show that came for you personally, and you sat there and said, the staffing was right, the music was right, the whole night just flowed from A to Z like no other.

- Well, it's super fresh in my mind because at the taping of this, it happened last night.

Our staff absolutely crushed the two John Mulaney shows.

Our security guys came up with a plan because we had a sold out first show and we had less than 30 minutes to get the sold out show out and get another show in.

And it was flawless.

I mean, there was no notes.

It was great .

For me personally, when you ask about a show, I have no bones about it.

"Weird Al" Yankovic.

Yeah, of all the people I wanted to work with was by far my, it was on my bucket list.

He could not be more talented or gracious.

And it makes me smile.

And there's a couple other really great shows.

I lean to rock music.

So Alice in Chains, Ghost and Shinedown are some of my other favorites.

- Oh, that is really neat.

That is really neat.

So, as General Manager of the Civic Center, what is your, when you wake up every day and you go in, what is your main duty and role?

Like, what do you know that you have to do on a weekly basis that the average person doesn't know?

- What's today?

It literally, no day is the same.

- [Matt] That's how (indistinct).

- So you walk in and this morning I get three emails about potential shows that two, I talked about one of 'em didn't know about until this morning.

So I like that it's different.

I tried the nine to five world, I had what people would think was a great job and I was miserable.

So I went to bed last night at 2:00 am and I'm back this morning and it's because I love what I do.

- You know what?

You're in a business where you just create memories.

That's what you do.

- Exactly.

We like to leave you with moments that you have to remember.

So it's a very personal, so I can go to me, you know, my daughter's first concert was Kiss and then "Weird Al" Yankovic when she was a teen.

And that was a moment that daddy daughter got to share.

And to this day- - Yes.

- Talk about it.

And that was, you know, six years ago.

- [Matt] Does the Civic Center get part of any of the merchandise that comes in?

Is that all on the artist?

- Well, I think our business is complicated and it's really hard for me to put it into a tight window, but revenue streams are what keep us afloat.

- [Matt] Yeah.

- And we have phenomenal partners.

So I'd like to leave it broad because it changes literally the event.

- All right, so do you have, like for a show, do you go out and have a team that goes out and gets sponsorships?

And because I know you have suites, and I know you sell suite leases, group packages on some things, not all things.

I mean, you have a whole team that's really just going out there trying to snag those revenue streams, right?

- Well, those are the ancillary extras.

Like the suites, you know, that's for us.

And my job is to put enough content and great things in the arena that keeps our suite holders happy.

They get to see, you know, world class entertainment in this town like Peoria.

So yeah, my sales team is fantastic.

And you know, when we have better content, it makes their jobs easier.

So I believe in servant leadership and I preach this to my staff.

The staff doesn't work for me, I work for the staff.

So part of it is if I can help drive better shows to the market, it makes my sales team a lot easier to sell.

When people look at a list and go, "Oh my gosh."

I have Keith Urban.

I have, you know, I get to go see Ghost.

I wanna see the Trinity of Terror, if you're into a heavy metal that, you know, as long as we keep it mixed up and bring up entertainment, it really is key to success.

- And, and you know, we're talking about all the main shows, mainly in the big room, but you're talking all these Broadway shows.

I mean, those are topnotch, talented shows.

They come in and if you haven't ever been to one, you'll be blown away by what is presented to you that night sitting there.

When I went to my first show, I could not believe how good it was.

- Yeah, they're Broadway shows.

They go on the road.

So it's Broadway level actors.

They're equity shows.

We have a fantastic relationship with the American Theater Guild.

And one of the reasons why we did that was, they would be able to get the good stuff quicker.

And we have two of the top five shows that are on Broadway right now on our season.

"Dear Evan Hansen" and "Come From Away", they are playing here for a week weekend, booked in around the rest of the series.

The other thing is, we went with the Theater Guild, 'cause they're a nonprofit and they actually have a program where they can help folks that maybe couldn't afford to go to a Broadway show and some of their serve populations, and they have to purchase the tickets and then they give them to the community.

So, it's a little bit of a give back.

In our Broadway series we're phenomenally proud of.

- Yeah, I do wanna give you credit and your team credit on something is because, you know, I was in the nonprofit space for many years and the Civic Center does take care of some of the kids and the people that have never experienced some of these awesome events that you have.

And so I just wanted to give you credit for that because it's something that you'd never talk about.

You don't need to talk about it, but I guess I can bring it up to say it's pretty cool stuff.

- Well, that's very kind of you, we love to give back when we can.

The other thing is, is my primary job is to make money for everybody else in the community.

And what that means is if we bring people to our venue, then the hotels fill up and the restaurants you described.

And to be quite honest, one of the heartbreaking things that we had happened here is when COVID hit, we lost a lot of our restaurants downtown.

It's very hard for me to leave my office and walk and grab a bite to eat at lunch.

They're starting to come back, and we hope with the series and the events and the excitement we have around the building, that those things start replicating more business because we miss our restaurant friends.

- Well, I just wanted to tell you, with the shows that you're bringing in and when you bring in a million dollars on a Tuesday night, I think people are gonna take notice.

So, I just wanted to tell you, great job, keep it up.

And thank you for coming on.

This is has been an enlightening show, because a lot of times you just assume that you know, everything, but this is one business that's odd and interesting.

So thank you so much.

I'm Matt George, and this is "Business Forward".

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