As crowds, concerts return, Premier Center complex to consider the future

The fourth time was the charm for Sioux Falls fans eager to hear the woman widely known as the queen of country.

When Reba McEntire took the stage at the Denny Sanford Premier Center this past weekend, it represented a show originally scheduled for April 2020.

Then August 2020.

Then July 2021.

By Jan. 22, 2022, the stars and the schedules finally aligned.

And it’s not just Reba. Matchbox Twenty and Backstreet Boys have rescheduled. Eric Church just played a popular show, “and I think people in this market, whether they’re more resilient or ready to get out and do stuff, there hasn’t been the hesitancy that we’re seeing in some of our other buildings,” said Mike Krewson, general manager of the Denny Sanford Premier Center.

For large arenas and convention centers, it is a time to take stock of the present and the future, though.

This year, the city of Sioux Falls plans to restart a process initiated before the pandemic to form an events center campus study group, looking at both a market study and an eventual master plan for the northwest Sioux Falls complex that also includes an aging secondary arena and the Canaries stadium.

“I’m looking forward to that picking up,” Krewson said. “Hopefully in a couple years, we start seeing some dirt moved because I think the campus could be pretty special.”

From a more global perspective, the CEO of ASM Global, which manages both the arena and the convention center, sees venues slowly beginning to thrive again.

Despite a market like Sioux Falls being “open” for performances through most of 2020 and 2021, tours couldn’t schedule multicity stops, which limited anyone’s ability to hold an event.

By the summer of 2021 “you just started seeing small tours – five-, seven-, 10-show tours, where you could monetize and mount a tour,” CEO Ron Bension said.

Bension, an industry veteran, assumed his role in the first quarter of 2021 after most recently serving as president of Live Nation’s clubs and theaters division.

ASM was formed shortly before the pandemic began through the merger of SMG, which used to be the management company in Sioux Falls, and AEG.

The portfolio includes 325 arenas, stadiums, convention centers and performing arts centers worldwide, including signature properties such as the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Coming out of the pandemic, the company has quadrupled its team tasked with acquiring and marketing shows and events, Bension said, along with investing in technology.

“I think the visitor experience is changing,” he said. “The concert experience is no longer sitting there with your lighter raptured by the artist, which is unfortunate to a certain degree, but it’s more of a social event.”

And venues are responding, including the Premier Center.

The concept of the “bunker suite” where spectators are closed in with a small group is giving way to more open VIP areas “where people can hang out and converse and socialize,” Bension said. “More lounges, a more elevated experience, more places for people to relax and chat and watch games and enjoy themselves in a more social environment. That’s where we’re pushing our people and our clients, and when we’re brought in to help design venues, we’re push that agenda because it’s very, very real.”

Sioux Falls is embracing the concept, Krewson said.

Concerts now include a beverage garden-style setup in an underutilized multiuse space that includes the South Dakota Sports Hall of Fame.

“We got with our food and beverage provider and decided to turn it into a beer garden with multiple points of sale, 11 points of sale on a temporary basis for concerts, so basically we’re able to service pretty much everybody on the floor, and that goes from 1,000 to 1,600 people depending on the stage configuration.”

At Sioux Falls Stampede hockey games, an area on the east side of the floor where the stage typically goes for a concert has been used to create a party area “on the floor right up next to the glass,” Krewson said.

“And the team has embraced that and has sold that to some bigger groups. (Two weekends ago,) they had a large group down there of about 70 people. There’s really not a good place in the building for a group that large to spread out and have their own food and beverage and sightlines.”

Convention activity

Has the pandemic spelled the end of big conventions?

Those in the industry say no, but the business isn’t back yet.

While trade association conventions might be softening, “I think for corporate events and exhibitions, there’s an energy there, a feel-the-cloth experience that’s there,” Bension said. “And ultimately, I think when travel feels more comfortable, I would think a year from now, we would see it.”

In Sioux Falls, the convention side started to pick up in late spring 2021, Krewson said.

“We did a full year’s business within seven months for 2021,” he said. “Our rental numbers as far as to budget were the highest they’ve been since the facility opened, our overall numbers related to food and beverage were down because … if normally it would be a meal for 400 it was more like 200.”

Events and youth sports tournaments that came to South Dakota during the pandemic because neighboring states didn’t allow them to be held are coming back, he added.

“We picked up multiple things we did in late 2020 and early 2021 that have rebooked.”

Bension envisions the company’s convention buildings being used for a variety of events to bring in the public.

“Why aren’t we doing the Picasso exhibit at our convention centers? Why aren’t we doing those immersive environments and pop-up events?” he said. “We’re able to do broad-based content deals. … I think it’s about programming and what else we can do.”

In Sioux Falls, for instance, it has taken the form of Barks & Brews, an event last year billed as the city’s largest indoor dog park. It will return Feb. 20, offering exactly what it sounds like – a place for dogs to play while owners socialize with local beers.

“That was a shocking success story,” Krewson said. “It got to be a little overwhelming.”

As the dogs ran around and the owners mingled, he admits thinking to himself “Oh my, what have we done … but we raised a lot of money for the Humane Society and people had a great time.”

And along the way, they might have hit on a mini formula for the future.

As far as what the complex is missing, Krewson points to a nicer ballroom.

“I could really see we’d pick up our game and do a lot more business,” he said. “There are times we have to turn people away because we don’t have the space. We’re operating basically at 100 percent capacity as far as events with about 70 to 75 percent of the staff, so the staff that’s here are working very, very hard to make sure we provide a great experience.”