Civic Center weathers live-show slump

The Cumberland County Civic Center cut back on staff and endured a shaky concert touring industry but ended its 2009-2010 fiscal year with an operating surplus, managers of the Portland venue reported.

"With the reduced volume of artists, we're not getting any shows, and obviously ticket sales aren't good anywhere else in the country, the promoters are nervous," said Steve Crane, general manager of the Civic Center, on Monday.

The concert touring industry has taken a hit nationwide, Crane noted.

"Like a small business, you have to adapt," he said. "We cut some jobs and reduced the utilities costs, some other belt-tightening things."

After the economy hit bottom, revenues were still up from the previous year, but the biggest difference was when the board last year reduced expenses by almost $200,000.

"It's been a slow recovery, but the good news is we did what we had to do on the expense side," Crane said.

At the July meeting of the Civic Center Board of Trustees, Board Treasurer Richard Ranaghan reported that the Civic Center ended another fiscal year with an operating budget surplus, allowing the 1977-built center to finish with a break even or better operating budget in six of the last seven fiscal years. In the overall history of the building, the Civic Center has realized break even or better operating budgets in 24 of the 33 years the venue has been open to the public, according to board reports.

Currently, the Civic Center is idle, with the next big show on Aug. 20, when country artists Jo Dee Messina and John Michael Montgomery will perform there. Then, on Sept. 24, fans can line up for one of the biggest shows of the fall, Sheryl Crow with Brandi Carlile.

Crane explained that it's the offseason, and more shows will start filling the schedule in September. The trend now is that big acts continue touring, but "marginal" performers cut back, he said.

"You get a few shows out there that are real sellouts," he said.

"We have a base group of events that do guarantee us income," Crane said, referring to events such as Disney on Ice, Sesame Street and the Shrine Circus.

The Civic Center also hosts 36 hockey games. Civic Center board members and the Portland Pirates managed to negotiate a lease extension after reports surfaced that the hockey team might be considering a move to Albany, N.Y. Crane said the resolution worked out to the center's benefit.

"I think it was great for hockey fans, the hockey fans now are guaranteed they'll have a hockey team for two years," he said. "I think we made a deal that was fair and didn't put us in a situation where we'd be losing money."