The Escambia County-owned arena is projected to lose money for the fourth year in a row, which facility managers attribute to a constant decline in the number of hockey fans who show up for games. But those fans buy beer and hot dogs. Because the Civic Center keeps profits from concession sales, when the mustard jar is full, the coffers are empty. But there are fewer big-name concerts like Britney Spears and Pearl Jam, who have come in years past. County Administrator Tom Forrest, who is a friend of Don Henley of the Eagles, asked Neron after chatting with Henley recently why Pensacola couldn't have an Eagles concert.
Bigger arenas can pay performers more because they have more seats to sell.
The Civic Center seats about 8,000. There is also some concern that the company managing the arena for the county, SMG, might not fight as hard to land acts for Pensacola when it also manages the Mobile Civic Center. The city of Pensacola's two performance halls, Saenger Theater and Bayfront Auditorium, also are managed by SMG, and there may be a joint county-city venture next year to combine management of the three arenas to broker the best management deal. On Thursday the Escambia County Commission voted to extend its contract with SMG by one more year so that the city and the county will have their contracts with SMG expiring September 2002. That will put the city and the county in line for re-negotiations at the same time.