While it has been open for two months already, the Menominee Nation Arena celebrates its “grand opening” today. The rushed nature of its construction and initial missed deadline for completion prevented any sort of celebration before this–so they will have the local dignitaries on-hand today to cut the ribbon and give folks a tour of the place.
I have to say that I’m still struggling to figure out where the arena is going to fit into the regional entertainment landscape. The Bucks are committed to the arena with the placement of the Wisconsin Herd here–but that represents only a couple dozen paid events a year. So what is going to fill the facility the rest of the time?
Again because of the last-minute nature of its construction, it wouldn’t be fair to judge the entertainment scheduled booked for the arena so far. We haven’t even reached the one-year mark of the Oshkosh Common Council approving its construction–so what the folks at The Grand have been able to book in there is likely what was leftover from other tours passing through the Upper Midwest. Obviously, large-scale acts won’t play a facility with less than 5,000 in capacity–so the Resch Center, the still-as-yet-not-corporately-sponsored-Milwaukee arena, and the Kohl Center have dibs on those acts. That means the Oshkosh arena will have to compete against the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, the Meyer Theater in Green Bay and the region’s casinos for second or third tier acts. Which isn’t always the easiest when it comes to selling tickets.
Add to that Oshkosh being “Wisconsin’s (Too Many) Events City”. Country USA, Rock USA, EAA Airventure and Lifest block out entire weeks of the precious summer season. Or do you think you can “counter program” and attract a completely different crowd for a show during those weeks? Do you book concerts or shows the same nights as Waterfest? Or do you become the “rain venue” for that series?
Small scale convention-type events could be another avenue–but we already have a Convention Center that the City stuck plenty of money into a few years ago that is practically the same size. Appleton just opened their brand new Exhibition Center with more space and a connected hotel. And Green Bay is working on plans to replace Shopko Hall with another new expo space–even though they have the KI Convention Center downtown already.
I just have this nagging feeling that Menominee Nation Arena is going to be the odd-facility-out in the effort to book events. And because it is a privately-held facility, it needs to make money throughout the year or it won’t stay in business. And if that happens, don’t be surprised to see the City ask taxpayers to take it over and “save the arena”.
