Shreveport hoping to expand use of Independence Stadium – Shreveport Times
Shreveport’s success in hosting a rare non-football event at Independence Stadium later this month could provide far-reaching economic implications.
Extreme sports legend Travis Pastrana’s Nitro Circus will kick off its North American Tour on April 15, an event Shreveport-Bossier Sports Commission vice president of sports Kelly Wells hopes will draw at least 8,000-10,000 fans. More importantly, it could be open up other possibilities to bring new visitors and significant revenue opportunities to the stadium that sits empty for long periods of time.
“We have a lot riding on this,” Wells said. “If we can do well with this then we can shop this out to Major League Soccer, we can shop it out to potential concert promoters. We’ve kind of got a committee together now to do something more than football.”
Citizens appeared to give the city a green light to pursue more entertainment options last November when they approved a 1.5 percent hotel occupancy tax expected to generate an estimated $1.7 million annually. Wells said two weeks ago the city sent out a survey asking what Shreveporters would like to see, and X-Games type events received some votes.
State Fair of Louisiana president Chris Giordano would love to see more uses for Independence Stadium, and he’s always eager to handle parking and concessions through his organization. He estimates a crowd of 10,000 people would bring in roughly between $65,000-$80,000 of revenue, minus all labor costs and operations fees, including those paid to the city.
Establishing Independence Stadium as a destination for marketers and promoters will be the most crucial task, and Wells said Nitro Circus representatives didn’t hesitate to choose it over the CenturyLink Center and Thunder Roads Raceway when they visited last year. The city also works with local restaurants, hotels and other businesses to ensure guests enjoy their stay, which Wells said comes at an average cost of $125 per person, or more for high-profile events such as the Camping World Independence Bowl.
That game will clearly remain the focal point for the stadium, and a handful of high school football games plus the occasional college game played there each year underscore the need to make sure the turf is protected. But the city of Mobile, Alabama has proven a similar-sized metro and slightly smaller publicly-owned stadium can be used for much more than its 28 football games scheduled for the next year, highlighted by the Senior Bowl and the GoDaddy.com Bowl.
“You try to figure out ways to maximize the usage of it to best serve the community,” said Victor Knight, the stadium manager for Ladd-Peebles. “That’s the charge and that’s the goal. I would say that we have recently dramatically increased our efforts to try and attract different kinds of events in the facility.”
Along with larger events such as concerts and a Donald Trump campaign rally last August, Mobile also rents out the stadium for local gatherings such as wedding receptions and other private events. Knight said they’ve held several clinics for different sports, even golf, and the large parking lot can accommodate events such as Saturday’s Spring Fling Music Festival held during the South Alabama football spring game at Ladd-Peebles.
Knight said they do it all without ever spending much to entice potential renters, an approach Wells said Shreveport will take as well. Aside from advertising campaigns that might cost around $20,000, the city won’t pay much for new ventures at Independence Stadium.
Wells said he looks to other communities for ideas, noting he liked Tulsa’s idea to bring in a Mexican Premier League soccer team for an exhibition against a local club in 2014. At the same time, the CenturyLink Center’s ability to seat upwards of 15,000 people may take away opportunities from Independence Stadium for those worried about weather, and Wells said the 50,0000 seat capacity just isn’t enough to hold an event on par with the Bayou Country Superfest at LSU’s Tiger Stadium over Memorial Day Weekend.
Shreveport’s other venues may have a head start in attracting promotors with better name recognition, but Wells and Giordano stressed keeping tourism and sporting events under the same umbrella should be an advantage. Still, they’ll need outside help to spread the word, so if people at Nitro Circus enjoy their experience, they could turn into a valuable asset.
By the numbers
40: Games played
7: Coaches who have won national titles who have also coached in the Independence Bowl — Danny Ford, Jimmy Johnson, Don James, Steve Spurrier, Bob Stoops, Nick Saban and Mack Brown
3: Pro Football Hall of Famers to play in the Independence Bowl — Art Monk, Bruce Smith, Willie Roaf (could grow to 5 with Brett Favre and Alan Faneca in the 2016 class).
5: Appearances by Ole Miss, the most of any team. Louisiana Tech participated four times; and Texas A&M, Missouri, Alabama, Air Force and McNeese State are all tied for three times.
15: College Football Hall of Famers to play or coach in the bowl 64: First-round NFL Draft picks to play in bowl
76: Combined points by Tulsa and Virginia Tech in the first half of the 2015 game, a record for points in a half across all bowls
1,631,896: Total attendance at 40 bowl games.
IF YOU GO
What: Travis Pastrana’s Nitro Circus
Where: Independence Bowl
When: 7 p.m. April 15
Cost: $19-$79
Info: nitrocircus.com/tour/
