When the lights turn on at Josiah’s Coffeehouse in Sioux Falls, so does the Garth Brooks music. Owner Steve Hildebrand has been a fan since the first album. In September, he gets to see the singer perform for the first time.
“I’m Pretty excited to finally get a chance to see him.”
When Hildebrand heard the country music star and his wife were coming to town, he decided the Coffeehouse should do something festive.
“I decided since Trisha Yearwood has her own cooking show on the Food Network, we’d take a look at a bunch of her recipes and make her food all week long.”
Hildebrand says it’s hard to miss the buzz surrounding the Garth Brooks shows. The Denny Sanford PREMIER Center can relate. It’s the first time a musician has done nine shows in two weekends. Chris Semrau is the assistant general manager at the PREMIER Center.
“It was a major feat and we were so thankful for it. We’d hoped that there would be significant demand, but it exceeded even our expectations. It’s something we haven’t seen before to that level and will never see again in Sioux Falls South Dakota.”
The business of booking Brooks began three and a half years ago. Semrau says it typically takes six to nine months. Getting a show like Garth Brooks is very competitive.
“When a tour goes out and looks to play 30 dates across America, and we’re fighting for one of those 30 dates that’s a hard sales pitch, but with the success we’ve had with ticket sales for other touring events now we can lean on that.”
Semrau says operating an events center is a balancing act between big shows and good business decisions. Too many expensive acts and people can’t afford to go. Not enough and you don’t make money. Spreading genres is also important in maximizing long term interest from the public. Despite the juggling act, Sioux Falls has been performing above expectations.
“We did almost 20 shows each of our first two years and this year we’ll probably do 15. I think the projection that the city and their consultant had before the building was built was eight would be the top number we could do in this market, which even I thought might be a bit aggressive for a community the size of Sioux Falls, South Dakota.”
A flat ticket rate and no pre-sale options helped increase demand. Semrau credits Garth Brooks for being willing to play nine shows. He says just because there’s demand, artists aren’t obligated to play more than one concert.
“He knows that their three-year world tour is coming to an end, and he wants to meet that demand as much as he’s able to with the amount of shows in each market he plays.”
The city of Sioux Falls owns the PREMIER Center. A separate company manages the day to day operations. Tracy Turbak is the director of finance for the city of Sioux Falls. He says the city makes money from the PREMIER Center in two ways: general operations like ticket sales and concessions, and sales tax revenue. Any profit from the PREMIER Center stays with the city and enhances city entertainment facilities.
“It stays within what we call our entertainment tax budget. The dollars that are made at the PREMIER Center help to support the operations of, for example, the Orpheum Theatre downtown. That’s how we utilize the income from the PREMIER Center.”
At $74.98 per ticket, gross ticket revenue from nine sell out shows is just under $7.5 million. Semrau says before concerts even start there’s a large economic benefit.
“It’s going to be a massive impact, probably bigger than any event we’ve seen come to the city in the past, and people are going to realize how special this was once the Garth Brooks Tour leaves town, and how fortunate we were to be part of it.”
Semrau say’s although Sioux Falls doesn’t have a large population there’s still demand for big acts. The healthy local economy helps. Low unemployment and higher wages support higher ticket prices. He also says people in the Midwest are willing to travel long distances to see shows.
“Just over half the local ticket buyers were from the community but the rest were from outside the region. There’s a lot of folks that will be coming to Sioux Falls. I hope it brings not only dollars, but a sense of pride and positive energy to the community even if you’re not a fan or a ticket holder of the performance.”
Economic impact goes beyond ticket sales. Money comes from people spending before and after shows. Teri Schmidt is the Director of the Sioux Falls Convention and Visitors Bureau. She’s worked the numbers for the big economic boost.
“With the nine shows and 11 thousand people per show and figuring one third of them will stay overnight that economic impact will be almost $12.5 million with a third of those people staying overnight. And I think that’s probably conservative.”
It's going to be a massive impact, probably bigger than any event we've seen come to the city in the past.--Chris Semrau
The $12.5 million is what Schmidt calls direct spending. Indirect spending, also called the rollover effect, is much larger. She says it’s typically three to five times larger than direct spending. In this case, around $36 million minimum.
“If I work in a restaurant, and because of Garth Brook’s concerts taking place we have more restaurant business, then I get to work more hours. Then I take the money that I earn from my paycheck and I pay my doctor bills I pay my card payment I buy groceries, so then all those people are employed because I’m involved in those activities. Then they turn around and pay their doctors, buy cars, buy groceries, etc.”
The PREMIER Center employs around 50 full time workers and several hundred part-time employees during events. Semrau says the food company employs around 25 full-time staff and has a couple hindered part-time event employees.
“That also has a trickle-down effect and turnover in our community. As many events as we can bring in and pay folks as much as we’re able to as many times a year as possible, that’s very good for the community. That’s us doing our part to stimulate the local economy and really make an impact on the region.”
Josiah’s Coffeehouse owner Steve Hildebrand hopes the community and other independent businesses capture the excitement of the event. He’s already reached out to Garth and Trisha on Twitter about visiting his shop. And he isn’t stopping there.
“We’re going to specifically ask Trisha if she wants to come by and do some baking with us.”