Arena anchoring new crowds
Despite a prolonged lockout in the NHL and a tragic and tumultuous winter, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers minor league hockey team saw attendance increase 20 percent for its 2012-13 campaign.
The team is just one part of the resurgence at Bridgeport”™s Webster Bank Arena being touted by city officials and tourism industry advocates as a burgeoning family and corporate destination.
Over the last six months alone, the arena, which is owned by the city and operated by Harbor Yard Sports & Entertainment L.L.C., has played host to attractions and performers ranging from the Boston Pops to WWE”™s Monday Night Raw to the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam.
The 10,000-seat arena”™s recent run was capped by three consecutive sellouts when Bridgeport hosted the regional semifinals and finals of the NCAA women”™s basketball tournament in games that featured victories by the University of Connecticut en route to its national championship.
“We had the NCAA sellouts. We had the WWE two weeks ago ”” that was sold out. We had our largest Monster Jam ever in the first week of March. We have Disney Live coming up, for which both days will be sellouts. We just announced a concert for the band Fun. (for September 2013) and we sold that out,” said Howard Saffan, president of Harbor Yard Sports & Entertainment and of the Sound Tigers. “So business is brisk.”
In addition to hosting a number of concerts, performances and other events, Webster Bank Arena is the home venue for the Sound Tigers, Fairfield University basketball and Sacred Heart University hockey.
The Sound Tigers, which play in the American Hockey League as a minor league affiliate of the New York Islanders, were scheduled to complete their regular season with home matchups at Bridgeport”™s Webster Bank Arena April 20 and 21 against the Providence Bruins and Portland Pirates.
“The business of hockey is up over 20 percent this year, which in today”™s economic climate is really successful, and we”™ve had a wonderful season,” Saffan said, noting that the increase has occurred despite negative press resulting from an NHL lockout and the fallout from Hurricane Sandy, subsequent winter storms and the tragedy that struck Newtown.
Corporate events at the arena are also on the rise, said Michael Foley, director of communications for Harbor Yard Sports & Entertainment.
“In the last six months, Subway had their major corporate and employee gala at the arena,” Foley said. “That was followed by Bridgeport Hospital and by Webster Bank.”
Curt Jensen, director of sports marketing for the Connecticut Convention & Sports Bureau, said the arena”™s successes are helping to feed new dollars into the Bridgeport economy.
“In the end it”™s about economic development, and as we can see from the success of the NCAA tournament, the effort definitely pays off for the region and the city,” Jensen said. “If people come down (for an event) and while here, they get out of their car and go to a restaurant, you”™re talking new dollars that have never been spent in the city before. So they”™re very heavily weighted dollars.”
Saffan added that arena sponsorships have doubled over the past year.
“People are starting to recognize that this building is a regional building that appeals to Westchester County and Fairfield County and New Haven and the (Naugatuck) Valley.” It also helps that compared with Madison Square Garden and other New York City venues, “we”™re a fraction of the cost,” Saffan said.