Intrust Bank Arena in the black
by Steve McIntosh
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posted Feb 19 2013 1:50AM
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The operational deal for Wichita’s Intrust Bank Arena is a good one for the taxpayers … as long as the arena brings popular acts and events to town, and fills the seats.
A private company – S-M-G – operates the facility and gets the first $450,000 of net income, or profit. Sedgwick County gets the rest. In 2012 the Arena’s net income was $703,000. So the county cleared $253,000. In 2011, the county got no money, since net income was only $389,000.
The county says the Arena hosted 84 performances last year with an average attendance of 4,579.
This is a public/private partnership that seems to be working well. Of course, it’s all predicated on the Arena’s managers attracting acts and events that people will want to see. Another good thing is that many of those visitors are out-of-towners … bringing money into the city and county. Those visitors are helping private businesses, and supporting local and state government with the taxes they pay.
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Our thought for today is from Yogi Berra:
“If the fans don’t wanna come out to the ballpark, no one can stop ‘em.”
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