EVERETT — Global Spectrum, the Philadelphia-based company that manages the $71.5 million Everett Events Center, has landed a five-year contract extension to run the public building in downtown Everett, officials said Wednesday.
The deal is worth at least $700,000, but when incentives are tallied up, the contract could be worth millions.
“They’ve done an excellent job,” said Earl Dutton, president of the appointed five-member public facilities district, which oversees the public arena, conference center and ice rink. “We’ve been able to operate in the black every year since they’ve started, and the crew they’ve put together is second to none.”
The renewed contract takes effect Dec. 31 and runs through 2012. Global Spectrum can out of the contract in three years if it chooses.
The contract starts with a base management fee of $135,000 with built-in annual 3 percent increases. It also has incentives that would reward Global Spectrum for achieving revenue goals for each year of the contract. The more money the events center brings in, the more Global Spectrum will receive. Likewise, if the events center under Global Spectrum’s management fails to meet specific financial goals, the company will only receive the base fee.
Global Spectrum reached a key naming-rights deal for the events center earlier this year with its parent company, Comcast Corp. The center’s official name is Comcast Arena at Everett Events Center.
A lucrative naming-rights deal had been for years a missing piece to the financial puzzle for funding the government-led redevelopment project.
The 10-year deal with Comcast, the nation’s largest cable service provider, is worth $7.4 million in cash and advertising, and has allowed the cable giant to plaster its name all over the building, from the marquee to trash cans to letterhead.
Comcast Arena this year also learned that it will host U.S. Figure Skating’s Olympic-style Skate America competition next year, which will bring the world’s top-ranked figure skaters to Everett.
Since it opened four years ago, the events center has attracted world-famous musicians and entertainment acts, including Cher, Black Eyed Peas, Rod Steward, The Cure and last week the Grammy Award-winning alternative metal band Tool, which performed to about 8,400 people — the most ever at the arena for a single concert.
The facility has also hosted dozens of graduations and Everett Silvertips minor league hockey games, which consistently draw 6,000 spectators.
The Everett Facilities District board last week voted 4-0 to renew the contract with one member absent.
“We’re very pleased, and if we weren’t we had the option of going out and putting them on the street,” Dutton said. “Like in a marriage, we just went out and renewed our vows.”
Reporter David Chircop: 425-339-3429 or dchircop@heraldnet.com.
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