Source: Las Cruces Sun-News, N.迷你倉M.Jan. 11--LAS CRUCES -- Competition is hitting the Pan American Center special events department from all sides."A lot of people say, 'You used to have so many concerts and so many events,'" said Kyle Pierson, who has spent six years in marketing and promotions at New Mexico State University's Auxiliary Services, which oversees everything from events on campus to student housing.The number of events at the arena has decreased, said JoAnne Contaldo, special events facilities coordinator who has been in the department for 15 years.Years ago, "a concert was truly a concert where people came to hear the group," and might be your one chance to hear them, Contaldo said. There was no YouTube or 3-D concert movies at the cinema down the street. Pan American Center was the region's star venue.After a dip in events in the mid-2000s, Contaldo said the Pan American center is rebounding, though challenges remain.Routing challengesWithin two weeks in November, country group Lady Antebellum and the Warped Tour said they would not stop in Las Cruces in 2014 as expected. Lady Antebellum canceled a concert scheduled for March 25. Warped Tour officials chose to skip Las Cruces after stopping at NMSU for 11 years.Both changes were tied to tour routes, NMSU Special Events Director Scott Breckner said.For Lady Antebellum, "They ended up moving the entire tour," said Breckner, who has been in booking at Pan Am for six yearsThe show is now not stopping in New Mexico at all. The closest performances will be in Denver and Grand Junction, Colo."We think the show would've done very good here," Breckner said.Routing was also a challenge for Warped Tour last year, when the show played in California the day before the Las Cruces performance and in Arizona the day after. Previously, the tour had often passed from Arizona through Las Cruces on its way to Texas."This (past) year's routing was not that efficient," Breckner said. "They came all the way here and had to go all the way back."Attendance and gross revenue also was down last year by about $35,000, he said.So this year, the tour is taking Interstate 25 south from Denver to Albuquerque, then heading to Mesa, Ariz.Warped Tour will consider Las Cruces again in 2015, he said."We're in that loop," he said. "That door's not been closed."Competing citiesPan Am also faces competition from other cities in the central United States -- such as Tulsa, Okla. and Oklahoma City -- and more acts are spending more time in one city, saving on transportation costs, Breckner said.Paul McCartney appeared to be leaning toward a Las Cruces performance, pitched as en route to Lubbock, Texas, but the Beatles legend instead performed two nights in Austin, Texas, and two nights in Tulsa.McCartney performed in Tulsa's 6-year-old, 20,000-seat BOK Center. In nearby Oklahoma City, the Chesapeake Energy Arena seats more than 19,700 people. Albuquerque's Isleta Amphitheater recently expanded to hold 15,000 people. Warped Tour will stop there this summer.The Pan American Center, meanwhile, seats just over 10,000 people. The 2006-2007 renovations expanded the number of restrooms and concession stands, but not the number of seats."There are a lot of buildings with儲存倉15,000 seats that can give them (performers) a bigger audience," longtime events director Barbara "Mother" Hubbard said. "But we've proved we can sell out time after time with all the country shows."There is some competition with El Paso, including the newly renovated Plaza Theater and the University of Texas at El Paso's Sun Bowl Stadium, where popular boy band One Direction will perform this fall."There's always the challenge of which shows can and will come to the area," Pierson said. "A lot of people know El Paso but may not know Las Cruces."It's "impossible" for most shows to play both Las Cruces and El Paso, Breckner said."But programs that are good for the region are good for the region, whether they're here or in El Paso," he said.The only venueThe Pan American Center also competes with itself in scheduling events. The center is home to women's and men's basketball, volleyball games and graduations -- not just performances.As the only venue in town, if a game or graduation is scheduled, an act that wants to perform here has to look elsewhere.There has been discussion of NMSU building its own amphitheater in the coming years to help address those scheduling conflicts, Hubbard said.Meanwhile, the university relies on its ties with entertainment groups across the country, she said."We just try to stay in good with everyone, and they all know us," she said.The events team makes about four trips a year to Nashville and entertainment conventions to recruit acts to Las Cruces, Breckner said.Changing dutiesThe staff -- which includes a dozen full-time employees and 300 to 400 students -- has taken on additional duties over the past four years, managing NMSU's athletic facilities and events.Meanwhile, longtime special events coordinator Bobbie Welch left the department a year ago to spend more time with her ill father. No one specifically has been hired to replace Welch, though the department no longer puts on the cultural series the university used to host."We're having to wear a few more hats," Contaldo said.Pierson, who worked in another section of Auxiliary Services, moved to the events team after Welch's departure.Sold outSell-out acts like George Strait's repeat successful performances at the Pan Am help recruit other acts, staff said."When other country artists hear a big name comes here and sells out, they want to have a sold out concert," Pierson said.Country performances do especially well in Las Cruces, Breckner said. "County music is so popular now. It's just phenomenal."But the venue is more than country. None of the five shows scheduled in the next nine weeks are country: Christian music The Roadshow, comedian Jeff Dunham, classic rock legends Styx, the Harlem Globetrotters and classic tunes crooners "The Midtown Men."Regardless of challenges, multiple acts return time and time again to Las Cruces, from Strait to the Harlem Globetrotters to the Trans Siberian Orchestra."When people come here," Pierson said, "they usually love it and come back."Lindsey Anderson may be reached at 575-541-5462.Copyright: ___ (c)2014 the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) Visit the Las Cruces Sun-News (Las Cruces, N.M.) at .lcsun-news.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉最平
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