One of the foundational documents used to support the building of the convention center in downtown Branson estimated that the convention center would have an annual net operating deficit of ($530,000) per year in a stabilized year of operation. The document, a study entitled, “Feasibility Analysis of the Proposed Branson Downtown Exhibition and Convention Center Study,” (CS&L Study) was received by the city of
The CS& L study was used as one of the primary documents in supporting the building of the convention center downtown and, it appears, is being used as a benchmark in determining how successfully the convention center is being operated. As recently as Jan. 28, the study’s estimate of 177 Event Days for a stabilized year of operation was cited as a benchmark in evaluating the Event Days scheduled for 2008, 198 so far.
As the study used the term, a “stabilized year” is assumed to be the normal operation of the facility that would occur by the fifth year of operation. It acknowledges the time it takes to ramp up a convention center operation and generate the stream of bookings and Event Days necessary to generate a reliable revenue stream. But what is an Event Day and why is it important?
Based on conversations with various people, the term “Event Day” means different things to different people and different things to the same person depending on the day. Based on those conversations, and for purposes of this column, an Event Day is considered a day that one party is paying to hold an event in the convention center.
Let’s look at two illustrations. The first, “Prayem,” is a group of 11 people coming to the convention center early this Tuesday morning for fellowship and prayer. While there, they will have a continental breakfast. That is one Event Day. The second, “Holdem,” an association of 4,000 card players, is coming to the convention center for three days of fellowship and card playing starting Wednesday of this week. During each of those three days it will have a continental breakfast, beverage and break service, and a buffet lunch. Wednesday will be an Event Day as will Thursday and Friday. The Holdem group will account for three Event Days.
Outside of being a tool some statistician can use to try to make something look the way they want it to or to show that there is some activity going on at the convention center can anyone explain to an Ole Seagull of what importance an Event Day is in determining the successful operation of the convention center without attaching a qualitative standard to it?
Surely the Ole Seagull’s not the only one who, from an operational success standpoint, sees a difference in the two Event Days mentioned above. Does it take a Solomon to see that 365 Event Days of Prayem probably wouldn’t result in as much benefit to the convention center’s bottom line, or Branson as a whole, as 365 Event Days of Holdem would?
From an Ole Seagull’s perspective all Event Days are not created equal and it is the quality of the Event Day, as well as the their quantity, that will determine the success of the convention center both in terms of its own financial success and its overall benefit to Branson. Event Days aside, is there just the possibility that, based on the way things appear to be going, that the convention center just might prove the CS & L Study wrong and make an operating profit during, or prior to, its first year of stabilized operation? For what it matters, an Ole Seagull wouldn’t bet against it.
