Intrust Bank Arena In Black, But Behind 2010

Thu, February 09, 2012

Click Image to Enlarge

KMUW / Briana O’Higgins

At the weekly county commissioner’s meeting Wednesday, Intrust Bank Arena reported a small 2011 profit, down significantly from 2010.

The arena brought in $389,659 dollars in 2011, down from around $2.1 million in 2010.

The county received more than $1 million dollars in profits last year, but will not receive any of the profits this year because under their contract the first $450,000 goes to management company SMG.

A.J. Boleski, general manager at Intrust Bank Arena, says there was more traffic to the arena in the first year because many acts want to play a brand new building, and because 2010 was a better year for concerts.

“Two thousand eleven just seemed to be a slower concert year across the board,” says Boleski. “There was just less shows out on the road and therefore we saw that impact here, as well.”

We’ve really tried to build on college sports, college athletics and we have been able to host Wichita State two years in a row, and then also hosted a K-State game. And those were both big successes and games that we want to build on and do a lot more of that.”

Boleski says with increased concert traffic this year as well as the continuing success of regular events like Wichita Thunder Hockey, he expects 2012 to be a good year.