Back in 2005, when the city of Oshkosh signed on PMI of Green Bay to manage the Leach Amphitheater, a main argument in support of the move was PMI's alleged power to bring national touring acts to Oshkosh. I remember members of the Common Council at the time articulating grand scenarios in which performers like Cher would come to Oshkosh, our hotels and motels would be filled, restaurants and other small businesses would prosper, and all would live happily ever after.
Last week PMI sent the city a statement of its plans for 2007. In it they claim that the following acts are "too expensive" to bring to the Leach:
*Crosby, Stills and Nash
*Steve Winwood
*Lindsey Buckingham
*Kenny Loggins
PMI says that "For clarification purposes acts we consider too expensive would need to sell a $40 + ticket and would need to generate over 4000 in paid admissions. These numbers are for a break even scenario not necessarily a profit for PMI."
Back in 2005 a management selection steering committee and then the Common Council rejected an offer by the local Supple Group to manage the facility. Supple may not have been the best choice to manage the facility, but it's looking like they understood the Leach facility much better than PMI. Back in 2005 Jay Supple wrote an op-ed for the Oshkosh Northwestern in which he said that in selecting PMI because of its reputation for attracting top touring acts, the steering committee betrayed a "fundamental misconception of the purpose behind this facility: a venue created by the community, serviced by the community, and with access for the community."
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5 comments:
Fountains of Wayne will be playing there this summer, though.
Finally, an act people under 40 might actually attend.
True, though Fountains of Wayne are a Waterfest sponsored event, not PMI.
Ah, good point.
Sounds like PMI and UWO are having similar problems attracting/paying for quality entertainment.
The 100 block, City Center and now Leach; I think the council hit the trifecta. There should be an award for that kind of incompetence…ooh wait a minute; we will probably elect one of them for president. I think sooner or later one should learn from past mistakes, maybe not. In the past the council has worked on building up business in Oshkosh and failed. In the future the council should focus on building community which might succeed, whatta got to lose. Either continues to the bitter end, trying the same things over and over, or deal with reality and try something new.
I got something and it probably won’t cost much. What do we have downtown that most other communities do not? What we have is the ability to make a walkable mall smack downtown Oshkosh. I no it’s a crazy idea and probably will not work. All you need to do is shutdown traffic on main street between Washington and Merritt Avenue. Southbound traffic gets routed East and west and the same with northbound traffic. It’s just one block, but that one block will give this town back its public heart, and I will bet you business will jump over each other to set up shop. We already have the parking and we have the streets that will handle the traffic. With a center of town that is free from annoying traffic people will come from all over. For example would state street in Madison or Rush street in Chicago be the same if it had annoying automobile traffic slamming back and forth 24/7, no. why not Oshkosh.
Tony-
I was not on the council when the PMI contract was approved, however, I did speak publically as a candidate in favor of the Supple proposal. I do feel, however, that you left out some important concert information from the memo we received.
PMI indicated they were 95% confirmed with Godsmack (a very national act) and are in conversations with other national acts such as Fergie. While I'm not sure how these two differ from the ones they mentioned as "too expensive," I am happy to hear they are in conversations with larger, more national acts.
I am not happy thus far with how the management of the facility has been handled, and believe this is make or break year for PMI, but it is important that we educate the public on the entire story.
-Bryan
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