The Louisville Arena Authority, which oversees the KFC Yum! Center yesterday voted to “remove the Kentucky State Fair Board as the arena’s manager, less than two months after a consultant raised concerns about high operating costs under the board,” according to Marcus Green of the Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL. The LAA’s action is “meant to make operations more profitable to help pay construction debt and prevent the city from increasing its annual contribution.” The LAA “gave a three-person executive committee -- headed by Chairman Larry Hayes, along with [Authority member Dan] Ulmer and board member Alice Houston -- the power to a negotiate a ‘fair and equitable dissolution’ of the fair board’s management agreement.” The committee also will “select the new manager.” Green notes there are "three firms interested in operating the arena" -- SMG, AEG and Global Spectrum. AEG Facilities is “already in charge of booking concerts at the arena through its contract with the fair board.” Ulmer said that he believes a new operator "could be in place as early as July.” A consultant that evaluated the building’s operations “concluded in an April report that, while the center’s attendance during its first year was much higher than comparable arenas, it was saddled with high staffing costs and expenses.” The report looked at "six comparable arenas and found that the $3.5 million in labor costs for the arena’s fair board staff in 2011 was the highest -- and more than $900,000 above the average.” The consultant, Venue Solutions Group, also “suggested that the arena’s general manager have a greater role in booking events” (Louisville COURIER-JOURNAL, 6/12).
