Comcast Center
This university’s athletic department has secured a one-year deal with Global Spectrum, a private venue management company owned by Comcast Spectacor, to hold concerts and other large events at Comcast Center.
The department plans to have seven to 10 events in the next year and could see up to $1.5 million in revenue, Athletic Director Kevin Anderson said in an interview with the Baltimore Business Journal.
“We see the potential to be the premier sports and entertainment facility in the Baltimore-Washington Region,” Anderson said in a news release. “[Global Spectrum has] all of the resources and the relationships to bring our campus and community entertaining, non-sporting events to our terrific facility.”
The university and Global Spectrum reached the agreement this month, said university alumnus and Global Spectrum spokesman Ike Richman.
University and Global Spectrum officials will meet Wednesday to discuss final details. After that, Richman said, company officials will reach out to contacts in the entertainment industry to schedule acts that fit with dates available at Comcast Center.
“Hopefully, we can have an announcement in the near future,” Richman said.
The Rolling Stones, U2, Pearl Jam, Kanye West, Jay Z and Aerosmith have all performed at facilities managed by Global Spectrum, according to the news release.
As a subsidiary of Comcast Spectacor, and thus Comcast Corporation, Global Spectrum has had a partnership with this university on its radar for some time, Richman said.
“We firmly believe that it is a great destination for entertainment,” he said. “Not just Maryland basketball, but for other live entertainment events,”
Over the past few years, Global Spectrum officials have been discussing possibilities for events at Comcast with Anderson, Richman said.
The agreement to hold events at Comcast Center evolved from university President Wallace Loh’s Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, created in 2011, said university spokesman Brian Ullmann. To help boost revenues, the commission suggested investing “in the infrastructure needed to support special events in athletic venues,” Ullmann wrote in an email.
Concerts at Comcast Center will be a “win-win” for everyone, said Josh Ratner, the Student Government Association’s student affairs vice president.
“It provides an opportunity for students to have entertainment or to have something to do right in College Park,” Ratner said.
Students will be able to go to concerts instead of going to bars, Washington or off-campus parties, Ratner said. Still, he said the SGA wants to ensure any concerts will be “as convenient to students as possible.”
Athletic department spokesman Zack Bolno said the department will continue to collaborate with the university to include student groups in the process.
Sophomore communication and psychology major J. Robina Onwonga said the idea of having concerts on the campus sounds appealing.
“It will be really interesting,” Onwonga said. “It will give us more stuff to do on campus.”
To get more students to attend the concerts, the athletic department should provide some discount for students, freshman architecture major Emma Weber said.
“I wouldn’t want to spend $60, $70,” she added. “If they’re cheap tickets, concerts are always fun.”
But Michael Mpamaugo, a sophomore mechanical engineering major, said those who support the concerts in Comcast aren’t taking into account the related spike in people who would come onto the campus for events.
“It’s going to be more stuff to charge for, more traffic, more people here,” Mpamaugo said, adding that tickets should be free for students.
“Why would you charge for tickets? They go here,” he said.
