We may be seeing a lot more concerts in town after the board of the Reno-Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority (RSCVA) has voted unanimously to act as a promoter for the Reno Events Center.
The board says they have been considering this since the beginning of the fiscal year last July.
This is an effort to provide more event dates throughout the year for concerts, sports, and other entertainment opportunities in the Reno-Sparks area. The board has also made it clear that they will be financially responsible as a new promoter.
"Currently the market does not have an indoor venue that is going after the concert market in the seat capacity between the 3,000 to 7,000," said Mike Larragueta, President/CEO of RSCVA. "Obviously, the capacity at the REC is just around 7,000 or 7,500 depending on the set up."
Larragueta says they really want to focus on artists that are doing events indoors within the capacity levels the Reno Events Center provides.
He tells us the revenue depends on the event. For example, a country artist could bring in more money than a comedian or a sports game. Plus, there's also economic impact such as hotels, food and beverage, and gaming.
Larragueta says they're also looking to compliment and collaborate with local hotels where they'll bid on an opportunity other hotels may not bid on or a date where they won't have availability in their show rooms and theaters.
"We really want to make sure that we are being open and communicative and transparent with our stakeholders and working with them because, not only do we want to have them support our efforts to bring concerts to the region, we want them to buy tickets as well and bring people to the region," he said.
Larragueta says they're excited for the next steps. Their goal is to book at least two concerts any time between now and June. And then at least six concerts in the next fiscal year between July of this year and June of 2026.
