The Global rep. talks a good fight. Unfortunately, the performance at other arenas around the country don't come up to his expectations for this arena. Wenatachee, WA for instance, has 56 days booked From Nov. 2008 through March 2009. That puts them on track for 132 event days for the year. Tulsa has booked 48 event days from Nov. 2008 through May 2009, a performance that promises less than 100 days for the year. Oklahoma City booked 115 event days between Nov. 2007 and Oct. 2008. So it would seem that instead of 200 plus event days, Independence might do well to book 100 for the year. Consider also that 35 of these "events" will be ice hockey games. Note too that the three cities listed above are not in a market with major sports teams competing for the dollar or any competing arenas.
In his presentation, he stated that global anticipates bringing 350,000 people into the arena per year. If there are 200 days, that amounts to 1,750 attendance per day, not even a half-capacity audience. I wish them well since a goodly part of my tax money will be going for the arena's support, but I am far from optimistic about the arena's future.