WORLD - Private venue management companies are set to benefit from austerity measures and cutbacks being rolled out by many European and American governments.
According to venue management company SMG Europe’s director of new business, Tracey Short, a cash-strapped publicly-owned venue may look to a private company to save money.
“It’s a trend I started to see in the US,” said told EW. “A lot of the local jurisdictions were having their funding cut so they were looking to see if they could be run more effectively by a private company. Sometimes we are able to leverage our relationships with promoters where we can get improved deals because we are operating in multiple venues.”
She added that although many publicly-funded buildings are well-run, they don’t have access to the same economies of scale when it comes to supplies and services.
SMG will operate the Ora Arena and Convention Centre when they open in Istanbul later this year. The company also operates the Irving Convention Centre in Dallas and the Cobo Centre in Detroit, among others.
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