The Lexington Center Corporation (LCC) has approved a multi-year agreement with Oak View Group Facilities to manage and operate its properties, which include the 20,000-seat Rupp Arena, the new 200,000 square-foot Convention Center and the 900-seat Lexington Opera House.
Oak View Group will report directly to the LCC and begin managing the day-to-day operations for Rupp Arena, the Convention Center and the Opera House on October 1.
According to a statement from the LCC, Oak View Group Facilities will generate new business opportunities and attract a variety of events that will bring visitors to Lexington and drive economic impact for Lexington and the region. Additionally, the group will be responsible for the marketing and sales, box office, finance, operations, bookings and premium seating/VIP experiences and opportunities for the three properties. The company will also focus on increasing convention center business and creating more opportunities with VisitLex.
The contract expands a five-year partnership, established in early 2018, where Oak View Group was responsible for all areas of event programming at Rupp Arena, excluding University of Kentucky athletic events.
“Central Bank Center has been fortunate to have tremendous leadership from Bill Owen and his team for the past two decades,” said Bob Elliston, Lexington Center Board chairman. “As we prepare for Bill’s retirement in the summer of 2022, the selection of OVG Facilities was the right choice to position the Center to achieve even greater heights as our nearly $300 million capital expansion comes online.
“Central Bank Center stands ready to appeal to a larger marketplace for conventions, meetings, and the top music and entertainment tours in the country,” added Elliston. “Through our existing booking agreement, OVG has demonstrated their market leadership taking Rupp Arena bookings to record levels in 2019, the last full year before the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted national touring.”
Oak View Group Facilities is a division of the Oak View Group, the world’s largest developer of sports and entertainment facilities with $4.5 billion of deployed capital across eight projects. The company is part of the team developing the new Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia, and manages the Charleston Convention and Events Center in West Virginia, the Jackson Convention Center Complex in Mississippi, and the Fort Smith Convention Center in Arkansas. The company also has a booking arrangement at Thompson-Boling Arena on the campus of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
Oak View Group is currently involved in five new arena construction projects in the U.S., including the Climate Pledge Arena, home to the National Hockey League’s newest franchise, the Seattle Kraken, the UBS Arena in Belmont Park, New York, the new home of the NHL’s New York Islanders, Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Georgia, the Coachella Valley Arena in Coachella Valley, California, and the Moody Center on the campus of University of Texas, Austin.
“Based on our success at Rupp Arena, we look forward to expanding our role and bringing our additional resources to all the Central Bank Center facilities,” said Peter Luukko, chairman of Oak View Group Facilities. “We are focused on increasing revenue, partnerships, conventions business, and building a larger community and regional presence as Lexington has so much to offer.
“Additionally, as we expand our presence across the Southeast, Lexington will be a key hub for Oak View Group Facilities and our other southeast properties,” said Luukko.