The Lincoln City Council voted to approve the SMG Management and SAVOR Food & Beverage contracts to manage, provide F&B services and operate the new Pinnacle Bank Arena that is currently under construction in the Haymarket area of downtown Lincoln. SMG presently manages the City-owned Pershing Center.
Lincoln Mayor Chris Beutler said at a recent press conference, “This new agreement goes beyond just the operation of the new arena. We have tapped into the entertainment programming expertise of Tom Lorenz and SMG and have added some additional City venues in this contract for SMG to manage for us.”
Aside from the management of the Pinnacle Bank Arena, the City has asked SMG to manage the beautiful Pinewood Bowl Theater in Lincoln’s premier Pioneers Park and operate / program a nearly 500,000 square foot festival space and parking area located northwest of the new arena.
SMG will be responsible for booking, operations, food & beverage service, promotion, maintenance, recycling / green initiatives, website development, ticketing, suite and premium seating renewals and some parking.
The Pinnacle Bank Arena will be the home to the University of Nebraska Cornhusker Big 10 Men’s and Women’s basketball teams. Concerts, family shows, civic events, tradeshows, conventions and extreme sports will fill the balance of the annual schedule.
Pinewood Bowl is a heavily wooded boutique outdoor theater located in the center of Pioneers Park. SMG and Mammoth Productions of Lawrence, Kansas are hosting the summer concerts that are currently scheduled including Crosby Stills and Nash, Train with Mat Kearney, BB King with Robert Cray, My Morning Jacket with Band of Horses and the Grand Opening concert - the Outlaw Roadshow featuring Counting Crows.
The 16,000-seat Pinnacle Bank Arena is being built at a cost of $179 million and it is scheduled to open in September 2013.
