By:Dave Balut
Tampa, Florida - The St. Pete Times Forum ranked as the third more popular concert and event venue in North America for a six-month period from November 15, 2003 to May 15th, 2004, according to a report by Venues Today, one of the top trade publications in the entertainment industry.Only Madison Square Garden in New York City and the Wachovia Center and Spectrum in Philadelphia ranked higher.RON CAMPBELL, Lightning President:
“We’re aggressive when we book shows, we want to bring people in as often as we can and by chance over that period of time, we got to be number three.”Things have been slower at the Forum lately. There hasn’t been an event since Shania Twain’s concert July 9th, and there are no events scheduled in August.SEAN HENRY, Chief Operating Officer:
“With the opening of the amphitheatre, there’s a little bit of a slow period in July and August to a degree. They did a great job their opening week, bundled some of the events together.”During the summer slowdown, workers are busy doing maintenance in the Forum. They’re getting ready for five concerts next month, beginning with Van Halen September 9th.Unless the NHL players association and the league reach an agreement by September 15th, there may not be a hockey season this year, or at least not a full season. Lightning President Ron Campbell says he’s still optimistic.RON CAMPBELL:
“Just a history of the union situation, they’re last minute negotiators and so I anticipate things to heat up over the next 60 days.”Since the Lightning won the Stanley Cup, they’ve sold more than $7 million more in hockey tickets, than they did at this time last year. And there are 3,500 more season tickets.
