YOUNGSTOWN — After two soft COVID-19 pandemic years, the city-owned Covelli Centre, Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre and Wean Park rebounded to finish 2022 with a $159,489 operating surplus.

Also, thanks largely to the Y-Live Luke Bryan concert at the park July 16, Youngstown received a record $353,625 from a 5.5 percent admission tax on tickets in 2022. The Bryan concert, which drew a crowd of about 20,000, accounted for about one-quarter of the admission tax for the entire year.

“Last year was a major step in the right direction,” said Eric Ryan, president of JAC Management Group, which operates the center, park and amphitheater for the city. “I’m certainly pleased with the year. We had a good operating surplus, and the admission tax was the highest in our history. It’s money back to the city. Those two things showed we had a pretty damn good year.”

The 2022 operating surplus significantly was better than the $19,525 collected in 2021 and the $10,915 in 2020. Those were during COVID-19 pandemic years that saw events canceled for a few months starting in mid-March 2020 and then reduced crowds after that, which largely impacted indoor facilities such as the Covelli Centre. Except for Youngstown Phantoms hockey games, no other events were held at the center in 2020 after mid-March.

The modest operating surpluses in 2020 and 2021 largely were propped up by federal grant programs to help closed arenas impacted by the pandemic.

Also, as the country emerged from the pandemic, many entertainers and musicians played larger markets than Youngstown, which impacted the financial bottom line of the city-owned facilities, Ryan said.

“Everything was shut down for months and then when shows returned, they went to bigger markets — making it hard to get those big shows here,” Ryan said. “But we scratched and succeeded in ’22. It was a good year, and we hope to do even better in ’23.”

City Finance Director Kyle Miasek said: “Coming out of COVID last year and a lot of apprehension with that industry to jump back in, it was a challenge. But we proved we’re a community that steps up and buys tickets. This year is going to be a better barometer of what the facilities can do as we put COVID behind us. Eric and his team have done a great job.”

Regarding the operating surplus and the admission tax in 2022, Miasek said: “The city is very happy with the year. We are bringing people outside and inside the community to downtown Youngstown. It’s a game changer. The amphitheater, Covelli Centre (and the DoubleTree by Hilton hotel) are the three pillars that drive traffic to the community to spend their entertainment dollars in the city.”

While the 2022 operating surplus was more than what was made in 2020 and 2021, it was short of the 2018 surplus of $256,818 and the 2019 surplus of $412,684.

The facilities have had an annual surplus since 2009 with $485,234 in 2014 being a record year. The center opened in October 2005 while the amphitheater opened in June 2019 with the park following later that year.

The $159,489 surplus last year was better than the projected $86,752 surplus.

Practically all of the 2022 profits were made in the third quarter — with the Bryan concert being by far the biggest success — with a $144,279 operating surplus between July and September.

The $353,625 admission tax was a record, beating the previous high of $291,527 in 2016, Miasek said.

Y-Live is returning to Wean Park on July 29 with Kid Rock, Lee Brice and Buckcherry.

Kid Rock played the center in 2013 and was one of the fastest sellouts in the facility’s history. Brice played the amphitheater Sept. 9 with 5,000 people attending, the largest crowd in that facility’s history, Ryan said. Buckcherry was at the center on Feb. 8, 2011.

“We expect Y-Live to be a big success again this year,” Ryan said.

The park will be able to accommodate 23,000 people for the event.

“We’ve already had quite a busy start to 2023 and look forward to building on those successes throughout the rest of the year and beyond,” Ryan said.

DEBT

The city borrowed $11.9 million in 2005 to pay its portion of building the $45 million center. Most of the funding came from two federal grants.

The city owes $1.7 million on that loan and will pay it in full next January, Miasek said.

The city paid only interest until its first principal payment in 2011. It made $1.7 million principal payments in both June 2022 and three months ago.

“There will be no more debt,” Miasek said. “In less than 20 years, the debt was paid back. We ended up doing it on our own when we expected state assistance. Now we’ve got to figure out how to make it more of a magnet.”

Ryan said he’s very pleased that the arena will be paid off.

“We certainly have some things we need to address at the arena; it’s coming up on being 20 years old,” he said.

Youngstown also borrowed $4 million in 2018 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to pay for the $8 million amphitheater and park, which opened a year later. The rest of the money came from naming-rights deals.

The city is repaying that loan over 20 years.