CASPER, Wyo. — The City of Casper is negotiating with Oak View Group, which acquired Spectra Venue Management in November 2021, to extend an agreement for the management of the Ford Wyoming Center (formerly the Casper Events Center).
The city’s existing contract with Spectra for management of the Ford Wyoming Center is set to expire in November 2022, City Manager Carter Napier told the city council on Tuesday, Feb. 22.
Napier said that the amount the city has spent to subsidize operations of the Events Center have trended downward since Spectra took over management for the city. The city’s net operating losses averaged $994,919 per year in the three years prior to Spectra taking over management of the Events Center. Since Spectra took over, the city has averaged $922,996 per year in net operating losses, as shown in a memo from Casper Parks, Recreation & Public Facilities Director Zulima Lopez:
Spectra and city staff began meeting in September 2021 to negotiate terms to extend their relationship after Spectra submitted a proposal to extend its management of the Ford Wyoming Center for ten years, according to Lopez.
Napier told the council that some of the major changes being proposed are to establish a ten-year term of the agreement compared with the five-year term under the existing agreement. He said that Oak View Group/Spectra is also offering $350,000 in capital investments at the Ford Wyoming Center and an additional $50,000 in capital investments if the city renews with OVG/Spectra to manage Hogadon food and beverage service for an additional five years beyond July 1, 2027.
Management fees Casper would pay to OGV/Spectra for management of the Ford Wyoming Center would look similar to fees the city pays under the existing agreement, according to Napier. Management fees would start at $149,522 in the first year with annual increases based on the consumer price index (CPI). Napier noted that unlike under the existing agreement, price increases based on CPI would be capped at 4% annually.
The following chart included in the memo shows details of the existing agreement between the city and Spectra on the right and what is being proposed on the left:
Mayor Ray Pacheco said that he remembers discussion when the city initially considered contracting Spectra to manage the Events Center. He added that he is in favor of extending the relationship as the management company has apparently helped decrease the amount of subsidy the city is paying: “The numbers don’t lie.”
Council member Amber Pollock asked what the advantages to a ten-year agreement would be compared with extending the agreement for five years. OVG Regional Vice President Rick Hontz said that a longer agreement term would allow the company to invest more in the facility and would also be a benefit to long-term employees who would have a greater sense of the security of their future employment under a longer agreement.
The city council indicated support for moving forward with the agreement under the terms discussed on Tuesday. Napier told the council that staff would prepare a formal amendment to the city’s contract with OVG/Spectra for council’s consideration during a regular council meeting. Napier said it would be beneficial for the city to renew the agreement starting July 1, 2022 to have it coincide with the start of the new fiscal year rather than waiting to renew the agreement until fall 2022.
