Arena tries to draw more acts to Toledo

DOWNTOWN TOLEDO - A big push is on to bring even more acts to the new Downtown Toledo Lucas County Arena.

Performers, promoters, and the public all wait as Toledo prepares to open its new arena in the hopes of bringing in much anticipated acts. With seating for about 8,000, more acts will hopefully now look to the Glass City to perform first, rather than after several legs of a tour.

"I think they want to make Toledo a destination again for a tour stop," said Steve Miller, the general manager of the Lucas County Arena.

According to Miller, 80% percent of the acts out there today are playing venues that seat about 8,000 people. So, Toledo fits right in that mix. Now the push is on to convince those acts that this is the type of place they want to play.

"The arena is really a destination in itself," Miller said. "I mean it's an 8,000-seat venue. There's not really another arena that competes. (The University of Toledo) has a similar amount of seats but they don't have the same type of rigging structure that we have here."

While 8,000 seats might seem impressive, promoters want to see the seats filled. That in many ways relies on the residents of Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan.

"It's going to be a testament to the general public buying tickets," Miller added. "I think so far, so good. We've had a lot of interest in ticket sales and things are going well. We need to continue to put nice acts in the building."

While Detroit and Cleveland might have bigger arenas and larger populations, the Lucas County Arena management hopes Toledo's geography works to fill the place.

"It makes a lot of sense from a routing perspective because you can rout north, south, east, west very easily and making Toledo its own market is our goal," said Miller.

Former American Idol performer Chris Daughtry will be one of the first few acts in the new arena. His success in October could, in part, determine what future acts think of Toledo.

"Everyone's here to make money and the promoters want to come in and make money and we want to make money. Everybody's happy with everyone's making money and if they don't they'll think twice about it," Miller said.  

There are about 20 events booked for October including Walleye hockey games. In fact, all weekends are booked through the first week of April.

If you want to get a preview of the new arena, a free open house will be held this weekend. No tickets needed. The arena is open this Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 3-4, from 12-4 p.m. The Walleye will hold a free pactice inside the arena Sunday.

The first-ever event at the new Lucas County Arena is comedian Jeff Dunham, followed by FOX Television's hit reality show, the So You Think You Can Dance Tour on Oct. 10. The first weekend of events at the area close out with a night with WWE Raw.

The Walleye will open their inaugural East Coast Hockey League season Oct. 16-18 against the Florida Everblades.