Correspondent photo / Bob Jadloski
The band 3 Doors Down, led by Brad Arnold, headlined the first concert on Oct. 29, 2005, at what was initially known as the Youngstown Convocation Center.
YOUNGSTOWN — It’s hosted presidents and boxing champions, rock and country superstars, circus performers and animatronic dinosaurs.
Wednesday is the 20th anniversary of the first event at what started as the Youngstown Convocation Center, became the Chevrolet Centre and has been known as the Covelli Centre since 2009.
For 18 of those 20 years, the arena at 229 E. Front St. has been operated by JAC Management. While it shepherded the building to financial stability, JAC’s affiliation with the arena helped the company grow from the three-person organization that was Eric Ryan Productions operating out of a Struthers pool hall into a company that operates five venues in the Mahoning Valley (Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre, Wean Park, DeYor Performing Arts Center and the Covelli Center in Youngstown and Packard Music Hall in Warren) and promotes concerts and attractions nationwide.
Federal grants paid for about 60% of the $45 million project, but the city took out an $11.9 million loan to cover its share of the building costs.
The arena opened Oct. 29, 2005, with a rock triple bill featuring 3 Doors Down, Alter Bridge and Shinedown, and it hosted crooner Tony Bennett the following night.
There were some big names those first two years– John Mellencamp, Trans-Siberian Orchestra, Larry the Cable Guy — but the new arena fell short of revenue expectations.
“Everybody was calling it a white elephant and saying it was going to get turned into a flea market,” said Ken Bigley, COO of JAC Management and JAC Live and part of the original Eric Ryan Productions team.
One of the promoters that had success using the building was ERP. Bigley said they originally booked Shinedown to play an outdoor show in 2006 in the parking lot behind The Cellar, the Struthers venue Ryan owned. When it sold out quickly, they approached the center’s management about moving the show there.
“We ended up selling another 2,000 tickets that week,” Bigley said.
That led to other shows featuring active rock acts Staind and Three Days Grace and rapper Ludacris.
In 2007, then-Youngstown Mayor Jay Williams contacted Ryan about taking over operations of the arena on an interim basis while the city looked for a new management company.
“There was a lot of excitement, but there was also a little anxiety,” Bigley said. “We’re all very confident guys, but it was nerve wracking.”
Bigley remembered that first day in the building. Instead of being huddled in the same office at South Bridge Billiards and The Cellar, they each sat in separate offices of this still-new venue, talking to each other on their fancy new multi-line phone system and asking, “Now what? What do we do next?”
They knew how to sell tickets and promote shows, and there were people in place to help with the things they didn’t know.
The city interviewed major venue management companies nationwide, but it stuck with the local, newly formed JAC Management, which took its name from the first initials of Ryan’s three children.
Those initial years weren’t easy. General Motors’ financial troubles forced the auto manufacturer to end the naming rights agreement. The arena’s primary tenant, the Youngstown SteelHounds minor league hockey franchise, disbanded. And the housing market collapse in 2007-08 had people nationwide (and in the Mahoning Valley) curbing their discretionary spending.
“As one thing went down, another opportunity would present itself,” Bigley said. “Covelli Enterprises picked up where GM left off and has been an amazing partner, and then Bruce Zoldan moved the Youngstown Phantoms (USHL hockey team) here.”
Another challenge for JAC was that the greater Youngstown area didn’t have a track record for being able to support shows of the size and the cost that the company was trying to attract. Booking agents would look at the average household income in the Mahoning Valley compared to larger cities and question whether they could sell enough tickets.
The first show that started to break down that resistance was Carrie Underwood in 2008. She won “American Idol” in 2005, and her debut album had sold 9 million copies.
“They trusted us,” Bigley said. “We said we don’t really have the history to show that a current country act is going to come into Youngstown and do it, but we knew it would, and we’ll back it. They gave us a shot, and that was the first sign. It gave us the indication that we could make this building a success and punch above our weight a little bit.”
A double bill of Journey and Heart the following year was another important stepping stone. Journey cost more than JAC ever had paid for an act, and it required a higher ticket price. Anxious to see how first day ticket sales would go, Ryan and Bigley arrived at the venue earlier than usual that morning.
“We turned the corner from South Avenue onto Front Street, and the line is backed up from Front Street to the box office already,” Bigley said. “It sold out within a week or so, but it sold 95% (of the tickets) opening day.”
Persistence and a little luck helped JAC attract Elton John in 2010. Whenever they were at a convention or somewhere that anyone who worked for John might be, they pestered them about considering a show in Youngstown, only to get a polite no in response.
That year, John was supposed to do a tour with Billy Joel, but Joel got sick and had to cancel, Bigley said. John still wanted to play shows, but he wanted to avoid the major markets he was supposed to play with Joel in case they could be rescheduled soon.
“What happened then was, ‘Well, hey, we got to find somewhere to play, but not disrupt Cleveland. What about those two crazy guys that keep sending in offers and showing up places for Elton. Let’s give him a shot,’” Bigley said. “It sold out immediately, and he came back two more times (in 2014 and 2016). It was a case of getting yourself in a position for when the opportunity rises, but (also) Youngstown coming through and showing up and buying those tickets.”
Landing the first of several appearances by Cirque du Soleil was a big get, he said, as was hosting rehearsals for the 2010 tour Walking With Dinosaurs, which allowed them to book a sold-out run of dates for an attraction that only was playing major markets.
Another fond memory for Bigley is when Youngstown middleweight boxer Kelly Pavlik defeated Marco Antonio Rubio in 2009. The fight was part of a Pay Per View package that also included fights at New York’s Madison Square Garden and it was satisfying knowing that viewers were seeing Youngstown’s arena juxtaposed with one of the most historic venues in the country.
Revenue generated by the building once feared to be an albatross for the city enabled it to pay off that $11.9 million loan at the beginning of 2024.
“Every once in a while you find an old email or an old article of somebody saying, ‘This won’t be there in five years,’ ‘It’s gonna suck the city dry,’” Bigley said. “It pumps money into the community, it’s paid for itself and it produces income, along with the quality of life and the economic impact (benefits).”
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