YOUNGSTOWN — The city-owned Covelli Centre, Youngstown Amphitheatre and Wean Park entertainment complex may end the year with its first operating loss since 2009 despite another strong year for ticket admission tax collections.
“It should be really close to break-even,” Eric Ryan, president of JAC Management Group, which operates the facilities for the city, said of operating revenue. “If we can make some money in the fourth quarter we could get close. I’m pretty confident we can get real close. I’m very hopeful we’ll have a good enough fourth quarter to get us past break even.”
Ryan acknowledged: “Shows have not performed at the level we’ve hoped.”
During the third quarter, between July and September, the facilities had a $60,366 operating deficit when it was projected to have a $53,014 surplus.
With a loss in the third quarter and its third-worst financial second quarter ever, the facilities had a $40,709 deficit through the first nine months of the year.
Since 2009, JAC’s first year running the center, there has never been a year with an operating loss. The smallest surplus was $2,247 in 2017.
The center opened in October 2005 while the amphitheater opened in June 2019 and the park later in 2019.
The amphitheater was supposed to generate large profits in the third quarter with outdoor concerts, but that has occurred infrequently.
Of the 20 third quarters, only five reported operating surpluses with the two strongest — and the third-worst ever — since the amphitheater opened.
“The amp did OK” in 2025, Ryan said. “We didn’t have a great season. We should have a better season next year.”
But even if the facilities show an operating loss this year, they have still been profitable for the city, Ryan said.
That’s because of a 5.5% admission tax on tickets sold for shows at the complex.
Through the first nine months of the year, the admission tax generated $194,683, said city Finance Director Kyle Miasek.
That doesn’t include $117,523 in admission tax paid to the city in October for September, which included the two Y-Live concerts — the Sept. 26 show headlined by John Mayer and the Sept. 27 show featuring Tim McGraw, Miasek said.
The city receives the tax payments for the previous month at the beginning of the following month so the admission tax receipts for September shows aren’t included in the city’s third-quarter admission tax calculations.
The $312,206 collected in admission tax during the first 10 months of 2025 is already the fourth-most for a year in the history of the facilities.
The record of $355,172 occurred in 2023. The two other best years were 2022 at $353,625 and last year at $345,594.
“If you add the admission tax, it ends up being a solid year,” Ryan said.
With the city’s debt on building the Covelli Centre paid off, the admission tax is used to make improvements to the entertainment complex.
This was the first year with two Y-Live shows at Wean Park and that will continue in the future, Ryan said.
The cost of setting up the stage and the expenses of the outdoor concert means it makes financial sense to have major shows on back-to-back days, Ryan said.
While the shows bring in a lot of admission tax for the city, they haven’t resulted in operating surpluses.
Also, attendance was down this year.
Previous Y-Live shows, when only one was held, sold about 20,000 tickets.
Mayer and McGraw sold about 25,000 combined.
“It did great, but it didn’t do what we hoped,” Ryan said. “It’s a very risky business.”
During the fourth quarter, there were two well-attended Trans-Siberian Orchestra concerts at the Covelli Centre in November.
“We had a good October and November,” Ryan said.
The only events left on the center’s schedule for the rest of the year are Youngstown Phantoms hockey games, which usually average fewer than 1,500 people.
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