Alerus Center: now what?
The Alerus Center has seen its share of headlines lately: the recent opening of the huge Canad Inns Destination Center, a couple of successful summer concerts, the announcement that the center will soon charge for parking, the departure of Compass Facility Management, and now the departure of Executive Director Charlie Jeske. Clearly, there have been both highs and lows...good headlines and some not so good ones. Some things seems to be going quite well for the complex. On the other hand, there are unanswered questions about the Alerus Center's future.
I'm interested to hear what you, the readers of this blog, think about the future of the Alerus Center. How will things change after Compass is gone? What about that pay parking...is that going to be a big problem? What kind of an Executive Director would you like to see leading the Alerus Center in the future? Also, given the recent success of a couple of concerts, what acts would you like to see the Alerus Center try to bring in? There are many interesting things to talk about here, people. I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say. The Alerus Center is always a fun topic!
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37 comments:
Charlie Jeske resigned because he wouldn't let the people of Grand Forks walk in the Alerus during the winter !
Charlie Jeske resigned because he wouldn't let the people of Grand Forks walk in the Alerus during the winter !
Charlie resigned because he was a Compass employee and they probably wouldn't let him reapply for the job.
I think the Alerus should develop more local events (cross city bike race, motorcycle show, dog show, etc.), and bring in mid sized acts.
good riddance to compass....it is not hard to book events...get someone with half a brain cell and you can match what compass brought to the table...all acts that are the size the alerus wants to attract have their own management and realize the venue has to be self-sufficient.....
this is a "profit" run business...the major problem with the alerus is that "non-profit" folks have been a the helm....duh!!!!! non-profits are tooooooo passive in promotion...they don't have to make things happen...
I feel the Alerus has booked a lot more local and regional events. Adding the hotel has helped. If you are implying that it is easy to book concerts, then I would invite you to apply. It doesn't take half a brain cell to know that many "big acts" want to stay in larger cities, not because the Alerus and Dome aren't good places but because they are off the path. I hope Jeske applys for the job. Enough arm chair directing.
GF or Fargo are on a direct path between MPLS and Winnipeg. Often if a major act has days off between MPLS and Seatle, Denver, Omaha, or Winnipeg they will request a gig in Fargo or GF.
As we know from past experience some artist largest "gates" have come from the Alerus or the Dome.
Yesss! Thanks anon! I was waiting for the "Cher Card" to be played. It could have been executed much better but, none the less, you played it right on cue.
Nice job!
dont for get and aerosmith concert too was there highest. wasnt nicklebacks concert there highest yet?
I think the biggest problem may be that the new Executive Director will be hired by the Alerus Commission.
fireballmcfaine...
No, and no.
People really believe that Cher and Aerosmith's biggest concerts were in Grand Forks, ND?
Did you also know that the word "gullible" is not in the dictionary?
Cher's Farewell tour had it's highest attendance at the Alerus.
GFG, it's funny you would title this thread "Alerus Center: now what?", when the reality is, The Herald's reporting is so bad on this topic, the general public never gets enough factual information to form a clear picture of what is going on out there.
I'll give an example: where the hell is the story on the elusive "Concert Fund"?
The City Council gives The Alerus 200K for in-house promotions and now, the money is gone and, ZERO shows. How does that work? I know the answer, it's called hanky-panky.
Countless problems out there. Where to start? I know, start with the Commission. Alerus Financial paid for naming-rights, and gets a stranglehold on operations also? Bad deal. Time to clean house on the commission. One bad decision after another has tanked the project.
Good luck Charlie, you made the right decision.
I just checked Wikipedia, and it mentions how it was the largest audience she'd ever performed in front of up to that time. The cite is a Dakota Student editorial stating 20,000 people showed up. Yes, the Dakota Student. 20,000 people. Cher?! Biggest concert she's ever given?! CHER?! You have to be kidding me. Sounds like the Alerus marketing people really need big raises, because they're great at getting people to believe the absurd.
It was the largest attendance of THAT TOUR. Anyone else out there who lived here at the time and remembers this? Help.
All tour information is available on the net....largest for Cher of that particular tour...but of that season it was one of the largest single grossing concerts...a lot of other issues are involved other than just the 20,000 people that attended...ticket price, shirt sales, CD's etc....Large tours often make insane money on the merchandise....and for some reason we all went "Ga-ga" over cher....
20,000 people. Cher?! Biggest concert she's ever given?! CHER?!
It's somewhat believable, in that she wasn't much of a big tourer in the first place, and most of her shows were probably in Las Vegas casinos anyway. It does seem a bit of a stretch, though.
Which begs the question...
Who cares?
"Which begs the question..."
When are people going to learn what the term "begging the question" really means?
In non-standard usage, the phrase is commonly used to mean "suggests the question" or "raises the question".
ec99...seems allowable, does it not?
Certainly not as worthless---and as often incorrectly uttered---as "anyways". Brr!
If folks only knew how they appear when they brutalize the language, eh?
Actually, that's not what "begging the question" really means, but you're correct in pointing out the most common assumed meanings.
Begging the question is a logical fallacy referring to the use statements or postulates in an argument that assume the actual point being argued is true.
That makes one wonder, how many times does a word or phrase need to be incorrectly applied before that application becomes "correct." You often see this argument online over the word "irregardless." Some dictionaries list it because of the common popular "usage" even while pointing out that it's not really acceptable usage.
Also, you haven't played the "Lou Pearlman Card" yet. Here's YOUR cue.
Cher's fans are intense.
"Begging the question is a logical fallacy referring to the use statements or postulates in an argument that assume the actual point being argued is true."
Excellent! Exactly!
I don't think Alerus financial has anything to do with the center. They bought naming rights for a million bucks (a serious steal)....
OK. Now let's deal with the incorrect plural of "anyway."
*s*
The Al is a big mess, we all know it. Charlie may or may not reapply for his current position, but he isn't where half the problems are. The staff (i.e. the ushers, ticket takers and security) never know what is going on because the rules change for every event, and with such an irregularity of events happening the turnover of staff is horrible. The supervisors are just as handicapped with information. How hard would it be to have more concictency? The parking will be a huge mess starting on Thursday with the football game because there is no staff to handle the crowd because no one wants to handle it. The event directors and staff that handle the minor staff are working HARD I am sure to figure things out but they can be just as much in the dark as everyone else. No one ever knows what is going on there. They do need to reconstruct what goes on in the Al but before big acts come otherwise it will just keep on being a mess.
The varying parking fees are ridiculous. Charge one fee to every car and call it good. This $5 to park, $10 to tailgate, no fee if you give UND enough money is a joke. It's going to make it even more difficult to collect the fees and make people park in the right spots. I can't wait to go to the game next week, when the person in front me won't have any cash, since they had no idea how much parking would cost, if even they know it was going to cost money in the first place.
Imagine said...
I don't think Alerus financial has anything to do with the center. They bought naming rights for a million bucks (a serious steal)....
The President of the Alerus Commission is the CEO of Alerus Finanicial. The President of the City Council is the Pres of Alerus' Board.
And that makes Alerus financial involved with operations? Now that's a stretch. It would be nice if there was less bitchin' and more positives about the Alerus. I have never found the Fargo Dome to be a piece of cake with parking fees,traffic jams and costs for beverages. I would hope FM people don't bash their facility as much as some of us find fault with the Alerus. If you don't like it-don't go. I'm frankly tired of all the "experts" on this thread. Apply for the the job if you are so talented.
As much as I think I should stay silent, I can't resist seconding the thoughts of Anonymous' post just prior to mine.
Amen.
I attended the 20,000-stong Cher concert and it was the biggest audience she played to on THAT tour. It showed that when management and promoters get it right, people can and do fill up the Alerus.
I think this all plays into the incompetence of Jeske. He's a good guy but was in WAY over his head. He had been the director at the Jamestown Arena (barn) and was overwhelmed by the venue.
Oh, beautiful. The Alerus now has a scapegoat.
Nope. Lots of problems to cite. But Jeske's def. one of them.
Can you be specific in your critisism of Jeske? Or is this just "blame the only guy you can name?"
I'm close to people who work at Alerus and who sit on the CVB board of directors, but I don't want to implicate them by repeating exactly what I've learned.
Go for it, dude. Spill the beans. It's a public-owned building, too many secrets as it is.
Besides, you're half way there; you know how to use the anon button.
Dude, you are shameless.
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