YOUNGSTOWN — The city-owned Covelli Centre, Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre and Wean Park recorded their worst third quarter financially since the first two years of operation with a $168,944 loss.

The entertainment facilities had budgeted to lose $102,586 between July and September.

The biggest problem in the third quarter was postponement of the Y-Live concert with Tim McGraw at Wean Park for Aug. 2, said Eric Ryan, president of JAC Management Group, which operates the facilities for the city. The show was rescheduled for Sept. 27, 2025.

The Y-Live show postponement resulted from the May 28 gas explosion at the former Realty Tower and subsequent demolition of the downtown building. Those issues forced the closing of nearby streets — the city’s entertainment facilities are close to the Realty site — and the decision was made to cancel the concert this year.

Past Y-Live concerts attracted as many as 20,000 people — by far the best attended event each year — and the shows always generated more city admission tax than any other events.

“The postponement really hurt the quarter,” Ryan said. “Had we had it, we would have done tremendously better. Realty impacted the quarter.”

“That Y-Live show being canceled had a big impact,” said city Finance Director Kyle Miasek.

Ryan said other shows at the facilities didn’t do as well as expected in the third quarter with the Realty demolition work not finished until Sept. 25.

The $168,944 loss is the third worst for a third quarter since the Covelli Centre opened in October 2005. The only years with worse third quarters were the first two for the center: 2006 with a $253,998 loss and 2007 with a $220,938 loss.

The amphitheater and park did not open until 2019.

The third quarter has traditionally been the worst for the facilities with losses in 14 and operating surpluses in only five.

The amphitheater was built and then opened in 2019 with the goal to stop those third-quarter losses.

The best third quarters were 2021 with a $128,294 surplus and 2022 with a $144,279 surplus. The third quarter in 2023, though, had a $30,166 loss.

Through the first nine months of the year, the facilities report a $187,062 operating surplus. It was budgeted to have a $121,249 surplus through the first three quarters.

The facilities also generated $71,086 for the city from a 5.5% admission tax on tickets during the third quarter, Miasek said.

The tax has provided $245,126 through the first nine months of the year, he said.

OPTIMISTIC FOURTH QUARTER

Ryan said the fourth quarter “is going to be fantastic, and we’ll wind up having a great year.”

The marquee event, Ryan said, is Thursday’s show by comedian Sebastian Maniscalco, which will have more than 7,000 attendees. That will be the largest crowd in the center’s history since nearly 7,600 attended a February 2014 Elton John concert.

Maniscalco is performing in the round so no sections of seating are being blocked, Ryan said.

The fourth quarter also includes two Nov. 22 Trans-Siberian Orchestra sold-out shows and eight Disney on Ice events between Dec. 10 and 15.

“We have a lot of overperforming shows in the arena that will finish out the year,” Ryan said.

The city made its final payment at the beginning of the year on an $11.9 million loan it took out in 2005 for its portion of the center’s construction cost.

Of that $11.9 million, the city paid $5.1 million between June 2022 and this past January – $1.7 million each in June 2022, January 2023 and January 2024.

Most of the $45 million in construction expenses were covered by $26.8 million in federal grants.

The city repaid the loan and interest from operating surpluses, the admission tax and property taxes the city receives that are specifically meant for its debt service payments.

No longer in debt, the center is making infrastructure improvements with that money. It recently paid $1.23 million to Boak & Sons to replace a large portion of its original roof.

The city also borrowed $4 million in 2018 from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to pay for the $8 million amphitheater and park. The city is repaying that loan over 20 years.

The other $4 million came from naming-rights deals.