Updated: Columbus council approves this new board in effort to stop Civic Center losses
Columbus Council has agreed to create a sports and entertainment authority to oversee sports and entertainment venues in the city.
The resolution, which was contested in preceding council meetings, passed in a 7-2 vote. The authority’s goal would be to improve Columbus’ sports and entertainment venues and make them more profitable.
Before the vote, Councilor Bruce Huff of District 3 spoke in opposition to the ordinance. While the Columbus Civic Center’s revenue has fluctuated, he said, venues run by the Parks and Recreation Department haven’t had the same issues.
“Why are they under the authority when they are generating all of this money every year?” Huff asked.
Huff worried that the ordinance was overreaching and also spoke about the fact that Parks and Recreation would not be able to be a voting member of this new board.
By not allowing Parks and Recreation to be a voting member, the ordinance would “take the director’s ability to ask for things away from her.”
After approving an amendment to add a representative for hockey onto the board, council voted to approve the sports and entertainment authority with Huff and at-large Councilor Travis Chambers voting no.
Columbus Consolidated Government staff showed up to a Feb. 25 city council meeting with questions and concerns as the council considered creating this authority.
This sports and entertainment authority will supervise the operations of the Columbus Civic Center, Columbus Ice Rink, AJ McClung Memorial Stadium and South Commons Softball Complex.
Along with better coordinating events, the goal of the authority is to address concerns that the civic center is operating at a loss annually, Councilor Joanne Cogle of District 7 told the Ledger-Enquirer.
The ordinance was sponsored by Cogle, Councilor Glenn Davis of District 2 and Councilor Walker Garrett of District 8.
There had been talks about creating this authority before CCG leased Synovus Park to Diamond Baseball Holdings last year for the city’s new Minor League Baseball team, the Columbus Clingstones. But the move accelerated the need for this change, Cogle said.
Questions the authority would address, Cogle said, include, “How can we make it work better? How can we coordinate events that might complement baseball? How can we coordinate events that are happening at the RiverCenter (for the Performing Arts) and make it a more unified operation?”
A board appointed by the council will feature nine voting members. This includes representatives from the Columbus Convention & Trade Center, VisitColumbusGA, Columbus Sports Council and Columbus Golf Course Authority. There also would be voting members from the following professions:
Commercial businessperson
Certified public accountant
Corporate or employment attorney
Person with a marketing background.
Non-voting members of the board will include the director of the Columbus Parks and Recreation Department or their designee, a member of law enforcement, the director of the Columbus Consolidated Government IT department or their designee, a deputy city manager, the director of the Columbus Inspections & Code Department or their designee, the Fort Benning garrison commander or their designee, and the new hockey representative.
This board would appoint an executive director to oversee the management of the four venues included in the ordinance. The executive director would report to the board.
Columbus Civic Center operating at a loss
The Columbus Civic Center’s operating expenses exceeded its operating revenues last fiscal year, David Irwin, an external auditor with the Atlanta-based firm Mauldin & Jenkins, told the Columbus Council in a Feb. 11 meeting.
Irwin presented the city’s annual Financial & Compliance Audit for the fiscal year 2024 to the council. The civic center had a decrease in its net position of about $2.3 million in FY24, Irwin said.
“It’s not a huge cause for concern at this point,” he told the council. “But that’s certainly something that I would recommend you all keep an eye on to make sure that’s not a recurring theme in future years.”
The civic center is meant to be an enterprise fund, meaning that it is self-sufficient and doesn’t rely on other funds for revenue sources. But this isn’t happening.
Former Columbus Councilor Tyson Begly analyzed the civic center’s finances while serving as an interim citywide representative (from April 2023 to June 2024). He found the civic center was losing $1.7 million annually from its operations when excluding non-operating revenues and expenses like hotel tax subsidies.
Begly asked in an email to the Ledger-Enquirer, “Why are we accepting a loss when other cities have figured out how to operate profitably?”
He began floating the idea of a civic center and ice rink authority at the start of last year because it seemed like the most viable approach to gaining support among councilors, Begly said. A sports and entertainment authority would be too broad, he said.
Waste Management and Transportation in Columbus also are supposed to be enterprise funds, but their expenses are more than their revenue. However, waste management’s loss was offset by a significant amount of equipment bought with money from the American Rescue Plan.
This year’s audit solidified that there was a problem with the civic center generating revenue, Councilor Toyia Tucker of District 4 told the Ledger-Enquirer.
“In 2025, we still have this loss margin,” she said. “Right now, our expenses are way more than our revenues coming in. So, the conversation (about the authority) really picked up.”
Interim Columbus Civic Center director Kanise Wiggins spoke to the council during the Feb. 25 meeting to ask questions about the authority and speak in support of the civic center’s staff.
Operations at the venue have improved, she said, with reduced labor and better seating, signage and a better jumbotron. The venue also has enhanced its marketing partnerships, Wiggins said, which has led to an increase in ticket sales.
Recent events include the Columbus Rodeo, Military Night and comedian Katt Williams’ Heaven on Earth tour. The popular comedian’s event was sold out, Wiggins confirmed to the Ledger-Enquirer.
“We’ve implemented so many different new events at the Columbus Ice Rink,” Wiggins told the council. “And our trajectory of the Columbus Civic Center shouldn’t be overlooked.”
AJ McClung Memorial Stadium and the South Commons Softball Complex produced revenue of over $10 million in the FY22, almost $12 million in FY23 and $14 million in FY24, Columbus Parks and Recreation Department director Holli Browder said during the Feb. 25 council meeting.
The civic center was the only venue highlighted in the annual audit as operating at a loss.
“I think we’re doing pretty good,” Browder said. “And I’m not going say there’s never room for improvement, but these guys are doing a great job.”
City staff question the council
Wiggins and other Columbus Civic Center employees attended the Feb. 25 council meeting because they wanted to make sure their voices were heard as the authority was being considered, Wiggins said.
They also had questions about the power of the authority and what might happen to any staff. Davis said during the meeting that the formation of the sports authority should not result in the loss of jobs.
The sports and entertainment authority would have the power to hire and supervise necessary personnel for overseeing the management of the facilities, according to the ordinance.
Now that the Columbus Clingstones will be playing in the area, there’s a bigger need to manage the scheduling for events, Davis said, and this will require more oversight.
“It’s going to take a better synergy to make all that work,” he said. “That’s all we’re doing here. Nobody’s jobs are changing, and everybody keeps doing the same thing they’ve been doing.”
This authority would ensure there is one person responsible for all the venues being held to high standards, Davis said. Employees should not fear losing their jobs unless there’s been waste, fraud or abuse, he said.
Browder expressed concerns that the staff members at AJ McClung Memorial Stadium and the South Commons Softball Complex don’t work at only those venues but also at other programs across the city.
“If we talk about how these employees will now be under the (sports and entertainment) authority, how will we operate our department?” Browder asked the council. “How will we get their jobs done if they’re no longer employees of Parks and Recreation?”
This staff is needed for maintaining fields and restrooms, painting, fencing, making deliveries, cleaning up after storms, scheduling games and other jobs, Browder said.
The Columbus Parks and Recreation Department maintains 80 athletic fields, Browder said. She also expressed concerned about facilities being available for local residents to use.
“Every year, we have over 800 local league games at South Commons,” she said. “That’s not weekends, that’s not tournaments, that’s no events. That’s just our local citizens who get to use the complex. That’s pretty good.”
City Manager Isaiah Hugley and Mayor Skip Henderson said during the council meeting they didn’t know about the sports and entertainment authority proposal in advance. However, Hugley said, if the initiative is approved, more staff could be hired to fix the logistics problems with Parks and Recreation.
He intends for Browder to keep her staff, Hugley said, and the city would hire new people at the stadium and the softball complex.
“If I had this information in advance, they wouldn’t be standing here because we can fix that,” he said during the meeting.
Councilors Tucker and Cogle said during the meeting that they were unsure why Hugley and Henderson seemed blindsided by the authority because it had been discussed multiple times over the past year.
The sports authority was listed on the council’s work session agenda as early as Jan. 30, 2024. With the Clingstones’ season set to begin in April, it became imperative that the authority be created soon, Cogle told the L-E.
Although the authority wouldn’t manage Synovus Park, she said, the authority would have to work closely with the Clingstones to coordinate events.
Ultimately, the aim with this authority is to help ensure more continuity, Cogle told the L-E. There shouldn’t be three country music concerts happening on the same evening, she said, and two events shouldn’t be competing for the same parking space.
Hayley Tillery’s position as the executive director of the Columbus Convention & Trade Center is an example of what is being envisioned for the sports and entertainment authority, Cogle said.
“There are many spaces within that trade center,” Cogle said. “And she is deconflicting, running and managing all of the aspects in the operations of the trade center. It’s gone from a city asset to a very, very profitable authority that brings a huge economic impact into Columbus.”
This story was originally published March 10, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
