PromoWest, one of the world’s largest concert promoters, has announced a $40 million concert venue in Newport, Kentucky that will open in 2020.
According to WCPO, PromoWest CEO Scott Stienecker has been trying to build an indoor-outdoor concert venue at The Banks in Cincinnati, Ohio, for six years, but was rejected in 2018. He lost the bid to the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and while the Symphony’s plans for a venue at The Banks has been stalled, Stienecker is ready to hit the ground running with his own newly announced venue in Newport.
Last June, Stienecker reached out to Corporex developers and Newport officials after he lost The Banks bid. The Newport concert venue will be set on the 35-acre Ovation development. AEG, which owns PromoWest, presents 11,000 concerts worldwide each year. Colin Conway, AEG vice president, believes that the Newport venue will be a “must-play” for artists and will be “the premiere venue of its kind” that will “become a key part of routing for national acts coming through the area.”
The 38,000-square-foot venue is expected to bring in around 350,000 to 400,000 attendees each year, with the capacity to hold 2,800 people per show, as well as the ability to seat 7,000 on the lawn. Steinecker hopes to book acts like rock bands The Killers, Death Cab for Cutie, and Alice Cooper, along with reggae-rap icon Snoop Dogg. While PromoWest already owns indoor-outdoor faciliites in Pittsburgh and Columbus, the Newport venue will be the largest; Steinecker notes that “we’ll block book Colombus, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati all together.”
However, music fans in the area will now have to choose between The Banks and the Newport location. CSO and its management firm MEMI were chosen to build The Banks due to a hometown advantage. Rosemarie Moehring, director of marketing and public relations for MEMI, told WCPO that their “drawings are done, we’re moving forward, and our plans are beautiful.” She doesn’t believe The Banks will be competing with the Newport venue as much as some may think, since The Banks will be able to hold a capacity of 4,500 indoor and up to 8,000 outside. However, at this time, there is no opening date for the venue.
PromoWest and AEG believe their venue will be the go-to music location in the area, with the Newport City Manager noting that the project will “totally redefine the face of Newport.”