Hoffman Estates extends Sears Centre management contracts

Pleased with how Philadelphia-based Global Spectrum has turned around the fortunes of the village-owned Sears Centre Arena since 2010, Hoffman Estates trustees Monday recommended a five-year extension to the company's management agreement.

Though the extension provides Global Spectrum with the opportunity to make more money, it also requires the company to book even more events and fill the 11,000-seat arena more often to declare any year successful.

“We want to give them incentive to do even better,” Hoffman Estates Mayor Bill McLeod said.

Before Global Spectrum was hired in late 2009, the arena was in danger of shutting down for good, McLeod added.

Trustees also unanimously recommended similar five-year extensions for the village's contracts with Front Row Marketing and New Era Tickets, two related companies that share the same parent corporation of Global Spectrum — Comcast Spectacor.

The first part of the three-part agreement consists of a collective $210,000 payment from the three firms to the village. This will cover not only the five years now being agreed to, but also a possible two-year extension beyond that.

The money the companies will earn will come largely from the variable fee determined by the level of the arena's profitability each year.

The top step of the four-tiered system — representing any level of profit — would pay Global Spectrum 55 percent of the difference between earnings and the bottom baseline of a $650,000 loss. Depending on how far below breaking even the arena is, the firm would earn only 45 percent, 37 percent or 28 percent of the difference between the final loss and a $650,000 loss.

Sears Centre General Manager Ben Gibbs said Global Spectrum has turned a profit in all but one of its years at the arena. He added that the new agreement would have been a tough one to have started with, but five years of experience provided the know-how to build business at the Sears Centre.