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Image Source: The Sports Facilities Companies/Sand Mountain Park & Amphitheater
When its minor league baseball team struck out, the City of Bridgeport, Connecticut, started afresh with an RFP to revitalize its downtown. That decision to cut the cord with the Atlantic Division Bridgeport Bluefish and replace the ballpark with Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater has been a home run.
Howard Saffan, developer and president of the amphitheater, places the venue’s economic impact at $50 million per year since it opened in July 2021.
Music fans from across the country now come to Bridgeport to catch big-name acts like the Foo Fighters, Creed, Billy Strings, and others during the amphitheater’s jam-packed May-Halloween season. Even more people come to Bridgeport to attend one of the many festivals that have sprung out of the venue’s success.
Hartford HealthCare is just one example of the power that amphitheaters have, particularly in mid-sized and smaller communities, to attract guests who fill hotels, frequent restaurants and shops, and drive valuable revenue to the economy. In some cases, this growth is also evident in population increases, which are at least partially attributed to communities providing widely popular amenities and attractions.
Here, we share three examples of how amphitheaters are resonating so well with destinations.
Image Source: The Sports Facilities Companies/Sand Mountain Park & Amphitheater
Albertville has a population of 26,000 people but shot above its size with Sand Mountain Park & Amphitheater, a 130-acre, state-of-the-art complex that provides elite-level athletic facilities, family-friendly public recreational spaces, and live entertainment in the form of its 5,000-seat outdoor music venue.
The venue, operated by The Sports Facilities Companies, thrived since its 2021 debut despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s shadow. In 2021, the park hosted more than 75 large-scale sports events and concerts that generated an economic impact of $14.2 million for Marshall County. By 2023, the economic impact climbed to $23.2 million.
Top acts in the spring and summer of 2024 included Ludacris, 311, Cole Swindell, and the Old Crow Medicine Show. Beyond the concerts, the park’s bustling scene has been an attractor for community members to play sports, walk trails, or use the dog park.
“That’s the beauty of the original concept — its ability to cater to all the needs of our community while simultaneously showing off our area to visitors and sports events,” Albertville Mayor Tracy Honea said in a previous interview with Community Playmaker. “If anything, I think the community aspect may increase over time with more amenities. We’ve constantly got our eye on improving the value of the area.”
Saffan could see clearly out of his office the dwindling support for Bridgeport’s baseball team. Fortunately he already had a connection with Live Nation, as he operated Webster Bank Arena (now Total Mortgage Arena), a 10,000-seat sports venue also in Bridgeport.
When he learned Live Nation, the mega-company that operates live events and manages ticket sales internationally, was seeking a new venue in Connecticut, Saffan came out swinging to bring it to Bridgeport. His RFP proposal easily won out over 17 other ideas to replace the baseball stadium.
Bridgeport chipped in $12 million while Saffan poured in $20 million to create a state-of-the-art boutique amphitheater, according to Tom Gill, Bridgeport’s director of the office of planning and economic development. A 55,000-sq.-ft. tensile fabric cover, which serves as an umbrella for 93 percent of the 5,700 seats, is the highlight of the many touches that set the venue apart from its counterparts.
“What the amphitheater has done for downtown has been phenomenal,” Gill said. “You can’t get a reservation in a restaurant downtown when the amphitheater is having a concert.”
While Bridgeport had previously not been a music hub, per se, its location has proven ideal for large acts in the Northeast. The city is directly off Interstate 95 and a ferry connects the port to Long Island, New York. A train station is also within walking distance of Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater.
The site is such a hit that the ferry runs an additional round trip on the night of concerts. Saffan is so pleased that plans for an additional music venue, The Fillmore, have been announced for Bridgeport. Another outgrowth of the amphitheater’s success is the Soundside Music Festival, which draws 60,000 attendees each September to experience the likes of the Goo Goo Dolls, Noah Kahan, and Greta Van Fleet. Gill notes that the festival draws enough revenue to pay for police and other public facilities.
Gill credits Saffan’s pro-Bridgeport approach, which is evident by the local vendors serving goods at Hartford HealthCare.
“It’s been a great win for the city,” Gill said of the amphitheater.
Image Source: City of Bridgeport, CT
Unlike Bridgeport, Simpsonville officials didn’t envision an amphitheater as an economic driver. But CCNB Amphitheater at Heritage Park has organically evolved into a massive draw for the city about 20 minutes outside of Greenville.
The site was originally used as the new home for the relocated Freedom Week- end Aloft event in 2006. While that July 4 festival no longer exists, Simpsonville continues to add amenities as the venue’s drawing power only grows stronger. Most recently, new parking and restrooms improved the experience for the 15,000 attendees who catch shows there. The next goal is to raise funds for a partial roof, so that about half of the seating will be protected from inclement weather.
“It puts people in all of our hotels,” said Dianna Gracely, city administrator of Simpsonsville.
“They’re spending money in the city; they’re seeing Simpsonville so they’re able to get a feel for what our community is all about.”
Live Nation operates the amphitheater, ensuring it attracts top bands – and more importantly, their loyal fans.
A testament to the drawing power is that the Country Music Fest held in October 2024 brought visitors from across the globe – Gracely knows of at least one military member who planned her leave around the event to come from Kuwait. Domestically, travelers came from as far as Oregon.
Gracely says the venue deserves some credit for the city’s population growing from about 18,000 to 30,000 today in the past 20 years. “I think amenities like that bring people into the community because there’s so much more going on,” she said.
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