Huntsville’s VBC celebrates 50 years with record economic numbers alongside nearly one million visitors
On March 01, 2024, the Von Braun Center (VBC) officially kicked off celebrations for the center’s 50 year milestone with the Huntsville community. Capping 50 years of jammed packed shows, hilarious comedians, and heart-stopping performances, the VBC is celebrating the past five decades with record numbers released during their 2022-2023 economic impact report.
In total, the Von Braun Center hosted 544 events during that time span, with a cumulative economic impact that exceeded more than $97 million. Altogether, nearly one million people attended events this past year, including entertainment, sports, weddings, meetings, conferences, and more. These data points are pulled from a shared economic impact calculator and Ticketmaster.
These numbers show continued growth for the civic center in every metric, as the total economic impact is nearly 20% greater than the $80 million reported in the 2021-2022 report, and the total number of guests more than doubled from 500,000 last year.
This level of growth can seem surprising on the surface with the recent establishment of another large venue in
the Orion Amphitheater, but according to the director of the VBC, Steve Maples, these growing trends will not stop anytime soon.
Maples sat down for an interview with HBJ to talk about the report and the upcoming anniversary celebration in order to give some insight into the most recent numbers and potential growth moving forward.
“Most of those economic numbers are driven more by conventions and conferences than from the arena or concert business. It’s definitely a part but not the biggest part as the convention center business has continued to grow and expand,” Maples explained. “After coming out of 2019 when we took that dip along with everyone else, we haven’t slowed down at all. As a matter of fact, we have drawings on the board right now to double our convention center space. Nothing has been determined yet by the city for a time frame, but I would like to say that it will be doubled within the next 5 years.”
It’s arguable that director Maples has more knowledge of everything that pertains to the VBC than any other person in history. He’s been the venue’s director since 2007 and has been employed with
the VBC in various capacities for 47 of the 50 years it’s been operating.
When asked to put into words how instrumental the VBC has been to the city of Huntsville and its growth over the last five decades, he pointed out how the rest of the city has essentially grown around the venue and continues to do so.
“You know, sometimes I tell people when we start having these kinds of conversations, to just imagine what
Huntsville would be like if the VBC was not here. I mean, we are definitely the economic impact generator of downtown Huntsville and Huntsville as a whole,” he argued.
In addition to the vast economic impact measured by the number of events and attendees, the Annual Report also highlights the quality of the events held along with noteworthy accolades the VBC has earned throughout the year.
These accolades include the Arts & Recreation Business of the Year Award from the Huntsville/Madison
County Chamber of Commerce, a Readers’ Choice Award from ConventionSouth Magazine, a Diners’ Choice Award for Rhythm on Monroe, and a PEAK Award from Alabama Mountain Lakes Tourist Association.
In regards to the notable events held over the past year, there are several standouts.
The Alpha Kappa Alpha national sorority held the 91st edition of their Southeastern Conference at the VBC that generated an economic impact over $4 million and set a new record in the hospitality industry where over 4,400 guests were all served food in just 46 minutes.
One event was even filmed for television with the George Jones Tribute concert, which even had a theatrical release for one night. George Jones, also referred to by many as “The Possum,” sold over 20 million albums, was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, a member of the Grand Ole Opry, and a Grammy Lifetime
Achievement award recipient who topped the Billboard singles chart 14 times and accumulated 143 Top 40 hits during his illustrious career. On April 25, 2023 (ten years after his passing), the VBC Propst Arena held a sold out show with some of country music’s biggest stars paying homage to the man known as ‘the greatest country singer of all time.
“Still Playin’ Possum: Music & Memories of George Jones” featured artists ranging from Jelly Roll, Brad Paisley, Tanya Tucker, Dierks Bentley, Sam Moore, Travis Tritt, Jamey Johnson, and many more. This legendary concert was one of the top five highest-grossing events ever held in the VBC’s 48-year history and had an estimated economic impact of over $1.2 million, with additional im- pact from future television broadcasting.
This fiscal year also saw the introduction of continuing renovations to the VBC’s North Hall and its rebranding as the Saturn Ballroom. The VBC’s North Hall originally opened on December 4, 1987, with a “Premier for the Arts” black-tie gala.
The total project, which added around 100,000 square feet to the facility, cost $8 million. The addition of the hall almost 36 years ago was intended to enhance the flexibility of the overall facility by adding space for banquets, meetings, and receptions.
After receiving city approval in 2021, the ballroom renovation project began in May 2022 with a total project cost of $12.5 million. Renovations include upgraded wall coverings, flooring, a color-changing LED lighting system, an upgraded audio system, and more. Modified areas include the ballroom, main entrance lobby, public corridors, restrooms, meeting rooms, and other auxiliary spaces.
The tagline for the VBC’s 50th anniversary is ‘Your Place Through Time.’ This line aims to bring attention and celebrate the fact that even though much emphasis is placed on the money generated through the VBC by bringing people from all around the world to Huntsville for entertainment, business, and everything else, the Von Braun Civic Center belongs to the Huntsville community and it always has.
Director of Marketing and Publication Relations for the VBC Samantha Nielsen expanded on this idea.
“We landed on ‘Your Place Through Time’ because this really has been everyone’s place through time. Whether you’re coming for a graduation, wedding, concert, date, or even prom, the VBC has been everybody’s place through time. That resonated with the staff along with the board and we’re hoping it resonates with the community as well,” said Nielsen.
One reason the VBC has been ‘our home’ from the start is because of people like Bob Stagg.
Stagg was one of only seven people who made up the first Von Braun Civic Center Board of Control established by the mayor in 1970. He, along with six others, were responsible for the oversight of the design and construction of the center.
While interviewing Stagg about his role in the foundation of the VBC, he repeatedly made it clear that everything the board did was in response to the community needs at the time. His involvement with the board is still a point of personal pride to this day, and he vividly remembers how the community responded when they finally had ‘their place’ in 1975.
“It was instantaneous,” recalled Stagg. “Within the first year, we had the circus come to the arena; there was an explosion of traveling road shows from the Broadway Theater League because they now had a place to finally do shows besides the old high school. Everything took off. Within six years, we were overbooked, and then eight years later, we were overbooked again. The level of Country and Western and other per- formers just went up by an order of magnitude. Everybody in Huntsville and everybody who was a farmer wanted to come here. We were able to bring Elvis Presley to Huntsville the first year we opened in 1975, which was unheard of for a city our size at the time.”
“Once the doors opened any resistance evaporated because the community saw what a great facility it was,” Stagg concluded.