First off I do not want this turning into a pissing match between cities.

After reading the Birmingham thread regarding the proposed arena it got me thinking how do Southeastern cities stack up in the convention world. From reading the thread it sounds like Nashville is adding on to Gaylord how does it compare to the Kentucky Fair & Expo Center? I know nothing about this topic but thought it would be interesting to discuss. Also I know there are different tiers for cities, how does that work?

As far as Louisville goes I know we have about 300,000 sf downtown and over 1 million at KFEC, but I imagine KFEC is completely different than Gaylord. Hopefully someone else from Louisville knows more about this topic.

I look forward to your replys

Our new convention center (500,000sf) is under way, with "reservations" that have already far exceeded the expectations. Unfortunately, my background in convention centers is very weak, so I cannot tell you more, but I would consider Raleigh's new convention center more of a regional one and not something that could compete with established destinations around the country. On a positive note, it is (will be) located downtown, just a block to the West from the old convention center, and the increasing interest has affected our revitalization efforts significantly. This may boost our downtown more and make Raleigh a destination to consider. Nothing like Tier 1 cities, but nevertheless a good option. The biggest obstacle that I see is the lack of sufficient hotel space :(

Just a quick google search produced this ranking, from 2006:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12499142/

The top 10 host cities’ shares of the 200 largest U.S. trade shows in 2005, as compiled by Tradeshow Week magazine:

Total shows

1. Las Vegas 44
2. Orlando 26
3. Chicago 20
4. New York City 16
5. Atlanta 11
6. Anaheim 8
7. New Orleans 7 and San Francisco 7
9. Dallas 6
10. Louisville 5

Square footage of shows

1. Las Vegas 22.6 million
2. Orlando 7.6 million
3. Chicago 6.4 million
4. New York City 4.4 million
5. Louisville 4.1 million
6. Atlanta 3.1 million
7. Anaheim 2.1 million
8. San Francisco 1.6 million
9. New Orleans 1.5 million
10. Los Angeles 1.3 million

This really surprised me. First, NO is way off due to Katrina. It's just a matter of time before it's back to top 5. Second, being a homer for a second, I'm really surprised and pleased at Louisville's standing. I know Louisville has always extolled its position as a great convention city, and it seems it's not just smoke and mirrors.

Though Charlotte is not what I would call a "convention city", it has made a lot of progress in a very short time. We see a lot of interesting events here that would not have come 20 (or even 10) years ago; this week it's the CIAA Tournament which has been a huge hit the last couple of years. The new Convention Center is located in a pretty good central spot, close to the light rail line and arena. I think that the completion of several hotel projects over the next few years are going to bump us up into a different category, probably into the top 20 or so before too long.

I don't have any sq.ft. stats, though. Maybe someone else knows?

Do they use the arena in Charlotte for conventions? I also wonder how Louisville's new arena will be marketed towards convention business.

I know that this is SE section, but here are some stats on Indy (hey, the Colts play in the AFC South):

The Indiana Convention Center & RCA Dome is located in the heart of Indianapolis and within walking distance of numerous hotels and restaurants. The convention center complex, along with the stadium, houses more than 400,000 square feet of exhibit space and nearly 140,000 square feet of meeting space.


When the construction of Lucas Oil Stadium (u/c) is finished next year, the RCA Dome will be torn down and the Convention Center will be expanded, more than doubling the facility to 990,000 SF, pushing Indy into the top 15 in terms of space.

I don't know any statistics but Greensboro seems to do very well, as well as High Point. High Point has the International Furniture Convention, although its starting to loose a bit of ground to Las Vegas.

Do they use the arena in Charlotte for conventions? I also wonder how Louisville's new arena will be marketed towards convention business.
I think they just use the convention center, but I could be mistaken. I'm not terribly familiar with conventions that take place in the city.

I would hope, and expect, to see Nashville in that list within the next five years. Prior to 2001, Nashville ranked as one of the top convention cities in the nation. But due to our lackluster convention center, we have lost out on a number of large conventions in the last four or five years. That should all change once the new center gets built downtown and Gaylord expands.

To add to Lexy's post just a bit. Nashville's convention business has always been healthy. No need to get into the past, but the future holds some pretty incredible things. The downtown center is too small to hold large conventions nowadays, so the 1.2 million sq. ft. Music City Center plans are moving right along and should take care of that. Add a 1000 room hotel or two and the CDB should be ready for about anything especially since it will probably land next door to the arena. All smack downtown.

But that's won't be the only game in town. The Gaylord Resort and Convention Center already has 600,000 sq. ft of exhibit space and 2900 rooms...all under one roof. The recently announced $400 million dollar expansion will boost the sq. ft. exhibition total to 1,000,000+ and add a 400-suite luxury tower to already enormous hotel. Oh, and Gaylord is preparing to spend a huge chunk of change, I'm guessing $100-$200 million on a 105-acre site across from their convention center for a year-round entertainment thing...we just don't know what it is yet. The zoning for the property was just approved last week. It won't be a theme park. Oh yeah, and they wrapping up a $125 million upgrade project to the current hotel. That's a lot of change for not building anything. I'm anxious to see it when they're done.

So, however meager the current downtown center is, it's still successful and still functional. To makes sure things move right along, the Nashville convention business is about to take on $1 billion-plus in facilities expenditures. Seems we're about to have even more company. Pretty exciting stuff.

Thank you Dave. All the numbers and stuff escape me from time to time. LOL!!!

Buffalo's convention center is 64,000 square feet... and the reason I had to leave hotel management, because coupled with the massive 395 room convention center headquarters hotel finishing the year with a 53% occupancy rate, there's just no business to serve.

Do they use the arena in Charlotte for conventions? I also wonder how Louisville's new arena will be marketed towards convention business.

Not much. Except for coordinated situations such as sports events that coincide with convention-like events, pretty much everything goes to the Convention Center.