Acrisure Arena: After banner first year, 50-60 major music and sports events expected a year

Chuck Hendrix moved to the Coachella Valley 38 years ago, back when the population was less than half what it is today. It was years before the Indian Wells Tennis Garden was built and at a time when one would have to trek more than 100 miles to Inglewood to watch the Los Angeles Lakers play.

Outside of the PGA Tour event hosted by Bob Hope, and a small tennis tournament that was nearly relocated a number of times, the valley offered very little for the passionate sports fan and the avid concert goer.

Eventually, the sports scene began to grow with the emergence of the BNP Paribas Open joining the PGA and LPGA tournaments in the valley.

Then, in 2019, plans to bring an 11,007-seat arena to Palm Springs for sports and concerts were announced and, after the location of the venue was moved to the middle of the valley, construction began fewer than two years later. On Dec. 14, 2022, just 18 months after shovels went into the ground, Acrisure Arena opened its doors.

Twelve months later, as the one-year anniversary of the opening approaches, more than 800,000 tickets have been sold to events ranging from Coachella Valley Firebirds hockey games to Harry Styles and Shania Twain concerts to a Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle comedy show, which was the first public event at the arena.

But arena officials remain adamant that the first year offered merely a glimpse into what's to come.

“It’s been an incredible ride so far,” said John Page, senior vice president at Acrisure Arena.

Some of the highlights from the first year include the back-to-back sold-out performances from Styles, who won a 2023 Grammy for Album of the Year. Another one was five-time Grammy winner Shania Twain performing on May 31 and Lizzo on June 2. Sting, Bryan Adams, Peter Gabriel, KISS and the Eagles also played to capacity crowds. Maroon 5 played on New Year's Eve, and Jimmy Buffett performed one of his final shows there.

More: Acrisure Arena: The 10 memorable moments in the desert venue's inaugural year

Cirque du Soleil, Sesame Street Live, Hot Wheels Monster Trucks Live and the Harlem Globetrotters are among other shows that also brought large crowds into the arena.

A nationally televised basketball game between Arizona and Michigan State in the middle of Thanksgiving Day nearly sold out and was the most-watched regular season college basketball game on television in 15 years.

Oh, and the Lakers played at the arena, too, in a preseason game that marked the first time NBA legends LeBron James and Kevin Durant faced each other in five years.

“We never expected this,” said Hendrix, a North Carolina native who lives in Bermuda Dunes. “We were never really hockey fans, but we bought nine season tickets to the Firebirds, and now we’ve also been to a bunch of other events at the arena. We just got hooked."

'What the desert needed'

In its first year, Acrisure Arena hosted 54 non-sports related events, 24 of which have sold out. The highest ticket sales have been from the two Harry Styles concerts, the Rock and Chappelle opening night show and the Paramore concert.

That figure doesn't include the 59 preseason, regular season and playoff Firebirds hockey games, five college basketball games, the Lakers-Suns preseason game and an NHL preseason game between the Arizona Coyotes and the Anaheim Ducks.

A Madonna concert was rescheduled by the artist for March 13, 2024, and the arena has announced concerts this month by Stevie Nicks, Heart and Mötley Crüe.

"This arena has been a big deal for the valley," said Visit Greater Palm Springs president Scott White, who has initiated an economic impact study regarding the arena's first year that will be completed in early 2024.

In 2023, nearly every major concert headliner has sold out the arena, as did the Lakers and Suns. Nationally televised on FOX, 5.18 million watched Arizona beat Michigan State on Thanksgiving Day, as 9,112 filled the arena while most of the rest of the country sat around a dinner table topped with turkey, mashed potatoes and dressing.

It would have been a banner opening year for about any North American venue.

“Having that understanding of what the desert needed,” Page said, “and building the venue the right size and the right amenities really set everything up for success.”

Page credits Oak View Group, the Los Angeles-based sports and entertainment firm, and its relationships with Live Nation and other promoters for programming a full slate of entertainment offerings to the valley.

But Page, who oversees the day-to-day operations of the arena, says that 2023 was nothing more than just the start. He said that the event promoters who were waiting out the first year to see if the arena was routinely filled are now satisfied and that it will open the doors for opportunities to build on the first year's success.

Even bigger events planned

Among the sporting events fans can look forward to in the future are a major college basketball tournament during Thanksgiving week 2024 and a college hockey tournament in early 2025. The men's teams at USC and San Diego State have already been announced for the basketball tournament, and an official announcement should be forthcoming on the hockey tournament.

Acrisure Arena also will make a big announcement with the American Hockey League in January, Page said, for a future event at the arena. Speculation centers on a possible AHL all-star game coming to the desert.

A plan also is in the works to get the Seattle Kraken, the Firebirds' NHL affiliate, in the building for a future preseason game. With Lakers head coach Darvin Ham saying in October that he hopes the Lakers will continue to play annual games at the venue, that could be another big opportunity.

*Olivia Rodrigo will kick off her "Guts" tour at the Arena in February. Alanis Morrissette will play the arena in August. New Kids On the Block are slated for July.

Page says more is still to be announced. He said that the goal will be to have 140 events a year, which will include smaller, private or corporate events. The goal for concerts and shows moving forward, Page said, will be between 50 and 60 a year.

Then there will be dozens of other sporting events, which will include at least 36 home regular season Firebirds games.

"Just being able to demonstrate that we can sell through and that everybody has a great experience and that there's not a bad seat in here," Page said, "all goes to pushing our success and allowing people to get comfortable in booking a program in the venue."

Page said that one benefit of the venue has been the fact that there are no other arenas within about an hour drive of Acrisure Arena. The closest is Toyota Arena in Ontario. So, that means the task moving forward will continue to be all about finding the right events that will draw and satisfy consumers within that vast area of Riverside, San Bernardino and Imperial counties.

Page said that it's a benefit to have Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Las Vegas within a few hours, which will allow concerts scheduled there to take an extra date in the desert. The same is true for teams, like the Lakers, to take a short trip away from home to play to fans at a new arena that has been built specifically for professional teams.

"We know what the valley wants," Page said. "It means a lot and it all goes toward doing what we can to being all things for all people here."

An experience

In the arena's first year, Hendrix, the Bermuda Dunes resident, has joined four generations of his family for various events at the arena. They all sit together, in Section 109, near the middle of the venue.

Now, after an event, there is no longer a two-hour drive home. Instead, it's 15 minutes.

The type of events, and the short drive home, have helped make the arena one of the main spots for he and his kids and grandkids to gather together.

“It’s an experience that we no longer have to travel a couple hours outside the valley to have," Hendrix said. "We're all looking forward to what they'll have next year and the year after."

Andrew John covers sports in the Coachella Valley for The Desert Sun and the USA TODAY Network. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.

First year events

A rundown of the number of events that Acrisure Arena has hosted in its first year:

*54 unique concerts/non-sports events

*59 Firebirds games

*Five college basketball games

*A Lakers-Suns NBA preseason game

*A Coyotes-Ducks NHL preseason game

Food & beverage sales

Here are some of the food & beverage milestones inside Acrisure Arena in the first year:

*40,523 BuzzBox premium cocktails sold

*48,675 boxes of popcorn sold

*45,313 orders of nachos

*44,523 pretzels sold

*240,493 cans of beer sold

*16,617 gallons of draft beer sold

*81,457 bottles of soda

*Correction: An earlier version of this story had the wrong date for the Olivia Rodrigo concert at Acrisure Arena. Rodrigo will perform on Feb. 23 at the Palm Desert venue.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Acrisure Arena: What to expect in 2024 at the Palm Springs area venue