Garth Brooks, Foo Fighters help Premier Center set another attendance record in 2017

More than 700,000 tickets were used to get into events at the Denny Sanford Premier Center in 2017, marking another year of record attendance for the three-year-old event center, officials announced Wednesday.

The 2017 year-end totals for the Premier Center are credited to nine sold-out concerts by Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, plus multi-show runs by Cirque du Soleil, Disney on Ice, and the Professional Bull Riders tour.

“It was a huge year for the venue and for Sioux Falls thanks to the number and diversity of events that came to our venue,” said Terry Torkildson, Premier Center general manager. “We welcomed 38,000 more people through our doors in 2017 across all events. And just for concert tour attendance, we were up 68,000 over 2016.”

Overall event attendance reached 709,095 — the first time it has topped 700,000. Net operating income, which is revenue minus expenses, came in at $2,090,754 for the venue in 2017—the second straight year topping more than $2 million.

Mayor Mike Huether said a third-straight year of record setting attendance coupled with strong financials makes Sioux Falls' event center a top-flight entertainment venue in the country.

“I dare you to find another publicly owned events center that is operating in the black and delighting artists and fans at the level we are in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, right now,” Huether said. 

Denny Sanford Premier Center finished the year ranked 44th in the U.S. and 84th in the world among arenas based on total ticket sales for touring events according to Pollstar Magazine. Venues Today magazine ranked the Premier Center 8th in the U.S. and 13th worldwide among venues with capacities of 10,000-15,000, based on gross ticket sales.

The venue hosted 18 sold-out events during the year, led by the nine sold-out Brooks concerts. Other sell outs included Foo Fighters, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Twenty One Pilots, Eric Church, Def Leppard, and all three Professional Bull Riders tour dates.

“The touring concert industry had a phenomenal year in 2017, both in terms of quality and quantity of concerts,” said Chris Semrau, assistant general manager at the Premier Center who's responsible for booking events and entertainers. “We benefited from that, and we see no slow-down in the concert market for 2018.”

To date, 13 concerts are scheduled to play at the Premier Center in 2018, including Imagine Dragons, Smashing Pumpkins and Metallica. 

BY THE NUMBERS - 2017

$2.1 million — net operating income

$1.9 million — sales tax paid

709,095 — total attendance (671,098 in 2016)

120 — event days

24 — touring events

18 — sold-out events