🔒Events industry sees uptick in attendance, but full recovery not expected until 2023

The events industry is rebounding as COVID-weary patrons shed their masks and fears of being in public and return to in-person gatherings.

While pandemic-induced restrictions brought events to a standstill in 2020, canceling everything from sporting events to concerts to corporate functions, the number of events scheduled at local venues — and the number of people who attend them — are increasing.

Ben Weiss, general manager of the Hartford Wolf Pack, XL Center and Pratt & Whitney Stadium in East Hartford, said the events industry is in a “late-stage recovery.”

If projections hold, the XL Center in downtown Hartford will reach pre-pandemic levels of activity in 2023, Weiss said.

In 2020, indoor venues like the 16,000-seat XL Center and Connecticut Convention Center in Hartford were forced to close their doors for months. The Wolf Pack’s hockey season was canceled.

“We lost a significant amount of business,” Weiss said. “Fiscal years 2020 and 2021, it wasn’t good. But last year, that’s when we started seeing the comeback and it keeps trending upward.”

Robert Murdock — president of the Connecticut Convention and Sports Bureau, also known as CTmeetings — said his group is working to keep pace with event space demand.

“The question is, ‘Where can we find spots to put people?’ ” Murdock said. “It’s not, ‘Can we find people available for meetings?’ It’s, ‘What do we have available for them?’ ”

Venues began seeing a turnaround last fall, but attendance sagged during the holiday season when the omicron variant struck, setting fiscal year 2022 behind pre-pandemic numbers.

The XL Center hosted more than 100 events in 2022. So far this fiscal year, it’s on track for 120 to 130 events, Weiss said.

Pratt and Whitney Stadium, also known as Rentschler Field, fared better than the XL Center, largely because people were less reluctant to attend open-air events during the height of the pandemic, and there were fewer restrictions, according to Weiss.

Last year, Pratt & Whitney Stadium saw record attendance, with professional soccer attracting “tremendous business,” he said. The facility hosted the NCAA Division I men’s lacrosse championships in May.

At the XL Center, sporting events such as Wolf Pack and UConn hockey games, along with men’s and women’s basketball, are at the forefront of the recovery, Weiss said.

“They really came back last year, and this year we’re expecting those tenant sports teams to come back close to pre-pandemic levels in terms of attendance,” Weiss said.

He believes concerts will be the next to recover, reaching pre-pandemic levels in 2023.

Wolf Pack games saw pre-pandemic attendance numbers during the final third of last season, Weiss said. This year’s season begins in October.

Also, Pratt & Whitney Stadium drew crowds of more than 20,000 for the U.S. Women’s National Team games last summer.

“People were very excited to be back together,” Weiss said. “We broke concession numbers, for example, in terms of people spending when they came to an event, so they were excited to be here. They were very much ready to have a good time. I expect that to continue, for sure, going into this fall and winter season.”

Closer to home

As office footprints shrink, with companies requiring fewer employees to attend work in-person, weeknight attendance was down last year compared to before the pandemic.

“I attribute that to, for example, business folks simply not coming out of work and walking over to the XL Center,” Weiss said. “I don’t know. I can’t quantify that. I mean, obviously the more vibrant downtown we have, the better it is for all of us.”

The number of events at Pratt & Whitney Stadium is still lower than it was prior to 2020 — dropping from about 150 events to 60 or 70, Weiss said. Corporate events, such as holiday parties, and seminars held in rooms on the stadium’s third floor are returning slowly.

CTmeetings saw about 50% of normal activity levels during 2021-22. But pent-up demand for events has been fueling a resurgence since last fall, Murdock said.

ConnectiCon, a popular multi-genre pop culture and cosplay convention, sold out two dates at the Connecticut Convention Center in July.

Outdoor events, from the Greater Hartford Festival of Jazz, to Yard Goats games, to cultural festivals on Riverfront Plaza, have been “extremely well attended,” said Jordan Polon, executive director of the Hartford Business Improvement District.

Also, more people are using historic Pratt Street — especially on weeknights, said Chip McCabe, director of placemaking and events for the Hartford Business Improvement District.

“More people are visiting the street before Yard Goats games, more people are eating out before theater shows, even when there isn’t any planned programming like music and events on the street,” McCabe said.

Pratt Street’s Salsa Socials, a tradition since 2018, have broken previous attendance records, he added.

July was a record month for demand at CTmeetings, Murdock said, even though some of the events were smaller in scale than in the past.

The exception has been corporate events, including board retreats and holiday parties, which are part of a structural shift as businesses adopt remote and hybrid work, according to Murdock. Businesses are “dabbling” in meetings that are held in-person, he said, but they may not return to pre-pandemic levels for another year.

Rather than attend large national conferences, more people are opting to stay closer to home.