Covelli Centre Unveils Southwoods Box Office

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Eric Ryan, president of JAC Management Group and executive director of the Covelli Centre, considers the naming rights for the arena’s box office to be one of three “flagship” sponsorships for the building.

On Monday, guests celebrated the naming of the Southwoods Health Box Office with a ribbon-cutting event at the newly named and renovated box office area. The five-year naming rights agreement was announced last week.

When Covelli Centre officials learned several months ago that the previous box office sponsor was not going to renew its deal, staff met to determine whom they wanted for a new sponsor, Ryan said. “It’s really a flagship sponsorship,” along with the naming rights for the building itself and the VIP lounge area, one of the “crown jewels,” Ryan said

“We have really tried to focus to be associated with winners and people who do things the right way,” he said. If possible, they also wanted a local company as the naming rights sponsor for the box office, he said.

“The very first company that came to mind” was Southwoods Health and the Muransky Companies, he continued

Southwoods and the Muransky Companies are paying in excess of $200,000 for the box office naming rights over the five-year term of the deal, according to Ed Muransky, chairman and founder of the Muransky Companies and president and CEO of Southwoods.

“I did a lot of my growing up about half a mile from here,” Muranksy, who attended the former Sts. Cyril and Methodius School as a youth, said. “I grew up being able to walk downtown and go to the department store.” The Covelli Centre’s importance to the community is such that he encouraged leaders throughout the region to do what they can “to try to help this place.”

“Without sponsorships, without partnerships, this place does not succeed,” Ryan said. Many arenas in secondary or tertiary markets don’t succeed because “they don’t have the support that we have,” he said. Revenue from sponsorships, suites and club seats contributes about $1.1 million to the arena annually, and advertising adds another $650,000, he said.

“It’s what keeps the lights on. It’s what makes us be able to operate from day to day,”

The Southwoods logo and signage, by RL Smith Graphics in Boardman, is prominent from the exterior of the building and throughout the arena as well as in the box office area itself, which features wood paneling and other elements associated with the company.

“The Southwoods Health brand can be felt hugely, so much so that we actually had somebody come in to schedule their colonoscopy to our box office,” joked Kollin Chupa, sales and marketing director for the Covelli Centre.

Young children through adults attend events at the Covelli Centre, Muransky remarked. “There are 3-year-olds that might come in here that might see the Southwoods logo for the first time” who might be a little more comfortable when they later come to Southwoods for a procedure, he said.

For older patrons who also come to Southwoods, “I hope it gives them a good feeling that you have a local health organization that is committed to this area providing the best patient satisfaction in the country and great clinical outcomes that is so interested in the community,” he added.

Pictured: Ed Muransky and Eric Ryan debut the Southwoods Health Box Office.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.