Re-Inventing The Pyramid

Four months after the opening of FedExForum in Memphis, Tenn., other city-owned venues continue to wrestle with the challenge of adjusting to the presence of the new kid in town.

The Memphis Grizzlies basketball team, which operates the FedExForum, has strictly interpreted a no-compete clause that requires city-owned venues including The Pyramid and Mid-South Coliseum to obtain the team’s permission to stage competing major events.

The staff at The Pyramid has shrunk from about 30 full-time employees a year ago to 11, according to venue GM Alan Freeman, and the number of events held there has dropped from a high of 150 annually to between 30 and 40, including eight graduation ceremonies.

The picture is mirrored at the Coliseum, which opened in 1964 and now hosts mainly community events.

“Instead of actively, aggressively going after events that could bring in revenue for the building and support our operating expenses, we are forced into waiting for the phone to ring,” Coliseum GM Steve Fox told The Commercial Appeal of Memphis.

Over at the Pyramid, venue officials are doing their best to keep busy.

“For the time being, we’re operating as business as usual the best we can, though it’s really not ‘as usual,'” Freeman told Pollstar. “But we’re still booking shows that are made available to us and scratching our heads trying to find new ideas for using the building.”

A joint committee of city and county officials is also trying to come up with ideas, and has had its mandate extended from November to April, according to Freeman. A professional advisory group is now assisting in the effort.

“They tell me they’ve been looking at different ideas but didn’t know if any of them were fiscally possible, or if The Pyramid’s structure itself could even support the kinds of ideas that were being proposed,” Freeman said. “That’s really the reason they went out and got this group to come in and do a more professional study.”

One intriguing idea being floated for the Pyramid is converting the uniquely-designed building into an $65 million education and entertainment complex including a world-class aquarium dubbed AquariuMemphis.

The Pyramid has been considered a difficult building to rehabilitate, but architects and other AquariuMemphis boosters believe it is well-suited for their project, with its light-blocking exterior and structure that could house a “building within a building,” according to The Commercial Appeal.

But it’s not the only plan being considered. The mayor’s committee is about six months from making its recommendation and has yet to consider specific proposals, which range from a music industry complex to a convention center annex.