Features
‘Rising Prices Are A Concern’: Q’s With Atlas Arena’s Maciek Laski
Atlas Arena is one of Poland’s largest multi-purpose venues that can house many different event and sports genres. Located in Lodz, it offers space for up to 13,800 spectators. Last year, which still marked a transitional period post-COVID, the building hosted 100 events and welcomed some 600,000 spectators. This year has been off to a great start, and as Maciek Laski, vice president of Atlas Arena’s operating company, told Pollstar, the business is almost back to pre-pandemic levels.
Pollstar: How much does the Polish live business resemble pre-pandemic levels in terms of number of events on sale & number of tickets sold?
Maciek Laski: The market is regaining its state from before the COVID-19 pandemic. The year 2022 was a bit of a transitional period, with lots of music events that still got postponed for health and safety reasons. At Atlas Arena, 2023 is similar to pre-pandemic years in terms of sales and new bookings. One difference that is clearly visible is the fact that a growing number of polish artist are booking and selling out arenas.
Is the supply chain back up and running or is it still a struggle to find suppliers/crew?
The supply chain is neither back up nor struggling, it is somewhere in between these two. There are some shortages in terms of materials and people, but the rising prices are more of a concern to me.
What are the main reasons for the rising costs, and how do you offset them?
Operational costs are growing due to inflation that struck all counties across Europe. Rising prices of energy carriers are another major factor that contributes to higher operational costs. To counter that we are proactively reducing fixed costs, exploring alternative energy sources and moving towards green solutions.
What about this year’s program at Atlas Arena would you like to highlight?
This year alone, in Łódź, we’ve already hosted Andre Rieu, Pantera, Sabaton, Eros Ramazotti, Franz Ferdinand, Tom Odell, The Scorpions, and Avril Livine, who returned to Poland for the first time since 14 years. In the upcoming months, we are hosting major events almost on a weekly basis, most notably by Lois Tomlinson, Il Divo, and 50 Cent. What is more, the first shows for for 2024 at Atlas Arena have already been announced with Depeche Mode and Niall Horan.