Florida Theatre’s attendance ranks high

Photo: courtesy of the Florida Theatre

Pollstar, a trade publication reporting on the concert industry, has released its 2018 year-end charts. It ranks the historic, nonprofit Florida Theatre’s attendance during 2018 as among the Top 100 theatres worldwide.  With attendance of 134,053, the Florida Theatre was #56 overall on the Top 100 Theatre Venues chart, and #6 for theatres under 2,000 seats.

The Florida Theatre’s attendance surpassed all other Jacksonville venues, including Veteran’s Memorial Arena, which ranked #134 on the arena chart with attendance of 120,255; Daily’s Place, which ranked #53 on the amphitheater chart with attendance of 102,466; and Moran Theatre at the Times-Union Center, which ranked #90 on the theatre chart with attendance of 91,020.

The only North Florida venue that hosted more people this year was the St. Augustine Amphitheatre, which ranked #46 on the amphitheater chart with attendance of 150,669. The Florida Theatre seats 1,918. Veteran’s Memorial Arena seats 15,000. Daily’s Place seats 5,500. The St. Augustine Amphitheater seats 4,100, and Moran Theatre at the Times-Union Center seats 2,979.

Overall Pollstar reports that the concert industry is healthy, even though fewer tickets were sold this year. According to Pollstar, in 2018, total tickets from the Top 100 (tours) reached 59,811,438, an 11.1 percent decrease from last year. Ticket prices, however, were higher this year on average. In 2017 the average ticket price was $84.63, yet this year’s average is $94.31, an 11.9 percent increase.

According to Florida Theatre president Numa Saisselin, “Every decade from the 1960s through the 2000s is represented in the Top 10 tours, and that is representative of the Florida Theatre’s schedule as well. In the last year we promoted more than 100 performances.”  “About one-third were acts that were new to us, and two-thirds were artists we have a continuing relationship with.  Part of our success is keeping the schedule’s balance correct, but another part is the historic theatre we manage.  Anyone can promote a concert, and you can call an open field a venue, but there’s only one Florida Theatre. It’s a great venue.”

The Florida Theatre’s 2017 season is sponsored by Community First Credit Union.  For a complete list of upcoming season events, visit the link below.

LOCATION: Florida Theatre
      128 E. Forsyth St.
      Jacksonville, FL 32202
      (904) 355-2787 (ARTS)