Rick McLaughlin

By Community Impact Newspaper Staff Friday, 19 February 2010

Rick McLaughlin, General manager of the Cedar Park Center

CEDAR PARK — Last book he read: “The Associate” by John Grisham

Favorite music: Rock, such as Billy Joel, Elton John, The Police and Tom Petty

How long have you been with the Texas Stars?

I took the position in June of 2008, but I’ve been with the Dallas Stars since 1993.

Has event attendance met or exceeded your expectations?

For the hockey games, I think our attendance has met our expectation. I think our family shows, like dinosaurs and the circus, that’s actually exceeded our expectations. I think, candidly, the number of concerts we’ve had so far is a little below our expectations. The attendance for them has been fine—it’s just we’re trying to get more and more concerts here. It’s a combination of the economy and the acts touring. [Jan. 25] was our four-month anniversary, so I have to be patient.

How many concerts would you like to have?

We’d like to have about 120 events annually at the Cedar Park Center. That will include 40-plus hockey games, 20-plus concerts and probably 30-plus family shows and then we do things like the rodeo and a lot of high school graduations. I think we’ve got 12 high school graduation ceremonies scheduled so far, which is a big part of life. The city built this, too; I mean it wasn’t just for the events, the concerts and hockey.

How do you pick events?

You develop events with the people who want to also bring them. We have the ability to do smaller events, in the 2,000 to 4,000 capacity and then we have the ability to do George Strait. We’re in competition with other venues down in Austin, so we try to be creative as to how we develop events and we try to do it in a way that we can make the cost reasonable for somebody who wants to bring them in and then have enough profit built in to have it make sense for us.

How long did it take you to negotiate getting George Strait to play?

I would say it was probably over the course of three months. But to get an entertainer like George Strait to open the facilities is a different project than trying to get him back next year to do something. You have to get him comfortable with the facility and the acoustics. Generally, it’s about, ‘Here’s the deal. Here’s the financial deal. Are you interested?,’ and so forth. But when you’re brand new, especially when you’re trying to open with a superstar like him, he wants to put on a good show for his fans. So, we had to talk about things that you generally don’t have to talk about all the time.

Are you anxious during an event or are you able to relax?

Well, we’ve got a great staff here and I have a lot of confidence in them, so I’m really not on eggshells worrying about anything that really happens. What I focus on depends on the event. We’re always looking to sell more hockey tickets, so when I’m sitting at the game I like to see the fans continuing to come in and filling up the building. For concerts, I, for the most part, can sit back and kind of enjoy the performance because it’s a different type of event where you kind of know the fans will come. A lot of times I just keep an eye out for our customer service and make sure we’re showing people a good time.

How do you turn over an event?

Again, it comes down to staff. We’ve got a labor pool of folks that are ready. When the game ends at 10:30 p.m., we’ve got 25 to 30 people—right as the players leave the ice—starting to go on the ice and take the dasher boards down. They’ve got the flooring system ready to move in and put the floor down for the events.

What’s been the biggest challenge?

The big challenge is that there is some perception that we’re really far out here, and some people don’t really understand exactly what this building is. When we get people to the building, whether we’re trying to sell them a season ticket or a corporate sponsorship, when they get inside the center they’re amazed; they’re like, ‘Oh, I didn’t realize it was this.’

If you could have your personal favorites play, who would they be?

I’d love to see U2, Bon Jovi, and Brad Paisley play here. Some of those folks may or may not be able to, but I will say this, people didn’t think we could get George Strait, either.