Sovereign Center Concert Ticket Sales Rise

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Berks County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Among the world’s top 200 arenas, the Sovereign Center ranked 160th for concert ticket sales in 2012, beating larger arenas such as the Giant Center in Hershey and the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, according to Pollstar, the concert tour industry’s leading trade publication.

The Sovereign Center also beat itself, moving up 30 places from its 190th ranking in 2011, general manager Zane Collings told the Berks County Convention Center Authority on Thursday.

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Jehovah’s Witness Conventions Boosting Reading/Berks Economy

The Jehovah’s Witnesses have since 2005 spent several quiet weekends each summer at conventions in the Sovereign Center, without any of the fanfare given the concert idols and hockey giants normally associated with a sports/entertainment complex.

As a result, they are responsible for half the downtown civic center’s $254 million economic impact over its first decade.

That’s the surprise coming out of a study released last week by Dr. Lolita A. Paff, associate professor of business and economics at Penn State Berks.

The 225,000 Jehovah’s Witnesses who spent three days each at the conventions also spent nearly $111 million on gasoline, hotels (1,200 rooms a night), shopping and meals outside the arena from 2005 through 2011, Paff’s report said.

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