Authority members have to figure out how to overcome a weak revenue performance that is about $1.5 million below their earlier forecast of a $500,000 shortfall. They have five months to come up with a solution; the next fiscal year for the properties begins in July. The center showed a profit of only $225,788 in fiscal year 2003.
Sources privy to the Authority's first meeting of the year tell GlobeSt.com the cancellation of the National Hockey League's All-Star game this year because of a players-owners dispute dented projected revenue figures. Another factor was the revenue loss from food and beverage sales at parties from two big shows in summer 2004 that were moved from the Congress Center to the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park.
Congress Center opened a $225-million expansion in February 2003 to compete with other large convention centers in Chicago (2.2 million sf), Orlando (2.1 million sf) and Las Vegas (2 million sf). Congress Center has 1.4 million sf of exhibition space.
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