2021 a big year at The Arena, 2022 expected to be bigger

Coming off of an impressive year that saw The Arena in Corbin host 40 events and receive national attention courtesy of stars such as Nelly and Justin Moore, Arena Director Kristi Balla has the venue off to a hot start in January that includes five shows that have generated more than $1 million in ticket sales.

The schedule will kick off Friday night with the return of Ryan Upchurch for a concert that is sold out.

A second date for Upchurch has been added for Saturday. Tickets remain available.

The WYMT Fishing Expo will be at The Arena Jan. 14-16.

Jan. 21 will see The Lacs and Buckcherry take the stage with special guest CORE.

January will wrap up with the return of the stars of WWE.

The show will feature stars from both the Raw and Smackdown Rosters including: Universal Champion Roman Reigns, Smackdown Tag Team Champions The Usos, Drew McIntyre and The New Day. Also scheduled to appear are Bianca Belair and Becky Lynch.

Possibly the most well-known star in Corbin, Baron Corbin, will also return to, “his kingdom.”

During a show in January 2020, Corbin, who had become known as “King Corbin” after winning the King of the Ring Tournament in September 2019, met with Corbin Mayor Suzie Razmus for the signing of a proclamation changing the city’s name to, “King Corbin, Kentucky” for the day.

“It’s my town now. I own it,” Corbin said as he walked to the ring at the 2020 show with the proclamation in hand.

Corbin, who is now wrestling under the name, “Happy Corbin,” cut a promo in December for the show.

“You guys love me so much you had a day named just for me,” Corbin said in the promo that was post on The Arena Facebook page.

Razmus brought the petition to The Arena before the 2020 show and was asked to make a short video presenting it to Corbin.

“We just had fun with it,” Razmus said, noting that while Corbin plays a bad guy, he is, in reality very nice and was very appreciative.

“He was huge,” Razmus added, noting the 6’8” superstar towered over her.

Balla credited Razmus for her spontaneity with the proclamation and for being willing to go on camera and do the presentation.

“Suzie was such an amazing sport about it,” Balla said.

Balla said in addition to the millions of people who have seen video from that show on King Corbin’s Instagram page and on various youtube posts, other venue promoters and vendors have heard about it and commented to her what a great thing it is for The Arena and the city.

WWE included a copy of the proclamation on its website with the story.

“This was to show our city has a sense of humor and can play along,” Balla said.

“This is tourism advertising that you can’t pay for,” she added.

Corbin also received some national publicity courtesy of Justin Moore, who played The Arena on Oct. 23.

“He did his podcast from The Arena and talked about how great he was treated in Corbin,” Balla said noting that she and her staff work hard to ensure that backstage goes well and the talent is happy.

“I like for my backstage to run perfectly,” Balla said.

The audience that heard about Corbin and The Arena got even broader in November when rap star Nelly played the venue on Nov. 27.

Balla said she received an email from Nelly’s management praising how well they were taken care of in Corbin.

In addition, a video was posted to social media of a young girl outside the venue after the show who caught sight of Nelly leaving and went up to meet him.

Twelve-year-old Caitlin from Harlan, had just gotten out of her mom, Tiffany’s, car as they were trying to get through traffic to leave the venue when they saw security come out near Nelly’s tour bus and then saw the performer. At the time, Caitlin was wearing a tank top shirt.

“Where is your jacket,” Nelly said the to the girl in the video that has been shared multiple times on social media.

After taking a selfie with the girl and hugging her, Nelly took off his jacket and put it around her.

“Don’t you come out there no more without that jacket,” Nelly told the girl, adding, “Merry Christmas.”

In addition to the social media, Balla noted that the story was picked up by multiple media outlets noting that it was after the Corbin show.

In the 40 shows in 2021, Balla said the Arena had approximately 80,000 people come through the door from 27 different states, grossing $4.2 million in ticket sales.

The venue will remain busy through May.

“We have something almost every weekend through May,” Balla said noting that other shows and events already books included: Super Bull, monster trucks, Aaron Lewis, Daughtry, Casting Crowns, the 13^th Region Basketball tournaments and Corbin and Whitley County graduations.

“Anytime we can hit the 30-event mark is a good year,” Balla said when asked what she would consider a successful year.

“We have some fun things in the works,” Balla said.

Balla admitted that some events have failed to draw a crowd but noted that is part of the business and happens at every venue.

“On every single tour and in every venue there are going to be hits and misses,” Balla said.

As to the types of events that she would like to be able to add, Balla said a comicon or gaming conference would be high on the list as it would further broaden the audience.

The Arena has undergone a number of upgrades including acoustic improvements, new LED lights and resurfacing of the basketball court used for the 13^th Region Tournament and for shows like The Harlem Globetrotters.

“I would love to upgrade the scoreboards and also get some new seats,” Balla said when asked about her list of upgrades.

Since taking over as director in August 2016, Balla said her focus has remained on making The Arena better for the community and getting it to work as designed by boosting the local economy.

“I always say that I think this is different for me because Corbin is my hometown,” Balla said. “It is personal to me.”

“I understand how important The Arena is to the region,” she said.