Business Journal: Downtown Venues; Round One Entertainment; Layoffs At The Bee

Managing Downtown Venues

Three major city-owned venues in downtown Sacramento will not be managed by a private company after all.

The Sacramento Business Journal's Digital Editor Sonya Sorich says that after seeking bids from companies since last year, the city decided against contracting out operations of the Convention Center, Community Center and Memorial Auditorium.

"There was a winning bidder: a partnership between Live Nation Entertainment, the Sacramento Kings and SMG," says Sorich. "Negotiations moved forward, but ultimately, there was no management contract. City employees will continue to manage the complex."

The city compared how the current operation works with the possibility of outside management, and ultimately decided city employees were doing a great job. Over the next four years, the city plans to invest more than $220 million into upgrading the venues.

Round One At Roseville's Westfield Galleria

In another sign of how retail is changing, a company from Japan is planning to open a new entertainment center in one of the Sacramento region's largest shopping malls.

Round One Entertainment intends to open a site in Roseville's Westfield Galleria. The company's locations feature attractions like bowling lanes, arcade games, karaoke rooms and food.

Sorich says it's part of a growing idea of "eater-tainment."

"The combination of food and games for entertainment," says Sorich. "We've seen the growth of the concept locally with Punch Bowl Social in downtown Sacramento and Dave & Buster's, which has a location across the street from the Galleria mall."

Entertainment centers are becoming more common in shopping malls as traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores continue to shut down. At the Galleria, it appears Sears will be shutting down later this year.

Cuts At The Sacramento Bee

The Sacramento Bee made another round of newsroom layoffs this week. The latest round of job cuts includes 15 journalists at the Bee, 12 of whom were represented by the Pacific Media Workers Guild, and another eight positions were cut from the newspaper's production department.

"This is the latest development after years of reorganizations, employee buyouts and staff reductions at the local paper," says Sorich.

The Bee’s parent company – McClatchy – has been trying to cut costs for a while now. And these Sacramento layoffs weren’t the only job cuts this week.

"Another 14 news positions will be eliminated across the company's 10 newspapers in the West," says Sorich. "Along with those newsroom workers, an unspecified number of production positions will be cut across the other papers in the West."

McClatchy owns 30 media properties in 14 states. The company is now emphasizing regional collaboration between its papers. At the same time, it still aims to focus on local news as well.