SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC NEWS) – Summer is right around the corner. With the recent concert announcements such as Dan and Shay and James Taylor set to play at the recently renamed Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview, Syracuse’s economy gets an instant boost.
“It’s a huge boom for our tourism economy locally,” said Visit Syracuse President Danny Liedka. “Those concerts at the amphitheater have a $20 to $30 million economic impact every summer. I think people a lot of times will focus on the concert, but what it does for local hotels and restaurants and other ancillary businesses is just huge.”
All of these key pieces took a hit in 2020. However, Liedka thinks that the economy is in a better spot now than before the coronavirus pandemic.
“Actually, I think we’ve exceeded pre-COVID,” said Liedka. “What hasn’t come back is that midweek business traveler, but the social traveler that has exploded. So these concerts have just continued to elevate. ’22 and ’23 will go down as record years for tourism. And the concert stuff at the amphitheater has a big part to do with that.”
The Amphitheater at Lakeview isn’t the only venue in Syracuse holding concerts in the next several months. Syracuse University’s JMA Wireless Dome is reeling in big-time artists in the near future.
“Especially when you look at the caliber of artists that they’re bringing in here, it attracts a lot of people that come with a higher median income,” Liedka said. “So they’re going to stay longer. They’re going to spend more. So it has that type of effect and they come from all over the world, which is amazing.”
Bruce Springsteen is scheduled to play in the Dome on April 18 and Pink is set for October 8.
Back to the Amphitheater, people forget it’s owned by Onondaga County.
“Our county property taxes here are at the lowest level they’ve been since 1978,” said Liedka. “So it’s things like the JMA Wireless Dome, the amphitheater. They generate sales tax that helps keep property taxes stable.”
There are 15 scheduled summer concerts at the Empower Federal Credit Union Amphitheater at Lakeview.