‘The South Oval was becoming less safe for students’: This is how OUAB decides on concert venues
The days of partying on the South Oval are long gone
It has recently been announced that the Big Spring Concert hosted by OUAB will be taking place on March 31, 2017. The venue for this concert is the Northwest Stadium Lot, which is different than last year’s spring concert that took place at Columbus Commons. OUAB President, Josh Hubbard, and Director of Concerts, Mike Avdey, were kind enough to talk to The Tab Ohio State about the venue selection process.
What criteria goes into picking a venue?
Mike: There are many things we factor in to picking a venue, including venue availability, artist availability, capacity, proximity and convenience to students/campus, etc. There really isn’t one factor that is more important, but it is more about putting together the puzzle. Certain artists might only be available on certain days, while venues could be available on other days, and so forth.
OUAB presents the Big Spring Concert for the students of The Ohio State University featuring Martin Garrix, Marshmellow, Vic Mensa and St. Lucia at the Columbus Commons in Columbus, Ohio on April 22, 2016. (Griffin Holub/Ohio State University)
Why have the venues changed the past few concerts?
Mike: The South Oval was the traditional concert venue for our shows, but that area was becoming less and less safe for students. We realized that there were a lot of non-students that attended our shows, which increased the risk factor and made concerts less enjoyable for all. Moving forward, we have tried to pick venues that will create an enjoyable and safer experience for students, while limiting the presence of non-students. To do this, we have to choose venues in which we can have a controlled entry policy. However, we do realize that students have brought friends/siblings to shows, which is one of the reasons why we went with a 2/per BuckID policy for the Welcome Back Show. We continue to evaluate each and every concert we program, in order to note the things that went well and did not go well with the venue.
Josh: As we move forward, you will continue seeing venues where we can ultimately control entry and check BuckID’s at the door like Columbus Commons, the Schott, or other venues we may fence in. We are constantly working towards finding a balance of accommodating as many students as possible while ensuring that our environment is safe.
Big Sean, Cash Cash and Kehlani perform at OUAB’s free fall concert on the campus of The Ohio State Univeristy in Columbus, Ohio on August 28th, 2015. (Joshua Orack/Ohio State University Office of Student Life)
Will concerts ever return to the South Oval?
Mike: As of now, they will not, for the aforementioned reasons.
Big Sean, Cash Cash and Kehlani perform at OUAB’s free fall concert on the campus of The Ohio State Univeristy in Columbus, Ohio on August 28th, 2015. (Joshua Orack/Ohio State University Office of Student Life)
What went into picking the Northwest Stadium lot as the venue for the spring concert?
Mike: We had the Brad Paisley concert in that space earlier this year, and we thought that show went very well. The Band Perry concert was also held there, in the fall of 2013. The Northwest Stadium Lot has a large capacity, and fit in with our artist availability.
Josh: This circles back to the question of optimizing venue availability with artist availability – it’s one of our biggest challenges!
Country music superstar Brad Paisley, the Ohio State Union Activities Board, Ohio States Office of Student Life and multi-media partner IMG will be bringing Paisleys show to The Ohio State University to provide free entertainment for the campus community at Ohio Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, on Sept. 15, 2016 (Nicole Badik/Ohio State University Office of Student Life)
Have you encountered any problems at these venues in years past?
Mike: We had issues with shows on the South Oval. In general we look to maximize the amount of students we can hold at a venue while keeping it an enjoyable and safe experience.
Will OUAB ever decide on one venue or will it rotate based on the act?
Mike: Each year we have a new Executive Board with new ideas. I cannot say for certain if we will pick and stay with one venue, as the new Executive Board each year will evaluate and try to create the best concert possible.
Josh: We are working towards finding the sweet spot where students love the venue and it can accommodate everyone who wants to go. As we host the concert at different locations, it allows us to take student, staff and other stakeholder feedback into consideration. Of course we’d like to establish a tradition for the venue, but we’re not quite there yet.
The Welcome Back Concert took place in the Jerome Schottenstein Center on Friday, September 2, 2016. (Nicole Badik/Ohio State University/Office of Student Life)