RICC: New operator plans to keep workers
PROVIDENCE − ASM Global, the company that operates the Rhode Island Convention Center and its properties, filed a layoff notice with the state for 1,029 positions after the convention center’s board voted to award the operations contract to a new company, but the convention center head says the jobs aren’t going anywhere.
The federally mandated layoff notice, called a “WARN” notice, was filed by Los Angeles-based ASM Global with the state on May 4, for the 1,029 positions, with an effective date of June 30.
The new company coming in to manage the convention center, Oak View Group, has promised to honor all the current collective bargaining agreements with workers and keep everyone in the pool of 1,029 workers on the lists when they take over, Convention Center Executive Director Dan McConaghy said.
“A lot of people come in to an event to work and then they don’t come back for months,” McConaghy said.
At its March 28 meeting, the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority went into a closed “executive session” to hear presentations from ASM Global and Denver-based Oak View Group, according to minutes from the meeting.
After coming back from the closed meeting, the board voted unanimously to award the new contract to Oak View Group based on negotiations conducted by McConaghy.
“This was based on their professionalism, enthusiasm, opportunities for growth, emphasis on helping in our areas of struggle, such as parking and F&B,” according to the minutes.
McConaghy said ASM Global and its subsidiaries have been running the convention center for more than 30 years but as the convention center and the Amica Mutual Pavilion came out of the pandemic as a testing and vaccination site, he renegotiated the contract with ASM Global to add in an end date that had never been there before.
McConaghy then put out a request for bids to run the convention center and got back two, from ASM Global and Oak View Group. Oak View Group came in with a “fresh set of eyes,” ideas to bring more people into the expansive parking garage and relationships with event promoters to possibly increase the number of concerts coming to Providence.
An additional six to 10 concerts a year would “move the needle,” he said.
The Amica Mutual Pavilion competes with the casinos and bigger venues in Boston, including the MGM Music Hall at Fenway.
Contract negotiations with Oak View Group are ongoing but should be concluded by the end of June.
“What OVG brings to us is the ability to route acts through their buildings,” McConaghy said. “They manage Hartford and Bridgeport, Connecticut and the UBS Arena in New York.”
The other hope is to increase the number of people parking. Fewer people are working downtown, with the number of Hasbro employees parking in the garage down from over 400 to just 20. Hasbro is closing its downtown Providence office, as its lease is ending.
ASM Global did not respond to requests for comment or information through their spokesman, Jim Yeager, with the public relations company Breakwhitelight.
Reach reporter Wheeler Cowperthwaite at wcowperthwaite@providencejournal.com or follow him on Twitter @WheelerReporter.