Video: BancorpSouth Arena Celebrates 20th Season

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TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – The area’s premiere entertainment venue is celebrating its 20th anniversary. As WCBI’s Alyssa Martin reports, the BancorpSouth Arena had brought in some of the biggest stars, had a huge economic impact for the area and is poised for a banner year.

Things have been busy out of the gate for the BancorpSouth Arena’s 20th anniversary season.

In fact, the arena opened its second decade with a concert by the Backstreet Boys.

Over the past 20 years, the venue has attracted some of the biggest names in Country, Rock, and Christian music.

Shows such as Disney on Ice, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, and other events have helped bring hundreds of thousands of people to the arena every year.

And the next few months promise to be huge.

This week tickets go on sale for Sir Elton John’s March 18th concert.

“It takes a lot of things working in our favor to bring somebody like Elton John to town, obviously, he likes working in smaller markets like Tupelo so that helps , we have the right size room for him and he happened to be in the area, playing shows in Birmingham and New Orleans and Dallas so the routing made sense for him to come in for us,” said Todd Hunt, director of the BancorpSouth Arena and Conference Center.

Next month one of the hottest new acts in country music will be in town.

Tickets for Florida Georgia Line sold out fast.

“We sold that one out in less than a week and it’s going to be a fantastic show coming up on February 13th, we have a couple of tickets I think we might be able to release, we’re working with the show now to move somethings around and maybe let another hundred people or so get in to see that,” Hunt said.

There are also a host of other events that promise to bring in big crowds. Three of them are back to back next month, and include The Harlem Globetrotters and Monster Jam.

It all translates to a major economic impact for the area.

“So when we do events it’s geared to bring people into town to eat in restaurants,shop in the shops and possibly stay overnight, so we don’t necessarily have to have an event be financially successful for us as long as we’re bringing people into town it helps the community as a whole,” Hunt said.

Last year, the arena got a $2,000,000 both inside and out. It’s an investment workers say will likely pay off for years to come.

For information on upcoming events at BancorpSouth Arena, go to www.bcsarena.com