Louisville's KFC Yum! Center brings in nearly $1bn in economic impact in nine years

The Louisville Arena Authority has announced that the KFC Yum! Center, a venue managed by entertainment giant ASM Global, can be credited for bringing in just under $1bn in economic impact in less than a decade. A study conducted by Hunden Partners for Louisville Tourism found that the economic impact of the arena over the last nine fiscal years of the venue’s operation is $942m, averaging $122 million annually.* “The findings of the study by Hunden Partners validates for Louisville Tourism, the Louisville Area Authority, ASM Global and other stakeholders that the value proposition envisioned for the arena in 2005 continues to hold true,” said Louisville Arena Authority chair Leslie Geoghegan. “The results demonstrate the return on investment for our partners – the State, Metro Louisville and the University of Louisville – with the significant economic impact that the KFC Yum! Center has on the Louisville community. We are excited to see its continued success into the future.” “Understanding the impact of one of the city’s largest venues for hosting events helps identify what some of the key drivers of tourism are to Louisville,” said Louisville Tourism president and CEO Cleo Battle. “We will use the information gleaned from this report to deploy marketing strategies that will help Louisville grow our record visitation of 19m in 2019 to 25m by 2030.” During the analysis period (2015-2023), the KFC Yum! Center generated an average $29.1m in annual earnings supporting an average of 584 full-time jobs annually just within the Louisville Metro area. More than $58.5m in taxes were generated by the KFC Yum! Center and its visitors, representing an average of $7.6m annually.* Approximately 54% of visits to the facility came from outside of Jefferson County, while 25% of spending came from outside of Kentucky. The total number of events hosted at the KFC Yum! Center has rebounded to 84% of pre-pandemic levels, according to the study. “We are so grateful that we continue to work with the nation’s top promoters and event producers to bring high-caliber concerts, sporting events and more to Louisville and to our local and regional fan base who continues to support these events and drive additional revenue to the region. Additionally, we are fully committed to serving the community and surrounding areas by hosting a variety of events from local graduations to large scale charity benefits,” said Eric Granger, general manager, ASM Global. “The strength of the numbers shown in this report provide a great outlook for the future and we feel very confident in continued success for the KFC Yum! Center and surrounding businesses.” The venue hosted Muhammad Ali’s funeral in June 2016 and is home to a wide variety of unique events annually. *Numbers exclude the pandemic years FY 2020 and 2021