In yesterday's city council meeting, the City of Wichita Falls approved an ordinance allowing management of the MPEC to be turned over to Spectra Venue Management. The company will take over all the day-to-day operations for the event center for the next five years.

The decision was made to choose Spectra over three other companies that had also submitted proposals. According to a press release from Spectra, the city picked them for a number of reasons including their marketing experience, their interest in the community and their staff retention.

"That was one of the things we were concerned about obviously-was our staff-first and foremost. They have a really good track record. They typically retain anywhere from 85 to 95 percent of existing staff," Lindsay Greer, MPEC Interim Executive Director, said.

Spectra is based out of Philadelphia, but they manage events and venues nationwide. Company-wide, they host 15,000 events for more than 23 million guest annually. They will bring in their own marketing budget and tools and software to make the entire operation run more efficiently.

Spectra Venue Management is one of three Comcast Spectacor businesses along with Food Services & Hospitality and Ticketing & Fan Engagement. They put on events in over 400 venues each year. Comcast Spectacor also owns the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers and is part of Comcast Corporation, which is best known for Comcast Cable and NBC Universal.

The ultimate goal, according to Spectra, is to bring in more events to Wichita Falls hosted at the MPEC.

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