100 Business View Magazine - July 2016
The Center operates under a seven-member Commis-
sion which is appointed by members of the Harrison
County Commission, the mayors of the cities within the
county, and the Governor of Mississippi. Its operating
expenses are required to be generated by its revenues,
while its debt service for capital expenditures is being
paid for with a two percent hotel lodging tax.
The Center originally opened in 1977. “We had 80,000
square feet of convention space and an 11,000 seat
arena on 37 acres of property,” McDonnell says. “In
1997, we added an additional 100,000 square feet of
convention center space and 16 acres of property. In
2009 – it should have been 2007, but Hurricane Ka-
trina slowed things down for us – we opened up an ad-
ditional 300,000-plus square feet of exhibition space
and meeting space to put us at slightly over 400,000
square feet. And then, last year, we picked up an ad-
ditional eight acres of beachfront property adjacent to
us. Now we’re up to 61 acres.”
Today, the Center has about 30 full-time employees
and as many as 600 part-timers “in any given year,
depending on the peaks and valleys of our booking cy-
cle,” says McDonnell. In addition to the many outdoor
fairs, festivals, and events the facility hosts, the Colise-
um plays host to Broadway shows, world-class musical
acts, professional comedians, sporting events, rodeos,
truck races, and the like. Its particular niche is family
shows such as Disney on Ice (it’s the only facility in the
region with an ice floor), the Harlem Globetrotters, and
the Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey Circus. The
