Business View Magazine March 2023

208 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE VOLUME 10, ISSUE 3 The Capitol Theatre has an even more historic background. It is the largest theater in West Virginia and a landmark building in the national historic district of downtown Wheeling. For many years, it has served as the home of the Wheeling Jamboree and continues to host the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra. The Wheeling Jamboree was the second oldest country music radio broadcast in the U.S. after the Grand Ole Opry. It originated in 1933 on radio station WWVA, the first radio station in West Virginia, and ran until 2009. It has been a tough three years for the two venues in the wake of the COVID pandemic. The Nailers hockey team had a COVD-shortened season with limited fans in 2021 but came back to a full schedule for the 2022-2023 season. WesBanco Arena will host its first concert in nearly a decade when Whiskey Myers comes to town on June 2. The hope is that this will lead to a run of concerts and musical acts at the arena over the next few years, said Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment Executive Director Kelly Tucker, a Wheeling native. Greater Wheeling Sports and Entertainment oversees the management of the two venues. “We saw it not just here in Wheeling but around the country that entertainment venues were the first to close and the last to fully open from the pandemic,” Tucker says. “We’re starting to see a sense of normalcy now,” That is great news not just for the venues but the region as a whole. Tucker says that the Wheeling area is “crazy” about sports and that extends beyond the Nailers’ schedule. Fans turn out in large numbers for various OVAC sporting events and the arena hosts several notable college and high school cheerleading competitions as well. Other high school events hosted by the arena are highly attended. She estimates that both venues have a $5 million economic impact, derived largely from out-of-towners attending events. The OVAC Athletic Hall of Fame sponsored by the Robinson Automotive Group of Wheeling is located inside WesBanco Arena