Notable Nutter Center performers
Aerosmith
Garth Brooks
Cher
Kenny Chesney
Neil Diamond
Bob Dylan
Jamie Foxx
Aretha Franklin
Green Day
Guns N’ Roses
Janet Jackson
Elton John
Jay-Z
KISS
Dave Matthews Band
Tim McGraw
Metallica
Motley Crue
Ozzy Osbourne
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Paul Simon
Frank Sinatra
Snoop Dogg
Rod Stewart
Sting
Tina Turner
Carrie Underwood
Van Halen
The Who
Neil Young
ZZ Top
FAIRBORN — Wright State University’s Nutter Center has put the Dayton region in the national spotlight many times since it opened 20 years ago this month, from an infamous 1992 concert by Guns N’ Roses to the introduction of Sarah Palin at a 2008 presidential campaign rally.
Over the past two decades, the 12,000-seat indoor arena on Wright State’s campus also has played host to such top performers as Frank Sinatra, Paul Simon, Tina Turner, Elton John, Garth Brooks, Cher and Jay-Z.
“Some of these acts wouldn’t come to the Dayton area at all if it weren’t for the Nutter Center and Wright State,” said Steven Angle, university provost.
This year the Nutter Center attracted a total of more than 500,000 people for events that ranged from concerts and family shows to university athletics and commencement, according to Misty Cox, the facility’s marketing manager.
“It’s an asset overall to the campus and the community,” Angle said.
Nutter Center at 20
The Nutter Center opened Dec. 15, 1990, with ashow by the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra.
The arena’s first rock concert was held Jan. 10, 1991, and featured ZZ Top with the Black Crowes.
The university-owned, $34 million sports and entertainment complex takes its name from the late Ervin J. Nutter, a Beavercreek industrialist and university trustee who donated more than $1.5 million for its construction.
Wright State will retire its debt on the facility in June 2011 with its final payment on $15.3 million in state bonds issued for its construction, Angle said. The annual debt payment is $1.1 million.
Multi-day events at the arena including the Winter Guard International World Percussion Championships and the Ohio High School Athletics Association State Girls Volleyball Championships have a “very significant economic impact” at hotels and restaurants in Greene County, said Jim Brown, the Nutter Center’s executive director.
An annual economic impact figure was not available from the Greene County Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Nutter Center operations staff includes 15 full-time employees, and 300 to 400 part-time workers depending on the size of the event, Brown said.
Nutter draws notice
The Nutter Center made national headlines in January 1992 after the band Guns N’ Roses opened the first show of its two-night stand at the arena well past midnight. The concert, scheduled to start at 8 p.m., didn’t end until 3:05 a.m. the following day.
“Guns N’ Roses was definitely one that everybody remembers,” said John Cox, Nutter Center assistant director for operations.
In 2008, the Nutter Center was “the hotbed for political candidates,” Brown said. Presidential contenders Barack Obama and John McCain both held rallies at the arena.
“Wright State has the honor of being the place where (McCain) unveiled his running mate, Sarah Palin,” Brown said.
Cox, who has worked at the facility for its entire 20 years, recalled other memorable events in Nutter Center history, including a fire in “Lord of the Dance” star Michael Flatley’s dressing room and some diva-like behavior by “Queen of Soul” Aretha Franklin.
“Aretha pulled up in a limo out back and swore up and down she could hear the air-conditioning running from her limousine, and didn’t want to come in until the air-conditioning was turned off because it affected her voice,” he said.
The excitement of the audience is what matters most, Brown said.
“One of my most enjoyable things is to go up to the top and look down to see 10,000 people screaming all at the same focal point and just being excited about being here,” Cox agreed. “Everything goes away in their world for a little bit,” he said.
Arena improvements
The Nutter Center’s biggest structural change involved cutting the floor out of the arena and installing an ice plant to create an ice rink, according to Cox.
The ice rink brought the now-defunct Dayton Bombers hockey team to the arena in 1996, but also has allowed for popular family shows such as “Stars on Ice,” “Champions on Ice” and “Disney on Ice.”
“Having hockey in here was a huge plus for us in that aspect,” Cox said.
The facility itself has required little beyond paint and regular maintenance.
“It has been maintained well,” Angle said. “We’re certainly looking at what we want to do in the future — upgrading lighting, seating and scoreboard,” he said.
Those upgrades will depend on immediate need, cost and budget constraints, Angle said.
Wright State also is looking to improve parking and pedestrian access to the facility as part of its campus master plan, to be finalized in early 2011, he said.
“The Nutter Center is a vital part of our campus,” Angle said. “I think we’re all proud of it.”
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