News 12 at 6 o'clock, July 22, 2008

AUGUSTA, Ga.---It's official. A unanimous vote ushered in a new management company for the James Brown Arena.

"Oh...it's a good move. It's probably the best move that we've ever made," said board member Willie Law.

Global Spectrum has more than 30 locations across the country including the USC Aiken complex.
"Number one goal is to get Augusta back on the entertainment map," said Douglas Higgons who is vice president of the company.

Of course, the authority has gained a reputation for micromanagement. They have run through 3 different managers in the last 4 years.

"A lot of that should not have been taking place before, but now we know it's not going to be taking place because we got the best in the business," said Law.

"We're professional managers, and part of the reason why they hire a company like this is to take some of the politics out of it and let us do what we do best," said Higgons.

Their contract calls for a $10,000 dollar fee per month...with incentives. "The incentive is based on creating new revenue, and they don't get that until they generate as much as we generated plus cover their management fee," said coliseum attorney Ed Enoch.

Can they do it? "I don't know. They must think so. They were willing to take it on," said Enoch.

"Absolutely...we gotta make sure we work twice as hard as maybe predecessors have to, when people get here, they have that great experience that they go home and they talk about," said Higgons.

"I can't tell you what the past is like. I can tell you where we're gonna go in the future, and we're excited for it," said Higgons.

Global Spectrum signed a 3 year contract with options up to 5 years. They go to work August 1, 2008.