Xfinity Center (Mansfield, Massachusetts)

The Xfinity Center (originally the Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts and commonly Great Woods) is an outdoor amphitheatre located in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The venue opened during the summer of 1986 with a capacity of 12,000. It was expanded after 2000 to 19,900; 7,000 reserved seats, 7,000 lawn seats and 5,900 general admission seats.[2] The season for the venue is typically from mid May until late September. In 2010, it was named Top Grossing Amphitheater by Billboard.[3]

For the venue in Maryland, see Xfinity Center (College Park, Maryland).
Xfinity Center
Great Woods
Amphitheatre shown during Lilith Fair, circa 1998
Former namesGreat Woods Center for the Performing Arts (1986-99)
Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts (1999–2008)
Comcast Center (2008-13)
Address885 S. Main St.
Mansfield, Massachusetts 02048-3148
Coordinates41°59′33″N 71°13′12″W
OwnerLive Nation New England
OperatorLive Nation New England
Capacity19,900
Construction
OpenedJune 13, 1986 (1986-06-13)
Renovated2002
Expanded1994
Construction costUS$13 million
($30.9 million in 2019 dollars[1])
Website
Xfinity Center

History

The venue was proposed by Don Law, John E. Drew and Sherman Wolf in 1985. Originally, the suggested site was in Brookline, Massachusetts. At that time, the venue was planned to be a performing arts center, consisting of concert hall, auditorium and black box theater. After conducting research, Law concluded the New England region was in desperate need of an outdoors venue (at the time, the main outdoor venues were Tanglewood, Cape Cod Melody Tent, and the South Shore Music Circus).[3] The performing arts center was converted into an amphitheatre. The site was moved to Mansfield to create a regional venue, being within 40 miles (64 km) of Providence, Boston, Worcester and Cape Cod.

The venue opened June 13, 1986 as the Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts; with a performance by Yo-Yo Ma and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.[3] It was one of the busiest venues in New England, hosting nearly 80 concerts per season. Over the years, additional amphitheaters were added to the region. The Xfinity Theatre in Hartford and the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion in Boston brought competition to the area, bringing the venue to an average of 36 events per season.[4]

In 1998, the owner of venue, Don Law Company, was sold to SFX Entertainment and naming rights were sold to Tweeter Home Entertainment a year later, with the venue now becoming the "Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts".[5] When the electronics retailer faced bankruptcy in 2007, multi-media organization Comcast bought naming rights, with the venue becoming the Comcast Center in 2008. The company renamed the venue "Xfinity Center" in 2014, to correspond with its current product branding.[6]

Naming history
  • Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts (June 13, 1986—July 8, 1999)[7]
  • Tweeter Center for the Performing Arts (July 9, 1999—June 3, 2008)[8]
  • Comcast Center (June 4, 2008—December 31, 2013)[9]
  • Xfinity Center (January 1, 2014—present)[10]

Notable performances

See also

References
  1. Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  2. "Comcast Center in Mansfield has new name: Xfinity Center". The Providence Journal. A. H. Belo Corporation. December 11, 2013. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  3. Massimo, Rick (May 23, 2010). "Outdoor arena known as the Comcast Center marks 25th birthday". The Providence Journal. Archived from the original on June 28, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  4. Catlin, Roger (May 10, 1995). "Great Woods Not Sweating Meadows' Opening". Hartford Courant. Tribune Company. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  5. Anderman, Joan (May 22, 2009). "Live-music czar Law returns to roots of his success". The Boston Globe. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  6. "Comcast Center in Mansfield renamed Xfinity Center". The Boston Globe. December 11, 2013. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  7. Foster, Catherine (June 12, 1986). "Open-air theater finds private-sector believers". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  8. Monahan, Kerri (March 25, 1999). "Great Woods announces lineup". The Sun Chronicle. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  9. Johnson, Carolyn Y. (June 5, 2008). "Comcast in, Tweeter out in Mansfield". The Boston Globe. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  10. "Comcast Center Changes Name To Xfinity Center". WZLX. CBS Radio. December 11, 2013. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
  11. http://www.aeroforceone.com/index.cfm/pk/content/pid/804156
  12. http://www.theprp.com/2010/04/15/news/avenged-sevenfold-added-to-mansfield-ma-mayhem-festival-date/
  13. "Great Woods Center for the Performing Arts- Phish.net". www.phish.net. Retrieved 7 November 2018.
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