The Coliseo de Puerto Rico celebrates 20 years as the island's most vital venue

On September 13, 2004, Van Halen was the first major musical act to play at the newly inaugurated Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot in San Juan. That same year, local and international artists performed at the arena, including Draco Rosa, Daddy Yankee, Juan Luis Guerra, Andrea Bocelli and Korn.

“We couldn't have these shows if we didn't have El Coliseo,” says ASM Global regional GM Jorge Pérez, who manages the venue. “It was the need we had at that moment in history.”

Mariela Vallines, executive director of the Puerto Rico Convention Center Regional Authority, which owns the building and contracts with ASM to operate it, notes that over the past 20 years, the Coliseum “has become a cultural hub for the island, bringing people together celebrate music and sports as a host of world-class events and entertainment. The site has made a significant contribution to Puerto Rico's economy, generating revenue for local businesses and providing employment opportunities on the island.”

In addition, he adds, “it has helped position Puerto Rico as a premium entertainment destination by attracting both local and international audiences that have exceeded 10 million visitors over the past two decades.”

Prior to the construction of El Coliseo, the Caribbean island hosted sporting and entertainment events primarily at two locations: Coliseum Roberto Clemente Walker and Hiram Bithorn Stadium. However, a high-quality venue was needed “to be competitive in tourism,” because “we couldn't survive only on leisure, travel and regular tourism,” says Pérez.

Since its establishment 20 years ago, 'El Choli', as it is popularly called by the locals, has become known both locally and internationally and is the ultimate 'dream arena' for many artists to perform.

“The first goal of any artist, musician or DJ is to play in such a big arena,” says Puerto Rican artist Jay Wheeler, who made his Choli debut in 2022 with four sold-out shows. “It's like winning a Grammy. Every Puerto Rican artist will always aim to do something at the Coliseum.”

A wave of civil actions not only received a stamp of approval in the area, but also achieved milestones. Daddy Yankee, with his 2019 Con Calma Pal' Choli concerts, earned $7 million, and Wisin y Yandel earned $6.2 million with his 2018 concert series, according to Billboard Boxscore. The latter act holds the record for most sales, with 105,000 tickets sold over eight shows.

El Coliseo was at No. 24 Advertising signGlobal Top Venues chart at the end of 2023 (in the 15,001+ capacity category) and ranked fourth in the Latin/Spanish market behind Miami's Kaseya Center, Madrid's WiZink Center and Santiago, Chile's Movistar Arena.

Perez recently spoke Advertising sign about the past, present and future of the space.

What void did El Coliseo fill when it was built 20 years ago?

The government noticed that there was a need to have a world-class arena. The building we had before was the Coliseo Roberto Clemente Walker, which opened in 1973 and hosted concerts and sporting events in the 1980s and 1990s. We also have the Hiram Bithorn Stadium built in 1962. With that came the construction of the Convention Center, which opened a year after El Coliseo. But the vision was that we needed world-class venues to be competitive in tourism.

We could not survive only on leisure, travel and regular tourism. We needed to provoke groups, meetings, conferences that would have financial movement. To complement this, the government really understood that we needed a top destination. So this is the story behind it.

There was a lot of criticism at first, even when construction began. But looking back, it was a very smart decision considering the exposure Puerto Rico had in the entertainment industry and how it opened doors for our artists. Looking back, it was a visionary idea with positive results.

What is the story behind the comedian José Miguel Agrelot's name of the venue?

There were a lot of names and ideas out there. In January 2004, José Miguel Agrelot — who was a comedian, radio/TV host, actor, producer and visionary — died. So his name came to the top of the list and was approved.

One of his most famous TV characters was Don Cholito, who he played during the segment “Encabulla y Vuelve y Tira” The Midday Show (The Midday Show) in the late 70s and early 80s. “Encabulla y Vuelve y Tira” referred to the cord of a wooden spinning wheel [a yo-yo] — in other words, to do it again and keep trying. This became an analogy of the perseverance and optimism of the daily challenges Puerto Ricans faced at the time.

While promoting “The Night of Revenge,” one of the first boxing matches to take place at El Coliseo – where Miguel Cotto won the junior welterweight championship – sports commentator Elliott Castro was the first to say, “Let's go see boxing at El Choliseo. ” Since then, everyone knows the building by this nickname, El Choli.

Don Cholito provided optimism, an infectious smile and a lively personality – and this character was all about perseverance and overcoming difficult times. These are some strong characteristics and traits that we have in Puerto Rico. The spirit of Don Cholito lives in every corner of El Coliseo.

Why does space play an important role in the career of a Puerto Rican artist?

First, it is their home country. We are considered “The Cathedral of Reggaetón” and especially for artists of this genre it is important to play at El Coliseo because it is like a big test for them. We had the top urbano actions are performed here. It's a basic space, too [marks] A point in each artist's career of when they played here, how well they did and how it affects their career.

Why has it become important for artists from other countries?

You have people [in Puerto Rico] who really love and appreciate live entertainment and can recognize a good show. The energy here is amazing. We have an educated and informed crowd. When the crowd at El Coliseo accepts you as an artist, you know you're on your way to doing good things. It comes down to our culture — how we grow up, how from a very young age we listen to music — we know what top production is. When an artist steps on stage and feels that energy and acceptance, it fills them with confidence that what they are doing and producing is special.

Are Puerto Rican acts preferred in dating?

Not really. We manage our calendar very responsibly, and it's on a first-come, first-served basis. I work directly with the management or services or local promoters to try to find the best for dating.

What would you say was the most complicated gig logistically?

It has to be the hottest tour in the world. Bad Bunny wanted to break the attendance record, and to do so, he set up a very small stage on the south side and put on the entire production [overhead]. From one point of El Coliseo to another, all the sound and lighting were on [the ceiling] – It is not normal. Usually, our stages are big, but they wanted to maximize the size of the audience. I hear Bad Bunny's show now with the Most Wanted tour is also very complicated.

What economic impact does the space have on the island?

The entertainment and events industry is huge in Puerto Rico and generates 30,000 jobs. It generates $2 billion and nearly $400 million of that goes to the government in the form of sales, taxes and other revenue it receives from activities we host in our buildings. It is a big part of the local economy.

We treat it as an important part of our financial ecosystem. We create a lot of entertainment tourism. people travel from different places to see a show here. About 15% of tickets purchased at the venue are from a non-Puerto Rico zip code. Our vision is to continue to promote Puerto Rico as a premier entertainment and tourism destination. We have a social responsibility to help our community.

In terms of the business opportunities we can offer, the exposure of Puerto Rico through El Coliseo and through the artists performing on stage has helped put the country on the map. People are realizing that this is a premier space.

How many people work an event on site?

On average at a sold-out event — from event staff to security, clean-up to operations — we can have close to 400 to 500 people, not counting the production staff on the artist side. We have 26 corporate suites. we have our food concessions. At a final stage, which is the most common facility, we hold 15,000 people, and basically, that's the average staff that has to [have to] make sure everything is moving smoothly.

El Coliseo now also hosts televised award shows.

The first one we hosted was the Billboard Latin Music Awards in 2010 and we continued in 2020 with the Premios Tú Música Urbano. We have also hosted Univision's Premios Juventud in 2022 and 2023. Award shows are very special because they take a long time. The setup for one of these shows can be seven to 10 days before the show. It is very complicated production and in total, it takes a piece of almost two to three weeks.

After the first awards show we hosted in 2010, searching and finding a three-week period that hadn't been booked became a challenge for us. But when we started again, we realized it was a great showcase for the destination. Premios Juventud, for example, had great ratings and exposed us to an international audience.

What do you envision for El Coliseo 20 years from now?

We are already cutting edge, but we hope to have a new and bigger Coliseo. Even though we keep the space in optimal condition, we really focus on preserving this building [able] keeping up with all the production riders and high quality shows we've had.

But the truth is, 20 more years is a long time – and I think in that time frame, we should move to a new Coliseo. There have been talks of building a new stadium in Puerto Rico as well, but I see us transitioning to stay relevant and continue to produce results. This was designed as a sports venue, but looking to the future, I am thinking of a new building with a larger capacity and that is more related to entertainment.

This story originally appeared in the June 1, 2024, issue Advertising sign.