2012 rocked for the Ford Center | News

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE)- It's been a good year for the Ford Center. Officials presented their annual report to the Evansville Redevelopment Commission Tuesday morning and they say they made almost twice as much as they were hoping for and 2013 looks even brighter.

Executive director of the Ford Center, Scott Schoenike, says they ended up $19,000 ahead of budget and he tells 14 News 2012 was just a warm up.

Shoenike says national acts are starting to take notice.

You can expect to see more rock acts coming to the venue this year.

That includes Neon Trees, Kid Rock, Ted Nugent, REO Speedwagon, and Styx.

Schoenike says he was surprised to see from the research just how far away people were coming from.

He says some people are choosing Evansville over venues in St. Louis and he says 2013 is shaping up to be even better.

"Funny thing is we had a successful 2012, I'd be happy to repeat 2012 again, I'd be extremely happy," said Schoenike. "Due to the first half of 2013, I think we going to exceed it. There's not too many facilities that can say after the honeymoon year, the second year is better," he said.

In all, more than 8 million tickets were sold in 2012. 

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