It's the day of the big show at the Bryce Jordan Center and the artist is late.

Prince's tour bus is stuck in traffic somewhere between Cleveland and State College and the sound check will have to be pushed back half an hour, so the doors will open for concert-goers a half-hour late as well.

But luckily, it's not a problem, because the Jordan Center staff has been in the building since 6:30 a.m., and the show's road crew rolled in at 7:30 to set up the stage. Everything was ready by 2 and the initial sound check was out of the way before the artist currently known as Prince even strode into the building.

With a seating capacity that can run as small as 1,500 and as large as 16,000, the Bryce Jordan Center has been putting on roughly 30 shows a year since it opened in 1996. And it isn't always so easy to bring in the big name acts.

"If an artist is only going to do 15 cities, we really have to put a lot of effort in if they're going to come to our small market," said Bernie Punt, director of sales and marketing for the Jordan Center.

So how is it possible to operate what Punt calls a "mid-size venue" in Cowtown, USA? What does the BJC do to separate itself from other venues? And how does try to please everyone when town and gown might not have similar tastes in music?

Attracting the acts

A show at the BJC goes from the booking process to live performance in roughly eight weeks.

Four years ago, the venue joined the Arena Network, a group of 38 arenas, that allows the BJC to find out about concerts and pitch itself to shows earlier than other venues.

The BJC found out about Prince's tour through the network. In 2001, the center landed Eric Clapton the same way.

"We put in a bid for Clapton before he even announced his tour," Punt said. "You've got to be aggressive."

The center tries to catch tours that already plan on hitting major cities around State College, such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York.

"What we try to do is market ourselves in their routing," Punt said. "We tell them, 'On your way, we have a venue here than can hold up to 15,000. You could have an off day or you could have more revenue.' "

The BJC books its shows through promoters, companies that shop acts around to different venues. Promoters are the ones who take the financial risk with the shows, and might shop one date to two venues, giving the slot to the place offering a better deal.

The center agrees to pay a certain amount to the artist, called a guarantee, when a show is booked. Guarantees can run from $50,000 to more than $1 million, Punt said. The largest guarantee the BJC ever paid was $1.2 million for Billy Joel and Elton John. Prince's guarantee was less than $500,000, Punt said.

Another reason the center aligned with the Arena Network was because it allows it to work with more promoters.

Working exclusively with one promoter can hurt a venue if some show doesn't make money, Punt said. Last semester, a number of shows booked with Clear Channel Entertainment, such as Red Hot Chili Peppers, John Mayer, Good Charlotte and Matchbox Twenty, failed to make money.

Before booking a show, the BJC must make sure there is space in its calendar. Sometimes shows are turned away because entertainment events at the center get third priority in booking, with Penn State basketball games getting first priority and academic events, such as graduation and career fairs, with the second spot.

Although basketball gets first dibs on dates, the BJC has a strength room and three-court practice facility, so teams can practice in the building when there is a concert during the season.

Once a show is booked at the center, the promoter decides when tickets go on sale and how much they are. On occasion, the Jordan Center has turned down an act because ticket prices were too high, such as Rod Stewart's most recent bid to perform, when his promoter asked between $125 and $150 for tickets.

"In this town we might only sell 4,500 tickets at that price and we can't do it," Punt said.

Recently, the University Park Allocation Committee (UPAC) has been becoming more involved in the Jordan Center, Punt said.

UPAC subsidized student tickets for comedian Tracy Morgan's January show, which meant that for students, tickets cost $5 instead of $27.50. UPAC also stepped in more recently and made student tickets for Prince half price.

Trying to please everyone

When it comes to who is booked at the arena, Punt points to the area surrounding Penn State as the reason country and adult contemporary acts make the most money at the BJC.

"Look at our demographics for a 90-mile radius," he said. "We can't have too much country, though, because the well runs dry. We can't oversaturate our market."

The one act that tries to book shows at the Center most often based on the demographics is southern gospel singer Bill Gaither, whose shows sell more than 10,000 tickets every time.

The venue tries to diversify the acts it brings in to stave off over-saturation.

"We'd like to have more rap," Punt said. "We'd like to have more alternative."

The problem that arises with other acts, though, is that promoters get upset because they feel that students are not buying enough tickets.

"Sometimes I think that as a university venue, we are taken for granted," Punt said. "We're trying to please everybody."

So Punt and BJC assistant general manager Al Karosas sent a letter to The Daily Collegian's opinion page editor earlier this month, attempting to explain the situation to students.

"You can expect our future lineups to be consisting of country and adult contemporary shows as well as family shows," they wrote. "Our goal is to present a variety of events that appeal to the diverse population of Central Pennsylvania. We regret losing some of the major concerts that we have been able to provide you, but without your support, the future looks bleak. And for this, we are truly sorry."

The letter drew several responses from students both to the Collegian and Karosas. While all of the replies to the Collegian were negative, Karosas said the majority of e-mail messages he received was positive.

"The purpose of it was to get a dialogue," Karosas said. "It was not a scare tactic. It was just an educational thing. We achieved what we wanted to do."

The reason shows for students aren't selling as well, Karosas said, has less to do with apathy and more to do with diversification.

"People are just using their discretionary money differently," he said. "Ten years ago, there weren't this many artists."

Jessica Hoffman (junior-nutritional sciences) said she doesn't have any desire to go to a BJC show.

"The shows don't interest me," she said. "I like to go to concerts, but the price ... If it was cheaper I would go. And if there were more hard rock acts."

The only concert Stacey Lincul (junior-supply chain and information systems) has attended at the BJC was Britney Spears more than two years ago.

"None of the shows that they have there are worth paying for," she said. "Every show that they've had this year was bad. I don't know anyone who's gone to any of the shows."

Chase Dillard (junior-environmental systems engineering), who has been to see Dave Matthews Band and Tracy Morgan, doesn't see a difference between the prices at the Center and elsewhere.

"Prices are pretty solid, especially since we can get the discount a lot," he said.

Dillard, however, prefers to go to Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., for concerts because that venue brings in more of the metal acts that he likes to see.

"That's just my personal preference, though," he said.

For people driving into State College from out of the area, ticket prices are still a problem, said Altoona resident Dave Massar.

Massar has only been to three shows at the arena since its opening, but would go to more if the tickets were more affordable.

Nevertheless, Karosas is not discouraged from booking diverse acts at the arena.

"It's cyclical," he said. "We're not going to give up. We're going to try to bring in student shows."

Showtime

As the concert date draws near, the BJC's 20 to 25 full-time employees jump into action in an attempt to set their venue apart from every other stop on the artist's tour.

Each tour sends a document, called a rider, which contains all of the show's requirements ahead to the center. Although artists bring their own sound and light, the largest part of the rider is still the production information, which includes stage set-up.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the rider, however, has to do with the artists' requests for what they want backstage. Karosas said sometimes acts will ask for strange things just to make sure that the rider is read carefully.

But even if the request is strange, Karosas said, "You asked for it, you get it here."

Some artists who made some of the center's more unusual requests include David Copperfield, who asked for 10 different newspapers from around the world and 10 different soaps; Limp Bizkit, which asked for Yankees hats and action figures; and the Fountains of Wayne, which asked for an autographed Ken Griffey Jr. poster. The hardest to find object that Prince asked for, however, was merely Fiji-brand water.

Since the Jordan Center is a non-alcoholic venue, it cannot fulfill any rider requests for alcoholic beverages, but the artists are allowed to bring their own alcohol for use in the dressing rooms, provided the drinks do not make it onstage.

To make artists who play the center remember the experience, the staff gives them a Penn State football jersey emblazoned on the back with their last name and the year they played. If an artist plays the venue twice, a more personalized touch is given. When Toby Keith made a return engagement earlier this year, his gift was a personalized Penn State horse blanket, because through research the Jordan Center learned that he owned a race horse.

The staff researches each artist that plays the Center in hopes of being able to do something special every time. When Whitney Houston came to town, the staff learned that it was close to her anniversary, so they left a card in her dressing room.

"If you think about it a lot of these artists play 40 to 50 different towns and they go from bus to concrete building so we try hard to stand out from the rest," Karosas said. "We want them to remember playing Penn State."

The set-up of the BJC can range to seat a wide number of fans. For about 95 percent of shows, an end stage set-up is used, which seats roughly 12,000 people, Karosas said.

For some shows, such as this month's Train concert, a more "intimate" crowd is desired, Karosas said, so the center scales down to a smaller "theater" size.

For other shows, an even larger audience is needed and so the center utilizes a center stage set-up, which has been used by the Backstreet Boys, Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart and Prince.

"You have to be a real entertainer to do center stage," Karosas said.

While the majority of acts that play the venue use the center's stage, artists playing center stage bring their own. In Prince's case, a brand new stage was revealed Sunday night that featured an elevator which lifted the singer onto the stage.

Billy Joel also brought his own stage -- one shaped like a piano.

The day of a concert, the BJC staff can work up to 18 to 20 hours, Karosas said.

"We don't even get tired," Punt said. "It's just running on pure adrenaline."

Load in normally begins at about 8 a.m. the day of a show. The Jordan Center subcontracts riggers to help set up and tear down the equipment.

"It would just be too expensive for a show to have 100 people with them all the time," Karosas said.

When the tour gets to the BJC the morning of a show, there are two areas to load in. A typical tour brings about four buses and eight trucks, Karosas said. Prince's show brought eight buses and 12 trucks, but the most vehicles for a show at the center were for Ricky Martin, who brought 15 buses and 26 trucks.

After load in, the Center supplies breakfast to the crew working on the show.

"If we have great catering, it starts the day off on the right foot," Karosas said.

The venue uses in-house catering for most events, but in some cases, such as with Prince, a personal chef travels with the tour to serve the artists and those close to them.

In-house catering at the BJC is nothing like its concession food. The staff attempts to provide the artists with "whatever they desire," Punt said. Some foods served include lobster, scallops, steak and organic items.

When the Eagles performed, they requested special organic beans that are only available in Peru. The BJC got the beans, but unfortunately a thunderstorm delayed the band's flight and they missed their specialized meal.

When the arena first opened, bands had to use a locker room as their dressing room, while solo performers used a small dressing room. In 1999, BJC decided to create a star dressing room, which features several chairs and couches along with a television with a DVD player.

By 2001, other arenas were starting to replicate the dressing room, so the center needed to go into "phase two," Karosas said. A hot tub was installed, and Eric Clapton "broke it in," Punt said.

"I'll say the person that enjoyed it the most was 50 Cent and that's all I'll say," Punt said.

Even with all the artists coming through the center, there has never been any significant damage done to the dressing room, Karosas said. The promoter is given the option of not letting the star use the room, because the promoter would have to pay for any damage. The only group barred from the dressing room by promoters was Slipknot. In this case, the BJC places large magnetic "Under Construction" signs on the doors to the star dressing room, so the act doesn't even know it has been barred.

Leaving the star dressing room, a logo for The Bryce Jordan Center is emblazoned on the floor to give the artists "a subtle reminder" of where they are, Karosas said. Further down the hall, a Penn State logo graces the floor before artists turn the corner to go onstage.

After lots of touring, "sometimes they don't know where they are," Karosas said.

Once the show begins, one benefit of the BJC is that there is no curfew. At some other on-campus venues, bands must be off stage at a specific time.

When Pearl Jam played last year, it went until after midnight, which Karosas expected after the set list the band gave him before the show had "We're going to play as long as we want" written at the bottom of it.

During a show, BJC staff members can be found in their offices, finalizing paperwork.

"I don't really get to see the show," Karosas said. "If I'm lucky, I see two songs."

Once the show is over the tour's crew and BJC-subcontracted riggers move quickly to load-out the equipment.

From there, the buses and trucks roll off to the next giant concrete building to start the whole process over again.