LEXINGTON, Ky. — With event cancellations left and right, the entertainment industry in the Commonwealth has been hit hard by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Management at Rupp Arena says their iconic facility and event space was well on it’s way to another record-setting revenue year until the coronavirus pandemic forced the venue to cancel every scheduled event inside the arena and convention center through at least the end of June.

"Pretty much everything for the next four months or so came off of our schedule. That meant Boys Sweet 16, Comic-Con, Home and Garden show. Numerous concerts including Elton John, Justin Bieber," explained Bill Owen, President and CEO of Rupp Arena at the Central Bank Center

Owen said as a result of the forced concert and event cancellations, it’s caused a trickle-down effect for employees who work at the venue.

"So the first thing we did was furlough the overwhelming majority of our workforce to allow them to sustain their pay levels and to protect some reserves that we had to get through the summer. We then looked at all operating expenses and are only paying essential and keeping essential operations underway," added Owen

One of the essential operations that are still going full speed ahead is the continued work on the $275 million expansion project of Rupp Arena and the convention center.

"The other thing we did which is a positive was, look at how can we take the expansion project, and accelerate the schedule to overcome and remove some of the delays that we experienced when the project first got started way back in 2018. And the good news there is we have been able to accelerate and phase two, which wasn't supposed to commence until late June, nicely got started May 3, and this enabled us to take advantage of some of those cancellations, just because it allowed us to move into different areas of the building that otherwise would have been hosting events,” explained Owen

Officials at Rupp Arena say they are also considering investing in a bond or loan to help cover upcoming payments that are associated with costs to the expansion project.