Local live events management company expands reach to 12 states, stays in Youngstown
JAC Live and JAC Management have been organizing major concerts and events in the Mahoning Valley region for 15 years, starting at the Covelli Center and expanding to several local venues.
After hosting local events at venues like Packard Music Hall in Warren and Canfield Fairgrounds, the company now helps put on events in cities like Toledo, Kalamazoo, Mich., Savannah and more.
Since the start of JAC Management in 2007, the group has now expanded to host events in over 10 states, all while staying close to home at their headquarters in Youngstown.
JAC at Covelli Centre, adding Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre
Eric Ryan grew up in Struthers and first started working in the entertainment industry in 2005 under the name Eric Ryan Productions.
Soon he was organizing sold-out show in the Mahoning Valley area, specializing in theater and arena concerts.
In 2007, he started JAC Management Group LLC, a private management company. Later, he’d start JAC Live to replace Eric Ryan Productions.
For JAC’s first official job, Ryan worked with the city of Youngstown to transform the Covelli Center into a money-maker.
“At the time, the 6,000 seat arena at Covelli had cost $48 million and left the city financially depressed,” according to the JAC website. “During Covelli Centre’s first full year under JAC Management Group, the arena boasted an astounding financial turnaround of over a million dollars to the City of Youngstown.”
Managed by Ryan’s team, the Covelli Centre is now one of northeast Ohio’s premier venues for unique events and live entertainment, as well as Youngstown Phantoms hockey games.
“A combined 15+ years in the concert industry has allowed us to create many relationships with the world’s top agencies and artist management that allow us to book and route entertainment icons such as Elton John, Barry Manilow, Tim McGraw, Motley Crue, Cirque Du Soleil, Earth Wind and Fire, Bob Dylan, and more,” according to the JAC website.
After seeing the success of events at the Covelli Centre, JAC Management took on more clients, like the 2,000-seat Packard Music Hall in Warren in 2014.
The Packard Music Hall, which is almost 70 years old and home to the W.D. Packard Concert Band, hosted a record-breaking 160 events in a year.
Then in 2019, JAC Management expanded the Covelli Center into a 22-acre complex and added a new venue called the Youngstown Foundation Amphitheatre in Wean Park.
The 4,800 seat Wean Park venue is outdoors, has a VIP lawn and hosts the Premier Bank community event series in the summer.
