A Pair of Venues
Springfield has two excellent venue choices for planners to consider when booking events. The MassMutual Center features a 40,000-square-foot exhibition hall, a 15,000-square-foot ballroom and nine meeting rooms, plus a total of 24,500 square feet of flexible meeting space. “It is a state-of-the-art facility with an 8,000-seat arena attached to it,” said Wydra. When the new casino opens in two years, it will work with the MassMutual Center for handling meetings, hotel rooms and leisure activities for guests.
A second major meeting venue in the area is the Eastern States Exhibition, known locally as the Big E. Located just across the Connecticut River in West Springfield, the hall and grounds are the scene of a huge 17-day state fair each September. This year will be the fair’s 100th anniversary. “That brings up to a million and a half people alone,” said Wydra. “It drives a lot of room nights in our region.” The property is also the site for dozens of smaller shows that draw thousands of people to town. The center attracts activities that often are tied to agriculture, education, industry or family entertainment.
In addition to the MassMutual Center and the Big E, the two main convention hotels downtown have abundant meeting space: The combined meeting and ballroom space at those two hotels equals what is available at the MassMutual Center across the street.
Hotel Boom
Springfield has five hotels in the downtown area, with three more coming online in the next one to two years. There are more than 1,000 rooms available there, led by two mainstays. The Springfield Marriott, with 16 meeting rooms, is a convenient place to stay and is just a four-minute walk from the MassMutual Arena. The Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place Hotel has 24 meeting rooms of its own and is also close to MassMutual. When the other hotels open in the coming years, they will add about 400 rooms to the downtown mix.
The hotels are often occupied by people in town for meetings and conventions. The city draws more drive-in business travelers than fly-ins. “We do better with New England-based groups than state-based ones,” said Wydra. “We do well with groups that need to rotate throughout New England.”
Springfield, Massachusetts
Location: Western Massachusetts, near the Connecticut border
Access: Bradley International Airport, Windsor Locks, Connecticut; Interstates 90 and 91, Amtrak
Major Meeting Spaces: MassMutual Center, Eastern State Exposition, Springfield Marriott, Sheraton Springfield Monarch Place Hotel
Hotel Rooms: About 1,000 in the downtown area
Offsite Venues: Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, Dr. Seuss Memorial Sculpture Garden, Six Flags New England, Yankee Candle Village
Contact Info:
Greater Springfield Convention and Visitors Bureau
www.valleyvisitor.com
