One of region's biggest entertainment venues gets new name, sponsor

Patty Tascarella
Pittsburgh Business Times

There’s a new name for one of the region’s biggest entertainment venues and an enhanced mission as the KeyBank Pavilion is now the S&T Bank Music Park and a major Pittsburgh financial institution dramatically ups its visibility through a major marketing move.

S&T Bancorp Inc., in conjunction with Live Nation Entertainment Inc., announced the sponsorship at an event on Saturday.

S&T (NASDAQ:STBA), based in Indiana, Pennsylvania, is the parent of S&T Bank, the ninth-largest financial institution by deposit market share in the 10-county Pittsburgh metro. It joins the elite club of other brand name organizations sponsoring Live Nation venues across the country.

S&T Bank Music Park will welcome live music fans to the 23,000-capacity venue, located in Burgettstown, about 25 miles west of Pittsburgh, to see top performers in 2020 such as Maroon 5, Jimmy Buffett, Journey, Chicago, KISS and Ozzy Osbourne. It typically attracts 300,000 unique visitors — including present and potential clients of S&T Bank.

“We are all about delivering a great customer experience, and this partnership brings our mission to life,” Todd Brice, S&T CEO, said in a prepared statement. “The love of music is universal, and through this partnership we can provide a unique entertainment experience for all of our current and future customers.”

The venue will provide an interactive entertainment experience for concert-goers, with many opportunities to engage with the S&T brand, including virtual photo booths, social media activities and entertaining ways to learn about finances and win prizes. S&T customers will enjoy VIP perks, including no service fees or taxes for tickets purchased on stbank.com, and during special promotions other benefits like select pre-sale tickets to concerts, exclusive access to the new S&T entertainment lounge and complimentary use of lawn chairs for outdoor seating.

David Antolik, S&T president, said partnering with Live Nation (NYSE:LYV) gives S&T the opportunity to grow its customer base across its footprint by “making our brand synonymous with the global entertainment giant.”

With its late 2019 acquisition of Downington-based DNB Financial Corp., S&T now reaches into eastern Pennsylvania, as well as northeast and central Ohio and upstate New York. It has assets of about $8.7 billion. Almost half, or 35 of its 75 branches, are in the Pittsburgh area, and, in early 2019, S&T appointed Steve Drahnak as its first market president for its western Pennsylvania region. Indiana is about 45 miles east of Pittsburgh.

As part of the sponsorship, S&T is launching a financial literacy program with Live Nation, the first community-focused partnership of its kind with the entertainment company. The program will give area students the opportunity to learn about the music business, while learning essential life skills, like financial planning, investing, and starting and running a business. After participating in the program, students will be invited to attend that evening’s concert.

S&T CMO Dana Wysinger described the program as “mixing finances and fun,” finding different ways to help people understand their finances and career opportunities.

“We’re doing more than having a name on a site,” she said. “It’s going to be interactive and engaging, increasing our brand within western Pennsylvania. But the venue itself also drives additional fans from our core markets, and it’s an opportunity to show how S&T can really help support our customers.”

Wysinger, who joined S&T last summer, said the program has been in development for several months.

“We’re developing the curricula, and Live Nation will be supporting us with additional business plans such as how does one start in the industry, start a new hip hop or country western label, promote shows and market concerts,” she said. “There’s a lot behind that. We’re trying to tie in the fun aspects of the music business and the finance part.”

Live Nation, based in Beverly Hills, California, includes Ticketmaster, Live Nation Concerts and Live Nation Sponsorship. The venue, which debuted in 1990 as the Coca-Cola Star Lake Amphitheater, is the region’s fourth-largest entertainment venue as ranked by capacity, following Heinz Field, PNC Park and the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Cleveland-based KeyBank held the naming rights since October 2016, following its acquisition of First Niagara Financial Group, which became the sponsor in 2010.