Rik Edgar is in heaven right now.
Just the third executive director in the 33-year history of Vibrant Arena at The MARK, in his first three weeks on the job the Moline community staple hosted two sold-out shows (Journey on June 24 and Luke Bryan July 10), and country star Ella Langley sold out her upcoming concert and literally broke Ticketmaster.
“She’s had this new single, ‘Choosin’ Texas,' which has been the number-one song. Not just took off, it's been the number-one song for 14 weeks in this current environment,” Edgar – the former Peoria Civic Center general manager who started his Vibrant Arena gig in late June – marveled in an interview July 22.
“I mean, she's breaking records that were set by like Whitney Houston, Diana Ross. And her on-sale was at a level that it literally shut down Ticketmaster. Our show had to be pulled down for two hours because the amount of demand was almost Taylor Swift-like.
“I was just thinking of that because we had people, we had people posting screenshots. Well, I'm 113,000 in line,” he said of demand for the 27-year-old Alabama native, who will be here for her sold-out show Sept. 26, 2026. “When you have a venue that only has a little over 10,000 seats, it would have sold out instantly if we didn’t have that little break. I mean, it just blew out. I've been doing this for over 20 years and it's my personal highest-grossing show I've ever been involved with.”
"Choosin' Texas," from Langley's sophomore album "Dandelion," is the longest-leading No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 by a woman with a country hit in the survey's 67-year history. On Hot Country Songs, the song has logged 29 weeks at the top, surpassing Gabby Barrett's "I Hope" to become the longest-running No. 1 by a solo female artist in the chart's history.
While Edgar can’t take credit for booking Langley in Moline, he noted proudly that she will have the third highest-grossing concert in the arena’s history (and the top female ever), next to Morgan Wallen (2023) and Paul McCartney (2019).
“It was amazing. I mean, I've been fortunate in my career to work with some really big, what folks would consider big name A-list artists. I hadn't seen anything like this personally,” he added.
Edgar, a South Carolina native, was named in May by the Illinois Quad City Civic Center Authority – which owns and operates the arena, 1201 River Drive, Moline – as new executive director, just the third man to hold the job, following Steve Hyman and Scott Mullen.
He brings years of positive experience in the entertainment field, most recently serving the past eight years of the Peoria Civic Center – which is kind of like The MARK, Adler Theatre and RiverCenter in one complex. In addition to its 12,000-seat Carver Arena, the Civic Center includes the 2,200-seat capacity Prairie Home Alliance Theater, and a convention center.
“We believe Rik will be an energetic and professional team leader as our Executive Director and we look forward to a meaningful and successful relationship,” said the Moline civic center authority chairman Paul Mulcahey.
There were 54 applicants from across the country, but mostly from the Midwest, he said on May 22. The Vibrant Arena board worked with the Chicago-based executive search firm Kittleman & Associates to lead the search.
The posted salary range was $200,000–$225,000 a year, plus a board-designated bonus tied to strategic initiatives. Vibrant Arena has 17 full-time employees and over 550 part-time staff (which vary for each event), compared to 50 full-time at Peoria Civic Center, since it’s a multi-purpose facility, Edgar said.
He increased Peoria ticket sales from $7.8 million in fiscal year 2018 to $14.9 million in FY 2019, and posted record revenues for the venue in FY22 of more than $19 million. Vibrant Arena (which does convention business, but doesn’t have a secondary theater like Peoria) had total revenue (of which tickets are just a portion) of $6.1 million for the year ending March 31, 2026, compared to $7.6 million revenue the prior year. That resulted in a break-even budget in 2025-26, compared to a $1.3-million profit in 2024-25.
Since Peoria opened its arena in 1982, Edgar set venue records for the top-selling concert in venue history -- Bob Seger (in January 2019), and its theater history -- Steve Martin/Martin Short (April 2019).
Like Broadway at the Adler in Davenport, Broadway In Peoria serves as the premier Broadway venue in southern Illinois by hosting touring shows such as “The Lion King,” “Dear Evan Hanson,” “Come From Away,” “Book of Mormon,” “Rent,” “Waitress,” “Stomp,” “Cinderella,” “Wicked” and many others.
Peoria Civic Center was awarded a Restore Illinois $25 million non-matching grant for venue improvements for 2023-24 renovations, as well as $22 million for capital improvements from the city.
Prior to Peoria, Edgar was general manager for SMG in Charleston-Huntington, West Virginia (2015-2018) and its Big Sandy Superstore Arena (today’s Marshall Health Network Arena).
There, he broke multiple venue records during FY2017 including the four highest-grossing concerts (Def Leppard, KISS, Luke Bryan, and Journey) in the 40-year venue history.
From 2007 to 2014, he was executive director for the Racine (Wis.) Civic Centre, managed by VenuWorks (as are the Adler and RiverCenter).
From cancer center to concert venues
Edgar (married with two daughters, ages 21 and 13) grew up in Myrtle Beach, S.C.; he attended his first big concert in 1983, seeing Styx, and earned his bachelor’s degree in political science at Coastal Carolina University in 1990.
He moved to Columbia, S.C. to attend grad school and work for the University of South Carolina Athletic Department as a video coordinator. He was part of the staff that won the 1996-97 SEC Men’s Basketball Championship team and received his master’s degree in media arts at the same time.
While Edgar was business manager at Children's Cancer Center, Columbia (2004-07), he got his first venue job, part-time on the box office staff for an arena there. “When I worked at the Children's Cancer Center, nobody wants to be there, but we took solace in we helped kids get better,” he said.
He moved to the Midwest to become operations supervisor for Iowa Events Center, Des Moines, for a year, when they served more than 750,000 guests during the 2007-2008 season.
“That building does more events in a year than most buildings do in 10 at the time,” Edgar recalled, overseeing the night changeovers for two arenas, a theater and convention center. One date, he said: “I had Ozzy Osbourne and Rob Zombie. In the convention center, which was split down the middle, we had a Hillary Clinton fundraiser dinner of high-roller donors. There was an NRA event on the other side, and Ron Paul was in the basement in a small meeting room, all at the same time.”
He had it really good in Peoria and was not looking for a new job.
“Quite honestly, that's a very busy account and I was getting tired. It was constant, you know, like there is no breaks,” Edgar said. “And when this opened up, I had a couple of folks reach out to me and I said, ‘No, I'm good, I'm good.’ It was kind of the third call that I said, I'll talk, doesn't hurt to talk. And what I can tell you in my less than a month been here, I've taken over many accounts. This has been the most welcoming, warm, embracing environment I've ever walked into.
“This is a very competent and passionate staff, and a lot of them have been here for a long time,” he said of Vibrant. “The team here has been great. And it already feels like a comfortable suit. So the recipe for success is already here. All my job is, is to maybe put a little sauce on the recipe, make it a little tastier, and to enhance the flavors. And that's a really awesome position to be in for a new gig.”
“The epicenter of a community”
From top concerts, to graduations, arena football, hockey, monster trucks, rodeo, basketball and Disney on Ice, The MARK has been an integral part of the Quad Cities for now its fourth decade. The first time Edgar and his wife toured it, he recalled the best thing was in the second-floor Vibrant Club Lounge (Vibrant Credit Union acquired naming rights in 2022 for $4 million over 10 years).
Edgar noticed the words “be vibrant” on one wall in the corner. “And I said, that's it. And she was waving at me, and I go, that's it. That's what we are. I go, you have to have a personality,” he said. “Buildings have personalities, communities have personalities. And I go, I think we need to be reminded that we need to be vibrant. Venues are the economic epicenter of a community.
“If you don't believe me, come down here on show night and come down here when we're not in business,” he said. “One of the challenges of an arena is there's fewer tours that can play arenas. So you will have what we call in the industry, dark days. You just will. But with a hockey team with 30 dates, football team with 8 dates, you have some activity, but the economic driver are the concerts and shows.
"This has been a phenomenal A-level country market. I think there is room to grow other things, but we do it wisely."
“We don't just start buying shows because I've seen that in other markets where they go, well, let's try it,” Edgar said, noting there are only two concerts scheduled so far from now through November. “You can lose six figures on an arena show very easily. How do we stay vibrant? It's by being smart, bringing in the right partners.
"And then our responsibility is not just to the workers here, the hotels, the restaurants, the Targets and stuff, because if these folks aren't making money here doing it, and more importantly, economic impact is as simple as this. We need folks with other ZIP codes to come to our community.”
Out-of-town visitors typically spend $6 to $12 for every event ticket dollar they buy, he said.
“There was a really nice steakhouse in my last market. I didn't really think much about it, and then one day I get a handwritten note in the mail. You know, who does that? I literally opened it up and it says, ‘Thank you for moving to Peoria. You saved our business’,” Edgar recalled.
“That's when the feels come. That's when you realize the responsibility of that job. And I think that's why I came here. I'm like, man, this is close. How do we get it to that? You know, not only say next level, but how do we keep it more frequent? And I think we do that, then all those things will take care of themselves. It'll be a lot of fun.”
Historically, the arenas in Moline and Peoria (an hour and half apart) have been friendly competitors, he said, noting the same tour usually won’t play both places during the same run.
“We both can be successful. In downstate, it doesn't do us any good to say anything bad about the other,” Edgar said. “The way we looked at it is like, I got Slipknot this year. You'll get them next year. It's relatively rare that they will play us on the same leg of a tour. So typically what happens is tours go out in 1, 2, 3, 4 legs. So, and you can go back in history and just line it up. I remember I was advocating heavily for KISS. Well, KISS played here on the first leg. Guess what? I got them on the third leg. By the way, we both did great.”
Country stars Brooks and Dunn played Peoria on the first leg of a recent tour, one of just 12 dates on that U.S. tour. Now, they are coming to Moline this Oct. 3.
“Both of us can be successful. Do we compete? Sure, and part of that goes back to relationships,” Edgar said, noting he is friends with Scott Mullen, now VenuWorks vice president of programming and entertainment, based in Davenport, overseeing over 60 venues nationwide.
“I have been doing this for a while, and I think it really helps coming from smaller markets because you don't have layers between you and the promoter and the guys on the ground,” Edgar said. “You just don't have the staff. And when I was making the move here, it was kind of cool. I got phone calls from promoters going, the reason why we were in Peoria was you. We’ll see you in Moline.
"And I'm quite certain there's folks that we brought there who now are comfortable in that room. The biggest difference is Peoria does have a theater. And I will greatly miss my theater. I love doing theater shows. But this felt like the right move at the right time.”
“The greatest job in the world”
Unlike at a cancer center, everyone who comes to a Vibrant Arena event really wants to be there and usually enjoys themselves, the director said.
“The reality is we have the greatest job in the world. This is why I do this,” Edgar said. “You work at a place, you don't know who it's their first time ever coming to a concert. And there's probably some kid, at least this is my head, and usually a teenager is what I think, who's in the top row who bought the cheapest ticket because they wanted to go to a show, and we need to be thinking about giving them that experience. I mean, I can still remember, that whole Styx thing. That was my first real concert, 1983.”
Country music has traditionally been a huge seller at The MARK, since its 1993 opening (with two sold-out Neil Diamond shows).
“Country music seems to be a little more connected with the Midwest,” Edgar said. “But that doesn't mean that there's not other people listening to other things. I think where we are in the industry struggling with and finding the new answer is classic rock has always been a sure bet go-to, but the fans that were raised on country or classic rock are getting older as well as the bands (McCartney is still touring at 84)…You just saw Journey here. I mean, these guys are either pushing 70 or over 70.”
“The market will tell me what they want,” he added, noting hip-hop traditionally doesn’t sell well in smaller cities like this. “And you look at some of the bands that have come through and you look at, there's two things you have to do. You have to listen to your gut. And as I've gotten older, I have more of a gut to listen to. And the other thing is then verify by data analytics and I think there is a place for active and modern rock.”
Coming out of the pandemic (2020-21), struggling arenas saw pent-up demand for shows, and many comedy acts saved them, Edgar said. In 2025, popular comedian Nate Bargatze sold over 18,000 tickets in Peoria over two nights (he played Vibrant Arena in August 2024).
“It's comedy. I don't go out and pick up a phone and go, hey, who's your cool hip-hop artist? That's not the way it works,” Edgar said. “I have relationships with agents and promoters and primarily promoters, and they are kind of out there telling— like, I'll be honest, I knew I had Ella Langley on a Riley Green show that I had my last market. I was aware of her and it was more of, hey, she's blowing up.”
“I did not expect it to be like this. I mean, my first three weeks on the job— this is true— two sold-out shows broke the internet. We now have a verbal agreement for a 5-year extension with our hockey team,” he said of Quad City Storm. “We extended our Pepsi contract. We extended our parking contract.”
“Things I'm gonna have direct influence on will not show themselves until '27,” Edgar said, noting he has confirmed three new shows, but can't talk about them until after Labor Day. Summers are typically slow for indoor venues, since the touring and live music emphasis is outdoors at festivals and fairs.
Comedy and Christian sellers
In addition to comedy, Christian contemporary concerts are usually good sellers, he said.
“Christian contemporary shows have done well here. I mean, Brandon Lake sold the place out,” Edgar said of that April 2026 date. “I'm going to go back to, it's quality in an arena is more important than quantity.”
Moline also benefits from its reputation of who’s played here and its veteran staff.
“What I really love about this building that I didn't have in any of my past buildings for the most part, I get to put my A-team on everything,” Edgar said. “I've got an A-level event team. I've got an A-level box office. I have A-level finance. My stress level is significantly less. Now the trick is arenas are harder to book, especially one of this size. So you're not going to get as many cracks at the plate.
“We can do 12 to 18 real shows a year. We're going to be fine,” he said of tours. “Then you have your Storm, you have your Steamwheelers, you have other events. The finances and stuff will be just fine. I do like being in a venue that doesn't traditionally lose money.”
Among Moline improvements Edgar wants are better facilities backstage for touring acts, and separate locker rooms for the home hockey and arena football teams.
“My job is to support my directors, their job is to support their managers, and their job is to support the front. I work for the ushers,” he said. “The ushers don't work for me. I want everyone to know that they're valued. They have a value to us because I can try really hard. As you can probably tell, I can talk about my industry for hours and I love it.”
“That first impression sets the tone. Simple as that,” Edgar said. “Make people feel good about coming to our venue.”
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