ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) — Starting May 1, Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial will have a new operator: VenuWorks! The company, based in the Midwest, is continuing its expansion on both coasts. It operates nearly 60 venues. Blue Cross at the War Memorial is city-owned, and the previous manag ement group, Rochester Arena LLC, opted out of its contract. Rochester City Council has since approved VenuWorks as the new operator. Colin Holman of VenuWorks told News 8 that he and his team are already hard at work booking all kinds of events. Holman said the centerpiece teams are still a big part of Blue Cross, the Amerks and the Knighthawks. He said VenuWorks and the Knighthawks are currently working to extend their deal. The VenuWorks team hopes to have 130 major events at Blue Cross each year, including concerts from LiveNation, AEG, and more. Holman also teased potential WWE events, wresting, monster truck rallies. Holman said that the venue has had an initial conversation with the Rochester International Jazz Festival. As the team develops programming, Holman says the team will be listening to the community. "I'm excited just to get there and talk to folks. What are we missing? What kind of content are they looking to see?" Holman said. "How can we grow some faith-based initiatives, more urban shows, more country shows, more community enhancement shows, can we get some more graduations to the building? Just excited to see what the community wants, and the city of Rochester, and what they want us to do." On security, Holman is not expecting any major changes and plans to keep the current procedures with a security company and maintain their relationship with RPD on traffic detail. VenuWorks promises to keep up with changing industry standards on security. As ROC the Riverway progresses, hopes Blue Cross can be of an economic engine for downtown. "We're real excited to bring more content to the city, the community, and people down to the riverfront," Holman said. "To spend money at the restaurants, parking, gas and drive that economic impact to downtown Rochester." ...read more read less