Mobile council to consider expanding entertainment district around Regions Arena // Ella Snapp NBC 15
Mobile City Council is set to consider expanding one of downtown’s entertainment districts to include the new Regions Arena area, a move city and downtown leaders say would help prepare the area for major events and more visitors.
The proposal would expand Entertainment District 1 south to include Regions Arena, the 10,000-seat venue replacing the former Mobile Civic Center.
It comes as the city prepares for the arena’s first announced show: Mobile-based band The Red Clay Strays will headline the venue’s grand-opening concert on March 26, 2027, with St. Paul and The Broken Bones opening.
Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis said bringing the arena into the entertainment district has long been part of the plan.
“I think it was always part of the plan to extend that entertainment area down to the arena so folks could have their drinks and dinner out on Dauphin Street, walk over to the arena, enjoy a show without any issues,” Cheriogotis said.
Under Mobile’s entertainment-district rules, patrons of participating and properly licensed businesses may leave with one alcoholic drink in a branded paper or plastic cup of 16 ounces or less and carry it within the same district. The rules do not allow drinks to be carried into another licensed business, and they do not allow cans, bottles or ordinary glass containers on streets, sidewalks or parking lots.
Being inside the district also does not automatically allow every business to sell drinks to go; a business must have the appropriate alcohol license and entertainment-district designation.
Fred Rendfrey, president of the Downtown Mobile Alliance, said the expansion is about more than allowing a drink to be carried outside. He said it creates a safer, more intentional route between downtown businesses and the arena.
“The entertainment district and including the path and curating the right path from Dauphin Street to the Civic Center is going to be important because people need to park, people need to be able to walk to their establishments, people need to be able to walk from the restaurants back to the Civic Center,” Rendfrey said. “Doing these things in advance and being thoughtful about them is going to help kind of curate a better, safer scene for everybody.”
Rendfrey said organizers are considering the route people will take between restaurants, bars and the arena, including where they park, walk and cross streets. He said the goal is to create a lively downtown experience around concerts, comedy shows, family events and other arena programming.
But Rendfrey also acknowledged a larger entertainment district will require active management and oversight.
“The hospitality districts create a certain level of good and bad and they require an intense level of management and an intense level of oversight,” Rendfrey said. “So will there be problems? Yes, it’s not all perfect, but Downtown Mobile Alliance, the City of Mobile, the Police Department, I think we’re ready to make sure that we have a good season and a good experience.”
Cheriogotis said the city is continuing to look at safety measures as it prepares for larger crowds downtown, including lighting, pedestrian traffic direction and officer presence around major events.
“You’ve got to feel safe when you’re going out and spending your free time going to a concert, going to a monster truck rally, going out on Dauphin Street,” Cheriogotis said. “When it comes to safety, it’s something we’re always trying to improve on.”
The mayor said the city must also ensure visitors comply with entertainment-district rules, including using approved cups from approved businesses and avoiding behavior that creates problems downtown.
The council is expected to discuss the entertainment-district expansion Tuesday. The City Council Public Safety Committee is also expected to discuss the downtown juvenile curfew.
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