Owners Of 'The Greatest Show On Earth' Hold Press Conference To Discuss Its End

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The Greatest Show on Earth is coming to an end.

Feld Entertainment, the largest live entertainment production company in the world, says the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus will finish in May of this year.

Speaking at a news conference in Palmetto, just days after the company announced the decision, Chairman and CEO Kenneth Feld said the show is no longer financially viable.

Steady declines over the last decade were exacerbated when elephants were retired from touring.

Feld said the company did not anticipate the extreme impact losing the pachyderms would have on show attendance.

"We knew that when we transitioned the elephants off the show… that we would take some hit in attendance, but it far exceeded what we ever anticipated," he said.

The company's COO, Juliette Feld, says about 400 people will be impacted.

She said the company is working to help support employees affected through the transition phase by helping them create resumes, look for employment and find housing for those who lived on the trains that transported the show from arena to arena.

Dolly Jacobs was an aerialist with the circus for 16 years. Her father was one of its most famous clowns for six decades.

She truly hopes this isn't the end of an era.

"In my heart, I don't want to believe that," she said. "I hope that it's not gone forever because it is the greatest show on earth."