Sooner or later the lights go on and the doors open. It’s important to be prepared, to build the show expenses and know where you stand.
The promoter will call and ask for a date; you get the date and he’ll say, “What are your building expenses?”
Make sure you’re covered with what you believe is a fair rate. Well in advance of a show, you need to have a good idea of what your expenses are and that starts with literally going by [staff] position.
From time to time, sit with the security people and ask, “For a show of this nature, what do you need and where are your people?” Analyze the positions to be sure you’re covered for security and comfort, but also for justification. Make sure you’re not overstaffed.
For sporting events, you’ll have A, B and C levels depending on the attendance, including security, ushering, cleaning, police, fire, first aid, box office (although that’s becoming less important with online, but some people just show up).
First, really know your numbers and be prepared in advance. When the promoter calls, they need a quick answer. Know your numbers and be self-evaluating. Look at the dates, see what type of changeover is coming before and after.
Some facilities have a good lead on how many changeovers a year they will have and they’ll amortize that per show and have a flat fee. Or, if a building isn’t as busy, you want to be reimbursed for the full changeover cost. Figure proper ins and outs.
The real key to this is making sure you budget your calls for stagehands properly. When you get the [artist] rider, make sure you sit down internally and go over costs with your union steward or labor provider, and make sure those calls are made well in advance.
The whole key to doing a proper job of booking an event is preparation and coordination. Make sure you know exactly what that event entails and have good discussions with production people and, then, whether it’s the GM, assistant GM or event coordinator, put together a solid data sheet.
If you’ve done the proper coordination, you’re ready when that surprise comes along, which it does at almost every event, because everything else is taken care of. Something is going to happen that’s going to be a change, so shame on you if you haven’t dealt with the known prior to that event.
When everyone is calm and the show hasn’t gone on sale, and the promoter calls and says, “I think your staffing is a little high,” you call him back and say, “Here’s my seating chart, this is where I’ve placed people, what do you think?” That’s collaborative. He might say, “I know the rider says this, but let me double check. I don’t think they need that many dressing rooms.” It’s collaborative. He might say that you don’t have to cover us this way.
The worst thing you can do is estimate 10,000 people coming, and then the show takes off and you have to add staffing. The minute you get past a certain threshold and have to open up additional sections, you call the promoter and say, “I know these are my estimated expenses; we based it on 10,000, but the show has gone through the roof and I need 30 more people on this level.” Then he can go to the band and agent and manager and say, “Good news today; we budgeted for 10,000 we sold through to 13,000. Our estimate was based on 10,000, so we have an extra $3,000 or so in expenses. But it looks like we’re going to hit 15,000 and we’re all going to make a lot of money. What a great day.”
Even in a winner, you don’t want the tour accountant who is working off of all these estimates they were given to hear you’re $3,000 off. You probably win the argument, but why bother? You’ve had an increase. This has happened.
In Philly, we once had the Mike Tyson vs. Buster Mathis fight. It sold in a three-week period, because they had to move it from New Jersey. John Page, then CoreStates Spectrum event manager and I were dealing with [promoter] Don King and we gave him a flat. Then we found out they were going from six fights to 10 and we had to open early and had a lot more expenses. We had a tight window and called Don and said, “We did this flat based on six fights and we’re going an extra couple hours, here’s the extra cost.” He understood, thanked us for calling in advance and gave us the money.
You can’t possibly overcommunicate.
Breakfast is the most important thing. If you screw up the break¬fast, you screw up the bid. Be ready for them when they come in, from marketing support right through to the settlement of the event so they can get on the road and do their business.
It’s so much easier now. Everything is computerized. There is no excuse for a building not to be ready.
It’s really communication, preparation, execution. Unfortu¬nately, there are more buildings than shows. You have to be the better building.
Peter Luukko is president of OVG Arena Alliance. OVG is the parent company of VenuesNow.