Carl Hall, right, of Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., with Geoff Carns of Ticketmaster at Pollstar Live! (VN Photo)
REPORTING FROM LOS ANGELES - Carl Hall, director of arena management at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Ky., arrived at the Pollstar Live! 2018 conference here a certified member of OVG Facilities, thus part of the Oak View Group family. (VenuesNow and Pollstar are owned by OVG.)
Bill Owen, Lexington Center Corp. president and CEO, had cut the deal with Peter Luukko, OVG's president of facilities, a month ago, and the wheels were in motion to let OVG Facilities book Rupp Arena as of Feb. 1. David Farrar, who also attended Pollstar Live!, was named as OVG Facilities' director of booking at Rupp Arena, reporting to Sims Hinds, Doug Higgons and Tom Paquette.
Farrar is now in transition from his former job as general manager at Santander Arena and Performing Arts Center in Reading, Pa., for SMG "He was looking for work in a bigger market," Hinds said.
The deal is a three-year exclusive, with OVG Facilities booking all event programming except University of Kentucky events, including UK Wildcats athletic competitions. OVG Facilities will also work to create a premium experience at Rupp Arena, Hinds said.
"OVG is further up the stream, more involved in what's coming out. If OVG has 30 facilities and they know the normal facility deal is X and the normal rebate is Y and this is normal, we now have information as to what is expected," Hall said of the deal.
Rupp Arena has dropped its membership in Venue Coalition for at least a year as officials flesh out the deal with OVG Facilities, Hall said. "I could be a member of Venue Coalition and OVG. [Venue Coalition's] Jeff Apregan and Andrew Prince and I discussed it at great length. But what Venue Coalition offers I'm aware of; what OVG brings I'm not. This year, I opted to be just OVG. If in 12 months, if there's a gap Venue Coalition fills as an information resource, I can rejoin."
For Hall, who has been with Rupp Arena for 29 years this October and who had been overseeing a number of areas in addition to "handling booking directly," this opens up a vast new world. "When Red Mountain calls, they'll call David now," he said.
Hall first met with Hinds at the VenuesNow Conference last July and then it "progressed through OVG internal discussions and on our side, the chairman of our board," Hall said. Citing a nondisclosure agreement, he would say only that it is "a negotiated contract based on events. There are no guarantees. It's a percentage." It is an open booking concept, not an exclusive to any promoter.
"Because of the size of OVG and the cluster of people who work for them, they now have a better connection to the touring agents and … they know when XYZ artist is going on tour. They can get ahead of or equal with the booking agent. Before, I was downstream and I had to wait until Red Mountain or Live Nation called me searching for avails. Now OVG can help route and provide information to the artist's agent before it comes downstream," Hall said.
Secondly, he noted, "because they are a conglomerate, they know what other shows are doing. So your expectations are more realistic. They know the successes or failures of what other shows have done and provide information to me."
Hall is not in it for 10-15 more shows than last year, "but I do perceive we are going to grow market and do better with the shows we have and that we may add one, two or three different shows this year that wouldn't have come to me by my single efforts and, potentially, we'll be able to provide a greater diversity."
Already, OVG has leveraged a Justin Timberlake date Sept. 19, Hall said. Without OVG, he may or may not have gotten that show, "but it's a higher probability I wouldn't have.".
OVG Facilities has "an interest in buildings that have great management of a certain size in strong markets where we can be of assistance in saving dates," Hinds added. "Lexington is a great market and David Farrar wanted to move into a bigger market. He has the skillset to be aggressive."
Last year was an off year for Rupp Arena with only 15 shows. Across a five-year average, concerts and events are in the 22-25 range, counting everything, Hall said.
Rupp Arena is a city-owned facility, built in 1976, that seats 23,500.