It was an up year in the live entertainment business in California, boosted by a roaring economy, great touring acts, and fresh ideas in cost-cutting and revenue generation by venue operators. New sustainability measures and new technology were themes last year, as many venues worked to create less waste and add more high-tech innovations. Never to be underestimated, of course, year-round good weather only added to the ingredients that produced another strong year for the live touring businesses in the Golden State.
“We had a great year,” said Jens Weiden, chief revenue officer for the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. “We went through a $200 million renovation a few years ago — the first major upgrade to our stadium in close to 100 years — and we’re really seeing the dividends now.”
Improvements included renovating the pavilion and adding in 54 luxury suites and more than 1,000 club seats. “This opened up a whole new realm of business for us and helped turn Rose Bowl into one of the premiere venues on the West Coast,” he said. “For us, we’ve found a niche. Artists like the symmetry of Rose Bowl. The sound is really good and it’s a venue that is on a lot of artists’ bucket lists.”
Rock was the predominant genre, and well-attended shows included Green Day, Coldplay, U2 and Metallica. “There’s only a short list of artists that can fill up a stadium of our size,” he said. Tickets ranged from $35 to $350. A Live Nation VIP package can run up to $1,000. The operating budget was “tens of millions.”
A big accomplishment in 2017 was finally getting Arroyo Seco Weekend music festival off the ground. “This was a big deal,” said Weiden. “We’ve been working for years to get this festival staged.” The event takes place on the venue’s golf course.
Arroyo Seco Weekend is produced in conjunction with Goldenvoice and AEG Presents. This was the first year of a 20-year contract. Headliners in 2017 were Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mumford & Sons.
Capital improvements included transforming the original locker room into a museum. “We have memorabilia that’s almost 100 years old,” said Weiden. “It’s the perfect project. It took something old and turned it into something hip and cool.”
The conversion cost “around $1 million” and the funds came from donors, with the biggest donation coming from Rose Bowl board member Mickey Segal and wife Lee. Public tours of the museum cost $17, and private tours start at $200.
Concessions are provided by Sodexo on the concourse and by Legends and Wolfgang Puck in the premium areas. A smash hit addition this year was the Dog Haus concession stand that sells hot dogs, tater tots and beer. “People actually line up after the shows to take it home with them,” he said.
The general concession contract is now out for RFP and it’s expected that the process will wind down by June. “We’re looking for local, sustainable and innovative,” Weiden said.
Jodi Goodman, president of Northern California for Live Nation, which programs events at Concord Pavilion and Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, said that Shoreline had a great 2017 season, hosting 40 events (up eight from 2016) including multiple night performances from both Dead & Company and Future.
“Our attendance was up over 15 percent and we debuted the Rolling Loud Festival, brought in by Insomniac and their partnership with Rolling Loud,” said Goodman.
“Hip-hop has really exploded the last couple of years and big ticket sales are an illustration of the extreme popularity of the genre.”
Shoreline is also seeing great success so far with a number of farewell tours including Lynyrd Skynyrd and Ozzy Osbourne.
Concord Pavilion also had a really successful 2017 season, hosting 19 events (up from 16 in 2016) including “our first two-day 20th Anniversary Stone Soul concert.”
Concord saw a 15 percent increase in attendance thanks to some big shows with Florida Georgia Line, Janet Jackson, Chicago/The Doobie Brothers and its annual Hot Summer Night Concert.
For both Shoreline and Concord Pavilion, Live Nation added more premium products like craft beer, specialty cocktails and an expansive wine list, which contributed to higher margins, along with additional credit card points-of-sale throughout the venues.
“We find people are really enjoying full bottles of premium wines at our venues,” said Goodman. “The preference of purchasing bottles has definitely been a boon to sales and the overall experience.”
For Concord Pavilion, their general store has been well received. “Guests have great options to purchase specialty items at the store including beverages, snacks, sundries and some prepackaged food. It definitely adds to the overall experience of this venue,” she said.
Capital improvements at Concord Pavilion include new concessions carts in the plazas and improvements to the VIP Terrace Bar.
Shoreline will have extensive improvements made this year to the concessions areas in the plazas, both in variety and quality.
The photography walk of fame will be completely updated with new framing and photos highlighting Shoreline’s 30-year-plus history, she said, and new LED video screens will provide better show visibility. Goodman also mentioned that all the VIP clubs at Shoreline will get significant upgrades as well.
Terry Dwyer, president of Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, said that his venue had a “positive financial performance” in 2017. Hot shows included “An American in Paris,” the Carole King-inspired musical “Beautiful” and “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder.” The world premiere of the ballet “Whipped Cream” was well received before moving to Broadway.
Segerstrom typically programs over 300 ticketed performances a year, plus 150 more by its resident tenants the Symphony, Philharmonic Society and Pacific Chorale. Tickets range from $30 to $125. Operating expenses are “$50 million to $60 million.”
Dwyer was thrilled with the reception from the community of the new Julianne and George Argyros Plaza, which is a portion of the $73 million capital improvement plan. The plaza has a cafe, a bar, a stage and a side stage. The events on the plaza are free. “It’s a great success and has attracted new audiences,” he said. “The free performances have been a significant benefit to expanding our support base both in terms of moving more tickets and expanding our contributed support base.”
Food and beverage is provided by Patina Restaurant Group. “The revenue is a slight part of our overall operation, but the amenity is an important to our audience,” he said.
Dwyer is looking forward to the rest of 2018, which “promises to be a spectacular year” with the arrival of Tony winners “Dear Evan Hansen” and the Orange County debut of smash hit “Hamilton.”
Nick Spampanato, senior VP and GM at The Forum in Inglewood, said 2017 saw an 8 percent hike in attendance and a 22 percent increase in gross. “We had a good year,” he said and attributed the bump to “multiples such as four nights of Bruno Mars; four nights of Garth Brooks; and three nights of Lady Gaga” in addition to Jingle Ball; Univision’s K-Love Live!; and hosting the Video Music Awards. “We’re really hitting our stride,” he said.
F&B is provided by Levy. “We’re always looking to expand our offerings,” said Spampanato.
Expanding the hours of operation for the outside terrace has been a revenue and fan experience boost. “We set up fun and games and try to really give the fans a complete experience from dinner to the show,” said Spampanato.
Capital improvements included a $2.5 million reconstruction of the bowl. “Many shows have huge productions now, so we widened the floor,” he explained.
Spampanato was also pleased with the creation of a float for the Rose Bowl paradethat featured Earth, Wind & Fire. “It was great visibility for the facility and made Page 1 of the L.A. Times. It was money well spent.”
Jim Mercurio, VP of stadium operations and GM at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, said that his facility had a good year and was most proud of improvements to the stadium’s “sustainability programs and technological improvements.”
“We’ve made significant strides from year one,” he said of the nearly 4-year-old building.
The stadium engaged in a trial run with an Orca machine, a food waste system that turns food waste into water and delivers it straight into the drainage system instead of pushing it all through the stadium compactors. “We converted 875 pounds of food waste from going to the landfill,” he said. “It reduces methane gases, garbage truck diesel gas usage and CO2 emissions. We were pretty impressed, and we are looking at buying the machine outright.”
Another sustainability project is the rooftop garden on top of the suite tower that was expanded last year by 1,000 square feet. “It’s been very, very impressive. It’s giving us 7,500 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables each year,” he said. “The added beauty is that we found local food banks that we can donate the excess to. It’s an awesome feeling not only going farm-to-fork inside the stadium but also being able to give back to the community.”
Mercurio said the cost was “a sizable investment” but the reason they have made the commitment was more about it being “the right thing to do.”
Another innovation was changing to low-flow plumbing fixtures that use 40 percent less water than conventional fixtures. “The stadium uses 85 percent reclaimed water,” he said. “We’re on track to reach 100 million gallons of potable water that was diverted and in five years we saved enough water to actually fill the entire bowl of the stadium.”
New LED lighting improved efficiency and saved 150,000 watts. Engineering control systems were improved and saw a 35 percent in utility usage. New IP TV systems will be refreshed this year. “The IP TV system is important to the monitors and menu boards,” he said.
Technologically, adding body cameras for the staff from Visual Labs was a great investment. “The cameras operate on any smart device and we put them on a number of staff throughout the facility that engage with customers,” he explained. “If a customer is not behaving properly we now have a live picture of what’s going on and it sends a live feed back to our command post. We can then send the appropriate resources.”
Mercurio said the system saved the day on several cases that “would have been fraud and helped defer legal action.” The systems also helped the team understand things like line-control and crowd management. “If we can identify hazards and provide service elements that can be used on game day, it’s a great tool.”
In 2017 Levi’s Stadium’s concessionaire was Centerplate; Levy now has the contract. “Their commitment to the customer really appealed to us,” said Mercurio, “Levy’s approach, using their data and analytics team, is on par with how we analyze data to enhance the venue and make better decisions. They have a strong presence in the Bay Area, and we were impressed with how they treat their employees. We’re a great fit.”
Tim Ryan, CEO of the Honda Center in Anaheim, agrees that it was a great concert year and the facility was up “somewhere between 5 (percent) and 7 percent.” Content this year was fantastic,” he said. “We did 150 shows.” Jay Z, Country Mega Ticket, Twenty One Pilots, Florida Georgia Line, Dirks Bentley and Brad Paisley were hot shows on the concert side. “Country was hotter than hot this year,” he said.
“Add that to the great showing for the (tenant NHL team) Anaheim Ducks and it was a fantastic year,” said Ryan. “The Ducks played to near capacity every night. Between a really solid anchor tenant and having a great relationship with AEG and Live Nation it all jelled into a perfect year.”
Capital improvements included a major renovation to the south entrance. “We added 10,000 square feet and really created a sense of place,” he said. “There are three new F&B concepts. The area used to serve between 100 and 2,000 people a night and now we serve between 800 and 1,000 guests.” The renovations were “in the mid-seven figures.” All-new retractable seating in the end zones are coming in May or June. The project will be done between events and will take 36 to 48 months.
Concessions are run in-house. “In our particular case it’s worked out very well so far,” said Ryan. “Since we own the team and the facility, owning F&B allows us to integrate between the team, the arena, and F&B, whether it’s related to sponsorships, or concepts we want to pursue.”
One of the F&B additions was a new rectangular bar staffed with 13 bartenders. “This means no lines,” said Ryan. The Kitchen, a new grab-and-go concept, is working well. Honda Center also added a Sierra Nevada Draught House.
A new team store was also put in place. “Our whole goal was more points-of-sale and as much variety as possible,” said Ryan.
The private club Shock Top Terrace memberships are sold out and there is a waiting list of more than 200. The suites are sold out as well. “We’re riding along with the best of economic times,” he said. “Sponsorships are at an all-time high.”
Honda Center will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in June. “There’s a tremendous amount of promotional events we have under wraps that we will announce in the next few months, “ he said. “A lot of it will tie into the simultaneous anniversary of the team and the venue. It won’t be one night. It will be an entire season and an entire year.”
It was another great year at the SMG-managed Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre, according to GM Becky Colwell. The Greek Theatre has an open-venue model for programming and open-ticketing model for ticketing. “We did 80 events, 71 concerts and our open-model is working out really well,” she said. Bigger concerts were Sam Hunt, Harry Styles, Deep Purple and Alice Cooper, and Adam Ant.
Ticket sales are going well, she said, and the venue was up in attendance by 5 percent, with overall revenue up as well. “We increased price points a little bit and that helped,” she said, adding they “watched labor bills.”
SMG will run the theater for another year, the last of its three-year contract, and has put in a bid to nab the next contact, which is out for RFP.
A $5 facility fee per ticket amassed $1.5 million last year that allowed for upgrades, including a new single accommodation family restroom, new wayfinding signs, a new stairway, new lighting and deck upgrades. In 2018, Colwell said improvements to the iconic outdoor venue will be the restoration of the gates and doors and renovations to all the box seats.
The concessionaire is Premiere, which added a grilled cheese concept that’s a huge hit and introduced salads. “Organic foods are very popular,” she said. “We have an organic lasagna that’s so good. But regardless, the truffle fries and nachos aren’t going anywhere. They sell really well and cannot be removed.”
Establishing a specific ride-hailing pickup and drop-off location “went really well” and alleviated a lot of the traffic issues that have plagued the venue in the past. “We leveraged our partnership with Uber to make that happen,” Colwell said. “It’s easier and safer and now the drivers know exactly where to go.”
BLUE SKY DAY
Many who work in the venue world say it’s a special world to begin with, but most venue operators can recall that one special day when the sky was blue, things ran like clockwork and they wouldn’t trade places with anyone. VenuesNow asked facility managers we spoke with to describe a day like that last year.
Jodi Goodman, president, Live Nation Northern California: “At Concord Pavilion it was hosting our first EDM event; at Shoreline it was the debut of the Rolling Loud Festival.”
Nick Spampanato, SVP and GM, The Forum, Inglewood : “When James Corden came and took my job as GM for a day.”
Jens Weiden, chief revenue officer, Rose Bowl, Pasadena: “When the first note was played at the Arroyo Seco festival.”
Jim Mercurio, VP of stadium operations and GM, Levi’s Stadium, Santa Clara: “The day a woman collapsed in the parking lot and had a heart attack on her way out and because our team was able to see it and communicate, we saved her life.”
Tim Ryan, CEO, Honda Center, Anaheim: “After 41 years of doing this, the majority of my days are good days. Everyday there is a sold-out event is a good day.”
Terry Dwyer, president, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa: “The look on everyone’s face when we opened our new Julianne and George Argyros Plaza.”
Becky Colwell, GM, Greek Theatre, Los Angeles: “The Kids Bop concert. The crowd was mostly 7- to 12-year-olds and for the majority of them it was their first concert. It was a joy to see the kids enjoying themselves and great way to introduce kids to live music.”
— By Brad Weissberg