On the Beach - Free Press Columns

11/16/2007

EXCLUSIVELY ONLINE - OPINION

Arena may not draw big names

By Jeff Tucker

Special to the Toledo Free Press

If you've already bookmarked Ticketmaster's Web site in anticipation of all the fantastic entertainment acts that will be streaming into Downtown Toledo to perform at the new arena, I have an unwelcome prediction for you. In the summer of 2010, when Toledo's arena is open for business and still shining new, you will still need to gas up the car and drive to Cleveland's Blossom Music Center or Detroit's DTE Energy Music Theater to see anything but the same old "B-list" acts our town always seems to attract. The good news is that Eddie Money, bless his rock and roll soul, won't have to play on an uncovered stage at Promenade Park anymore.

In the world of concert touring, few aspects of the business are more important to the almighty bottom line than the concept of "block-booking." Block-booking is the process by which venues work together with other venues in their region to coordinate performance dates in such a way that they can contract acts at a significantly reduced rate. The practice of block-booking can mean as much as a 15 to 25 percent difference in the cost of booking an act. I learned about block booking while serving as entertainment chairman for my school's Student Activities Board while in college, and it is really very simple. For example: it's far less expensive for Bruce Springsteen to perform in Cleveland on Friday night, and then perform in Detroit on Saturday night, than it is for him to play Cleveland on Friday, and then drive all the way to Atlanta to perform on Saturday. Efficiency is paramount when making travel plans for a fleet of busses and eighteen-wheelers loaded with equipment.

Toledo will not be able to consistently attract "top shelf" touring acts to our new Downtown arena because of block-booking and a common element of entertainment contracts known as a "radius clause." A radius clause is the method by which the promoter of a show prevents an artist from diluting their potential draw by performing dates too close together in the same market area. Although there is no set industry standard, the rule of thumb for establishing the distance of a radius clause is a two-hour drive, or roughly 125 miles. For example, a radius clause may stipulate that a major act may not perform within 125 miles of the venue where it has been booked for 30 days before or after the performance date. What helps make Cleveland and Detroit venues ideal block-booking partners is the fact that the two cities are 170 miles apart @@ just outside the distance of a typical radius clause. As touring has developed into a science over the years, Toledo has consistently been left out of the picture as a viable concert stop for "A-list" acts, and the reason is simple geography. Our fair city lies between Detroit and Cleveland, and a new arena can't possibly change that, no matter how wide the seats are, or how "green" the building is.

When the Dave Matthews Band plots its next tour, it will have options available when deciding where to play when passing through our neck of the woods. They can play the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland to an audience of 20,500. Then they can perform for an audience of 23,000 the very next night at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Another option, of course, would be to play the brand-new arena in Toledo for a capacity crowd of 10,000. Because of a simple radius clause, however, playing Toledo would exclude the band from performing in either Detroit or Cleveland. You be the tour manager. Do you play Cleveland and Detroit on back-to-back nights for 43,500 people, or do you lock yourself out of Detroit and Cleveland so you can play the new arena in Toledo for an audience of 10,000? Of course, few acts have the drawing power of Springsteen or Matthews. What about all the great acts that don't sell out 20,000 seat arenas? Wouldn't a 10,000 seat arena be ideal for lots of great acts? Certainly; that's precisely why the Palace and the Quicken Loans Arena can be divided into "half-house" venues.I'm looking forward to watching some great hockey Downtown and I may even grow to like arena football. While I'm entirely skeptical that the $60 million arena, or the $80 million dollar arena, or the $110 million arena will get built without a significant increase in taxes, I'm absolutely certain Eddie Money is going to love it.

Jeff Tucker is founder of the political action committee Conservative Musicians for America.