NY Flap Over Live Nation No-Bid

Live Nation was awarded a no-bid contract to bring shows to the New York State Fair this year, and the business agreement has turned into a tangled web that includes accusations of backstage politics and wrongful termination.

The New York State Fair will pay Live Nation $700,000 to book and advertise concerts this year, according to the Post-Standard of Syracuse, and LN can earn more than $270,000 through ancillary income.

Of course, competitors like Metropolitan Talent have balked at the agreement, saying they can bring in the same quality of talent at a lower percentage of the State Fair’s budget. Meanwhile, the state comptroller recently said next year’s contract will be up for bidding, according to the Post-Standard, although this year’s requirement for a bid was waived.

Live Nation replaces 20-year fair veteran Joe LaGuardia, who told the paper he was recently fired by fair director Dan O’Hara. The director told the paper the fair lost $600,000 on 2007’s Grandstand shows. LaGuardia was paid $124,411 annually for his services.

LaGuardia and former fair budget director Rich Guanciale told the Post-Standard the loss was exaggerated. Guanciale further claimed he was fired by O’Hara when he asked for a copy of the Live Nation contract and started expressing concerns about the deal.

O’Hara referred Pollstar to fair spokesman Fred Pierce, who noted that the LN contract was negotiated with the New York State Department of Agriculture & Markets, which oversees the fair. However, the Standard noted a few days after LaGuardia left the fair that Ag and Markets lawyer Mike McCormick sent an e-mail to Live Nation saying he was “contacting you at the request of Dan O’Hara.”

“I would like to stress that so far we have broken all historic records in terms of gross box office receipts,” Pierce told Pollstar. “We have sold more tickets than ever before at the fair and we are on track to break the record for the most tickets ever issued, the most bodies ever put into seats at the fair for our concert series. So we’re very happy with the job Live Nation has done for us.”

Guanciale told the Standard that the fair is paying so much to Live Nation that even with increased ticket sales the fair will have little chance to break even this year.

The 11-day fair opens August 21.