Florida Shed Opens Up

Pompano Beach, Fla., officials are looking for new concert promoters after canceling a contract with Live Nation to run the city’s amphitheatre.

The move came after Live Nation allegedly failed to book a minimum of 24 shows annually at the 2,900-capacity Pompano Beach Amphitheatre as required by the agreement.

Live Nation booked just nine shows last year, netting a meager $49,000 for city coffers, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinal. With the contract canceled, other promoters are free to compete for concerts at the venue.

“It’s clear to me that the exclusive agreement model is not working,” Pompano Beach recreation program manager Mark Beaudreau told the paper. “What I’m suggesting is in terminating this agreement that we enter into per-event, individual agreements with the promoters … in hopes that in total we can produce more activitity in the amphitheatre.”

Booking the small shed has apparently been a historically difficult proposition, according to the paper. Before Live Nation inked its exclusive contract, Fantasma Productions reportedly managed to book only 17 shows there in 2003 and 2004.

Beaudreau told the Sun-Sentinal the idea of exclusivity was in hopes of increasing concerts and use of the venue. “We have been struggling with that for some time,” he said. The city is now drafting language for a standard rental agreement for promoters.