Pollstar News Briefs 1984

December 7, 1984 — A last minute agreement between promoter CHUCK SULLIVAN and THE JACKSON’s camp allowed the first weekends shows at Dodger Stadium to go on but left the fate of the final tour shows scheduled for December 7-9 far enough up in the air that they were actually taken off sale for a few days.

An agreement for the final shows was announced by DON KING on Tuesday. King criticized Sullivan and blamed him for many of the tour’s problems while explaining that the group had compromised and would play the final shows for a “minuscule” fee of $1.5 million while the gross potential was in the area of $4.5 million.

That may not sound like too bad of a deal until you consider the effects of the incredibly stupid way ticket sales have been handled. After the first flurry of mail orders, FRANK DILEO told a press conference that the group was adding a second weekend.

At the same time, however, he announced that they had already received enough orders to sell out the additional shows which is not a statement likely to encourage fans into hassling with buying a money order and mailing it off in hopes of getting tickets.

The press naturally reported that all shows were sold out when in reality none were. Other tour officials tried to set the record straight but the public was already starting to get confused and when the local papers started running stories about the possibility of the shows being blown out, the sale of tickets slowed to a trickle.

For opening night there were reportedly over 10,000 tickets left. Saturday night was SRO but Sunday was not. Sources quoted by the LA Times earlier this week said that an estimated 90,000 out of 150,000 tickets remained available for the final shows.

That could explain why “the Brothers” decided this week that there would be absolutely no press passes available for the finale.

The only people who might be worse off at this point than SULLIVAN and his behind the scenes partners, Canadian promoters CONCERT PRODUCTIONS INTERNATIONAL, would be the legions of professional scalpers who look to be taking a bath of their own on this one.

You know it’s bad when the same scalpers who were getting $200 and more for Springsteen tickets were selling a Jacksons ticket along with a Jacksons tour jacket for only $55.