LN’s London Park Bonus

London Mayor Boris Johnson has approved a contract giving Live Nation free use of Hyde Park and Victoria Park as concert venues in 2012 in return for running Olympic screen sites at the parks and at Trafalgar Square.

Live Nation will erect screens at what are now being called the “Live Sites,” where visitors can watch events and enjoy a live show at no cost.

LN will have to shoulder “almost all the financial risk” for the sites, but in return it’ll benefit from ancillaries such as merchandising and food and beverage stands, as well as all the sponsorship revenue the Games-related events will generate.

The company will also be able to run 12 commercial concerts in the parks, an increase on the eight or nine days – including Wireless Festival and Hard Rock Calling – that it runs at the landmark location.

City Hall will provide £100,000 worth of marketing support and run a poster campaign throughout the London Underground network, potentially reaching 4 million passengers per day.

The extent of LN’s involvement in the Olympic effort has been known since Feb. 25, when the mayor, the Royal Parks and Tower Hamlets Council announced the company was chosen to handle entertainment at the London parks.

The English capital is determined to use the 2012 Olympics to reinforce its position as a tourist destination.

Rihanna has confirmed that next year her only UK performance will be at Hyde Park July 8, part of Wireless Festival, while the national media is speculating that Madonna and Smashing Pumpkins may also be in line to play the central London outdoor shows.

One act that won’t be there is Red Hot Chili Peppers, which has opted to do its London shows at Knebworth Park, a few miles away in the Hertfordshire countryside.

The Independent suggested the U.S. rockers may have turned down the chance to return to Hyde Park, where they played in 2004, because of stringent noise regulations.

RHCP’s agent, Emma Banks of Creative Artists Agency, dismissed the story and told Pollstar the act looked at a lot of venues for the band and decided on Knebworth.

“As with all decisions, many factors were considered,” she said.

Live Nation promoter Toby Leighton-Pope told The Independent there were no problems with the sound when the act last played the park and he didn’t believe it was a factor in their decision to go elsewhere on this occasion.

RHCP is promoted by AEG-owned Kilimanjaro Live, which lost out to LN when battling for the contract to runs shows in the London parks in 2008.

The company does have a close relationship with the Hertfordshire country house and stages the UK leg of its annual Sonisphere Festival in its grounds.