AEG Gets Fiddler’s Green

The agreement beginning in January brings two longtime competitors into the fold at the 16,283-capacity shed, owned by Denver nonprofit Museum of Outdoor Arts.

AEG Chief Operating Officer Jay Marciano, the veteran exec who opened the amphitheatre in 1989 when he was with Universal Concerts, and AEG’s Chuck Morris are now on the same team.

“We’re both excited and having meetings about this; we’ve always respected each other despite being on the opposite sides of the fence for years,” Morris told Pollstar. “The irony is that he built it and I spent a chunk of my career fighting them. We’re like two prizefighters who went at each other their entire careers and then became best of friends.”

Morris said he was contacted by Cynthia Madden of the Museum of Outdoor Arts as the nonprofit’s contract with Live Nation was coming to an end.

Morris jumped at the opportunity, and cited AEG Live Rocky Mountains’ track record with reviving existing buildings, including 1stBank Center in nearby Broomfield, Colo.

“Fiddler’s Green to me is, as in the past with 1stBank Center, a building with great bones but needed a little bit of love, décor and improvement, and it has an amazing opportunity to do extremely well,” Morris said. “We’re going to put in $5 million to bring it into the 21st century. Very little has been improved since it opened in 1989. It still does pretty well; it just needs a little bit of soul and an upgrade of everything from concessions to restrooms to backstage.

“We’re partners with the MOA, and planning on bringing some of their artwork into Fiddlers Green as part of the upgrade of the whole amphitheatre. We’re going to give more soul to this place.”

The makeover will begin after the curtain falls on the current concert season in September and is expected to be completed before the 2014 season begins.

In the meantime, the AEG Live team including Morris, Don Strasburg and Brent Fedrizzi will take stock of the building and what changes need to be made and start booking. Morris acknowledges that AEG, with its portfolio of arena and stadium properties, hasn’t particularly dipped its corporate toe into amphitheatre management.

He calls the Fiddler’s Green opportunity “unique” and one that was fully supported by the execs in Los Angeles – and not necessarily a signal of a new direction in the outdoor market from the company’s new leadership.