Creative Concert Accounting
A New York county official is claiming that the state “bailed out” the inaugural concert of the Lakeview Amphitheatre in Syracuse to the tune of $119,000.
County Executive Joanie Mahoney said the money was for standard expenses and part of the planning, and that Antonacci’s audit was driven by politics.
Lakeview Amphitheatre is owned by Onondaga County and managed by SMG. The venue’s first show was built on an agreement between Live Nation and SMG that gave merchandise revenue, facility fees, Ticketmaster rebates and net concessions to Live Nation, in exchange for a rental fee of $39,750, which was paid to SMG, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard.
In this arrangement, the county reportedly received 10 percent of VIP box sales. The concert took place during the New York State Fair, which was held over 12 days at the fairgrounds in Geddes, N.Y.
The state had no involvement in organizing the concert at Lakeview, however.
“The State Fair has always underwritten live entertainment to draw people,” Mahoney said. “The concert was an unmitigated success and we continue to have these relentless efforts to parse facts and cast aspersions.” Several months after the event, Onondaga County requested for the state to reimburse $119,935 for LED screens, credit card machines, portable toilets, advertising and other items.
A letter from the Department of Agriculture & Markets confirms that there was an agreement to “share some of the costs” of the concert, though at press time the expenses reportedly had not been paid by the state. Antonacci claims officials omitted these expenses in reports submitted and, when included, the Lambert concert actually lost money. “I don’t understand why the county executive herself did not disclose this bailout months ago,” Antonacci said in an interview with Time Warner Cable News Central NY.
“What’s the shame in letting people know that the first concert lost money and we had to get some help from the state of New York?” Mahoney maintains that the concert was a resounding success and delivered a speech March 4 celebrating that the doubters had been proven wrong. She did acknowledge that a county official was involved in negotiating with Live Nation for the Lambert performance, but in the future SMG would handle the details of arranging shows at the amphitheatre.
