Greek Theatre Vote Delayed Again

Nederlander Concerts and AEG Live appear to have survived another round – with another delay – in the battle for control of the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles with Live Nation, as an Oct. 9 meeting of the city’s Recreation and Parks Department board again failed to approve an operator.

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The fight for the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles continues.

The RAP commission failed to achieve three affirmative votes to approve an operator during its meeting and will reconvene Oct. 23 to again consider the future management of the city’s iconic Greek Theatre. A Nederlander company has operated it since 1975, and its contract reaches the end of its second and final extension Oct. 31, 2015.

Live Nation entered the derby when RAP issued a request for proposals earlier this year.

The company’s submission won the initial recommendation by staff Sept. 26 on the basis of the promise of higher capital investment over the life of the contract, which would be for 10 years with two possible five-year extensions, and approximately 20 more events per year.

But Nederlander-AEG argues it made the fatter cash proposal in terms of rent and other payments to the city, and claims to have the support of the surrounding Hollywood Hills residents and others.

Live Nation, which initially appeared to be taken off guard by Nederlander’s public support campaign, brought the troops along for the second round. One observer said the company bused in its Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre staff from Irvine, Calif., and at least one shed GM from Texas flew in to speak. Images from the packed room showed roughly half the audience in Live Nation red and the other in Nederlander green.

The vote, originally scheduled to take place Oct. 1, was delayed when Nederlander objected to what it called a lack of transparency and requested more time to review the scoring documents and other reports from the commission and the company hired to review the RFP submissions.