Posted by chicagomedia.org on November 07, 2008 at 09:59:53:
Deal will keep Lollapalooza in Chicago 10 more years
November 6, 2008
BY ANDREW HERRMANN AND JIM DeROGATIS Staff Reporters
Seen at Sun-Times first: Days after C3 Presents staged the Election Night celebration here for Barack Obama, officials announced Thursday a plan to allow the Austin, Tex.-based promoters to continue the three-day Lollapalooza music festival in Grant Park for at least 10 more years.
Chicago Park District Supt. Tim Mitchell said the proposed contract calls for festivals from 2009 to 2018. But if Chicago is picked to host the Olympics in 2016, Lollapalooza could be canceled, and the festival's organizer will be able to add concerts to the end of the contract.
The new deal, likely to be approved by the Park District board Wednesday, gives the Park District a bigger cut of some revenues, Mitchell said.
C3 currently is two years into a five-year contract for Lollapalooza, signed in 2006, in which C3 was represented by attorney Mark Vanecko, a nephew of Mayor Daley. Asked if Vanecko played any role in negotiating the new extended deal with the Park District, Mitchell said, "absolutely not."
C3 executives did not respond to requests for comment.
Under the current agreement, the park district gets 8œ percent of revenues, including sponsorships, or a minimum fee (this year it was $950,000), whichever is higher. This summer the Park District made $1.6 million.
Under the proposed deal, the district will get 10.25 of gross revenues, such as tickets and beer sales, but its take on sponsorships will remain at 8 1/2 percent. The minimum next year is $1 million, and it will increase by $50,000 each year after that, Mitchell said.
Chosen by the Obama campaign for its victory party, the increasingly powerful promoters also won a city contract last year to bring a wide range of events to Soldier Field, forged an agreement to book acts at the Congress Theatre, and said they hope to play a major role in staging events for the Olympics.
Mitchell said the agreement does not change the length or size of the festival, which drew about 225,000 people last August.
Local Chicago concert promoters and venue owners have expressed frustration about C3 requiring groups to sign clauses prohibiting the acts it books from playing anywhere else in the area for as long as six months before and after the festival. Promoters also have criticized the city for not putting the Grant Park rock festival out to bid.
"We don't have to bid this out: it's a three-day festival," said Mitchell. "Anyone can do a concert in Hutchinson Field if they pay a $250,000 fee."
(Chicago Sun-Times)