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Too many seats?
By BABITA PERSAUD, Times Staff Writer
TAMPA -- Rob Douglas, the promoter for Jannus Landing, remembers when the Bayfront Center was the area's hottest concert venue. That was back in the 1970s. Then came the USF Sun Dome. And Tropicana Field. And the St. Pete Times Forum. Now comes the newest entry in the area's concert wars -- a 20,000-seat, $18-million amphitheater proposed for the Florida State Fairgrounds.
"We need another venue like we need a hole in the head," says Douglas, echoing sentiments shared by concert promoters across the Tampa Bay area. "We are growing bigger and bigger and it's all about money, not the music." Clear Channel Entertainment, owner of radio stations, billboards and concert venues nationwide, is finalizing a deal with the Florida State Fair Authority to build the facility, which would be the largest amphitheater in Florida. While it would provide yet another option for fans of live music, its future competitors are growing anxious. There are only so many entertainment dollars to go around, they say, and top acts to book. "There already is a glut of venues," says Mike LaPan, director of the Sun Dome. If it opens as expected in early 2004, the amphitheater will be on the northeast corner of the 320-acre fairgrounds in eastern Hillsborough County. About half of its seats will be under cover. The rest will be on a grassy lawn where concert-goers can bring blankets or rent chairs. In total, the facility will cover about 17 acres. So who is likely to play there? Ozzy Osbourne, who headlined Ozzfest last year when it played Tropicana Field. Aerosmith, which likes to perform outdoors. Their last appearance in the Tampa Bay area was at the Ice Palace, since renamed the St. Pete Times Forum. Jimmy Buffett and James Taylor also are likely bookings. One thing worrying area promoters is the clout of Clear Channel, which owns and operates eight radio stations in the Tampa market and produced more than 35 shows here last year. The fear is that Clear Channel will steer top acts to its own facility, where it can make the most money. "There is no doubt that when the amphitheater gets built, the shows will come from somewhere," says Sean Henry, vice president of administration at the Times Forum, which is taxpayer subsidized. Clear Channel also has a share in Times Forum profits. It produced about 80 percent of the concerts there last year. The Times Forum won't lose all its Clear Channel-produced shows, but Henry says acts like Aerosmith, Rush and Creed might opt for the amphitheater. All of those shows were sell-outs for the Times Forum. "We are worried, of course," says Henry. "Any loss of shows is detrimental." Clear Channel officials say they have no desire to create a monopoly, which they have been accused of in other states. "I don't think we are controlling everything," says Randall Young, president of real estate for the Texas-based media conglomerate. "And I certainly don't think we are creating a monopoly." He says the industry is driven by artists, some of whom prefer to play outdoors. Many do not. Most outdoor concerts are booked in the summer, says Gary Bongiovanni, the editor of Pollstar, a concert industry magazine. The bugs, heat and humidity endemic to Florida aren't always attractive to performers or their fans, he says. Cher, for example, prefers indoors. "Cher might just feel more comfortable in a climate-controlled environment and not having to worry about sweating to death or hitting a high note and inhaling a gnat, which actually happened to Elton John," says Bongiovanni. "It's one of the perils of playing outdoors." Rick Vymlatil, the fair authority's chief financial executive, says the amphitheater is a critical ingredient in the fair's plans for the future. Concerts there now are staged in the Entertainment Hall, which has a seating capacity of just 5,000. "We couldn't offer someone like the Dixie Chicks or Alan Jackson," Vymlatil says. Under the terms of the contract being finalized, Clear Channel would pay for the amphitheater's construction. The company also would pay the fair authority $275,000 a year for five years. The payments continue to escalate until they reach more than $500,000 annually. The Fair Authority also will get $1.50 for every ticket sold, and earn 20 percent of the title sponsorship if naming rights are sold. That deal doesn't sit well with Jon Stoll, president of Fantasma Productions, a West Palm Beach-based promoter that is Clear Channel's rival. When proposals for construction of the amphitheater were requested in April, promoters were given just six weeks to apply. Stoll says that gave Clear Channel, which has built amphitheaters across the country, a huge advantage.
Fair authorities say no public money will be used in the amphitheater project. And the project doesn't have to get Hillsborough County Commission approval.
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