Rapino: Mid-size venues offer ‘rare opportunity’

As part of a wider push to invest in mid-size venues around the US, Live Nation is set to purpose-build a scalable 6,000-capacity venue in Salt Lake City, Utah.

In partnership with local investment firm Smith Entertainment Group (SEG), which manages the city’s 20,000-cap Delta Center, the new venture will see Live Nation plant its flag in the SLC venue market.

“Six thousand seats is the sweet spot for Live Nation right now,” LN CEO Rapino said in a press conference yesterday (19 Aug), adding the venture marked a “rare opportunity” bolstered by the prime location in a downtown metropolis.

“If you’re in a suburb or the middle of nowhere — because you’re debating what part of the city will drive to that show — it makes it a little harder,” he explained. “That’s where we end up maybe doing 3,000 or 4,000 [capacity], but when you can be in the centre of a downtown where you know the nucleus will be, it just opens up rare real estate.”

The new mid-size, mixed-use venue is expected to host 200 events annually, including 100 concerts, and is the first part of SEG’s plans for an expanded sports and entertainment district around the arena and Salt Palace Convention Center.

Delta Center is currently undergoing a comprehensive renovation into a dual-sport venue for the state’s NBA team, the Utah Jazz, and new NHL team, the Utah Mammoth, in an effort to make it a destination for concerts and sporting events.

“Our goal has always been to bring enormous opportunities to downtown”

“Our goal has always been to bring enormous opportunities to downtown,” said Ryan Smith, SEG chair and CEO. “Once the transformation of Delta Center was underway, partnering with Live Nation on what a world-class concert venue could look like in downtown became a top priority.

“Not only will it bring the best artists in the world to Utah, but it will also bring a million people downtown to experience Salt Lake City every year. Both SEG and Live Nation will be committing considerable financial investment into the development of this venue.”

It is the latest chapter in Live Nation’s push to capitalise on sports and entertainment destinations — “we’ve got 40 of these on the docket that we are exploring,” Rapino remarked — including other projects like MGM Music Hall at Boston’s Fenway Park, and forthcoming venues in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and Atlanta.

Additionally, Live Nation is investing US$1 billion (€875 million) to build and revitalise live music venues in smaller US cities over the next 18 months, including Denver, Memphis, Portland, and Raleigh, to better serve fans and artists around the country.

The company’s share price has reached another new high in recent days, peaking at $164.06.

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