The Greek: Live Nation wins first battle of entertainment titans

After hours of impassioned debate, a Los Angeles city commission voted Thursday to recommend that a new company take over running and managing the Greek Theatre -- the latest step in a bitter battle between entertainment titans over the future of the Griffith Park venue.

Doing so would pull the theater out of the hands of the Nederlander Organization, which has run the Greek for decades.

Nederlander bid jointly with entertainment titan AEG to continue operating the venue, but parks officials recommended handing control of the theater to Live Nation, the company that recently hosted the Made in America festival in downtown Los Angeles.

While Nederlander-AEG said it would guarantee millions more in revenue to the city, Live Nation said it would spend more to renovate the theater over two decades, according to a staff analysis. A panel of evaluators unanimously recommended choosing Live Nation.

The Recreation and Parks Commission, which wrestled with the decision at three meetings, ultimately decided to back that recommendation. Commissioner Lynn Alvarez said she had carefully reviewed all of the information and comment and felt the process was fair.

The decision now heads to a City Council committee, and the final contract will have to be approved by the parks commission, the Council and Mayor Eric Garcetti.

Nederlander-AEG argued that the recommendation to choose Live Nation was rooted in faulty analysis that didn’t properly account for Nederlander-AEG’s spending on things like theater upgrades and community outreach. Outside consultants commissioned by Nederlander-AEG found that the panel evaluation was “inadequate and misleading” because of errors in comparing the two bids.

The company also mobilized community support: Many Los Feliz residents worried about added noise and other nuisances have pleaded with the parks commission to keep Nederlander in charge.

“Please keep the status quo. It’s working. We don’t need to change it,” said Lucinda Phillips, a board member with Friends of Griffith Park.

After the Thursday vote, Nederlander and AEG said they were “disappointed that the board did not carefully consider the overwhelming evidence” that the evaluation process suffered from “significant errors that infected the entire process.” The companies said they looked forward to working with city lawmakers on the issue.

Live Nation denounced Nederlander-AEG for “gross misrepresentation” of its proposals and rallied to its defense employees and others familiar with other Live Nation venues, including some Los Feliz residents. It has stressed its promised investments to update the Greek, contending that Nederlander had reneged on past promises to fix up the theater and left it neglected and in disrepair.

“We look forward to setting a new standard for this iconic venue, investing heavily to return it to its rightful place as a world-class entertainment destination for fans and artists while being sensitive to neighbors in the surrounding community,” Live Nation said in a statement issued after the vote.

The existing contract for Nederlander to run the Greek will expire in a year. The new agreement will span a decade, with chances to twice extend the agreement for five years each.

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