Plan to Link Amphitheaters Sparks Inquiry : Music: The U.S. Justice Department is studying whether a proposed association of Irvine Meadows and Pacific Amphitheatre would choke competition. The department also is seeking promoters’ business records with 29 Southland venues.

A proposed alliance between Orange County’s two giant concert amphitheaters has prompted an investigation into the possible “elimination of competition” and a wide-ranging inquiry into the Southland’s concert industry by the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust division, industry officials said Friday.

Documents obtained by The Times indicate that the government is studying a proposed association between the operators of the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa and Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre that could be in violation of four provisions of the Sherman Antitrust Act.

Gary Spratling, chief of the Justice Department’s antitrust division in San Francisco, confirmed the inquiry but declined to comment further.

But Justice Department documents indicate that the antitrust division is seeking detailed business records from Orange County and Los Angeles-area promoters who might have arranged events at 29 venues in Southern California, virtually all the local concert facilities--including the Shrine, the Pantages, UCLA’s Royce Hall, Greek Theatre, Hollywood Bowl, Coliseum, Sports Arena and a number of other concert sites--as well as Irvine Meadows and the Pacific Amphitheatre.

Specifically, investigators are interested in dates of concerts, names of performers and facilities where concerts were held, ticket sale revenue, memos, phone records, ledgers, contracts and numbers of tickets sold for events since Jan. 1, 1985.

The information was to be provided by last Friday for the investigation that was triggered following an overture last month from the Nederlander Organization, which built and operates the Pacific, to a group of private investors that owns Irvine Meadows. One promoter said he was asking for an extension because of the exhaustive list of documents requested.

The documents further indicate that the government is looking into, among other things, possible restraint of trade, monopolization--if one company controlled both venues--and attempts to acquire stock or ownership of a company for the purpose of lessening competition.

But if approved, the alliance between the 18,765-capacity Pacific and the 15,000-capacity Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre could end years of bitter rivalry.

Ever since the Pacific opened in 1983, two years after Irvine Meadows, the facilities have waged high-stakes bidding wars to book the hottest rock, pop, country and jazz attractions. Each amphitheater has offered about 35 to 55 concerts annually.

This competition has meant more money for entertainers but also higher ticket prices. Pacific Amphitheatre officials said joint operation of the amphitheaters would open the door to other promoters, stimulate competition and benefit ticket buyers. At the same time, entertainers would no longer benefit from the bidding war for their services.

Several officials at the Nederlander Organization approached owners of Irvine Meadows with an offer to form “an association,” Nederlander attorney Neil Papiano said Friday. Negotiations between the two parties are still under way as the Justice Department inquiry continues, he said.

Papiano, who also is a partner in Nederlander, said that an association with Irvine Meadows would increase, not eliminate, competition by breaking the exclusive booking arrangement that Irvine struck in 1983 with Avalon Attractions.

Nederlander is a New York firm that books and promotes concerts nationwide. Avalon is Southern California’s largest independent concert promoter and has been a fierce rival with Nederlander in Orange County and Los Angeles for touring concert attractions.

Concert industry sources familiar with the deal said that Nederlander and Ogden Allied Leisure Services, a major concessionaire, together have bid to buy a majority interest in Irvine Meadows from its owners. Nederlander and Ogden are also partners in a proposal to build an indoor sports and concert arena in Anaheim.

Papiano declined to provide more details about the nature of the association, saying “negotiations are ongoing and several possibilities have been discussed.”

If Nederlander is successful in breaking Avalon’s exclusive booking agreement, Papiano said, “a lot of people will benefit from this--not just us--(because), if it is consummated, anybody can book shows there. . . . This would be a substantial benefit to concert-goers, and to all the promoters in the area. . . .”

“That’s why we believe (the deal) will ultimately be approved and why all of us are cooperating completely and fully in providing anything that anybody (in the Justice Department) wants,” he added.

Neither Robert Geddes, Irvine Meadows’ managing partner, nor his partners--developer Donald M. Koll and Newport Beach attorney Paul Hegness--could be reached for comment. Geddes is also a partner in Avalon Attractions.

Avalon Attractions President Brian Murphy said, “I don’t know if I should comment. The U.S. Department of Justice has started an investigation into whether or not they feel this move is being made to eliminate competition between the two facilities.”

Like Avalon Attractions’ arrangement with Irvine Meadows, Nederlander has had an exclusive right to promote concerts at the Pacific Amphitheatre. Nederlander books and operates the Pacific on a 40-year lease with the state-owned Orange County Fair, on whose property the amphitheater was built.

As to whether other promoters would enjoy the same access to the Pacific as Nederlander is hoping to gain at Irvine Meadows, Papiano said, “Yes, that is a possibility.”

If that is true, for the first time Orange County could become an open field for concert promoters.

San Diego rock promoter Bill Silva said he would “absolutely” be interested in booking shows at the Orange County amphitheaters. “There would be a few instances a year where, if the venues were open to us, we’d love to book them. . . . That’s why we are watching with great interest what happens in Orange County.”

Times staff writer Dan Weikel and free-lance writer Jim Washburn contributed to this report.