When it comes landing big-name acts in entertainment, Stockton isn’t getting a standing ovation.
The scandal emerging over how Stockton forked over $50,000 to make up for a promoter’s expected losses on a Wild ‘N Out Live performance featuring Vice Mayor Jason Lee in the cast offers a window into the city’s struggles in trying to lure top acts to its theater and arena.
The head of the events management firm that handles the city’s five entertainment venues painted Stockton as a tough sell to a City Council committee when it comes to bringing top talent for live performances.
Jason Perry, general manager of ASM Global’s Stockton operation, said San Joaquin County’s largest city is often viewed by promoters as a third-tier market. Too often, potentially lucrative acts scurry off to theaters or arenas in Sacramento or Oakland or choose deep-pocketed casinos.
Among venues operated for the city by ASM, figures presented at last Monday’s Audit Committee meeting show the Adventist Health Arena, where Wild ‘N Out was held, had a $1.3 million net operating loss in fiscal 2024. The Oak Park Ice Rink and Banner Island Ballpark both wound up more than $500,000 in the red. The Bob Hope Theatre, however, eked out a net operating profit of $6,013.
Shoutouts from Nick Cannon
There had been high hopes for Wild ‘N Out Live in May, based on the MTV and VH1 show in which Lee is an occasional cast member. The Stockton comedy performance was being promoted heavily in Northern California by TV host and actor Nick Cannon. Yet ticket sales lagged.
Perry, speaking at the Audit Committee meeting, said he felt he had to make a stand.
If promoters followed through on threats to cancel Wild ‘N Out Live, it would have joined 12 other bookings that had already slipped away this year alone, Perry said. The market for live shows has been strained in part due to fears arising from immigration raids.
But that’s hardly the only reason: In pointing out just how complex entertainment deals can be, Perry gave a couple of other examples. One pointed out how Stockton has a difficult time landing top acts. The other goes to the risks promoters take in bringing a show to the city.
Lots of yada yada, but Seinfeld gets away
First, there was the tail end of negotiations to bring Jerry Seinfeld to the Bob Hope Theatre for two shows. On the day the contract was going to be signed, it fell apart over Seinfeld’s “radius clause.”
As part of the negotiations, Seinfeld’s team included a clause in the contract which states that a performer can’t appear within a certain distance from another venue for a certain amount of time. Seinfeld called off the Stockton shows when he got a better offer from a gambling house.
“Our friends up north, the casino, gave Jerry twice the payday and he said, ‘Thanks, love ya, I would like to go back to the theater but the money keeps me,'” Perry said.
Planning snafus waylay Lil Wayne
As for the other example, the city was able to lure a major artist, singer Lil Wayne, only to have the performance turn into a financial bust. Perry blamed miscalculations by the promoter as the prime factor.
The initial plan had been to bring Lil Wayne’s performance to the arena last September. He would play back-to-back dates — Stockton in Northern California and Ontario in the south. But Ontario was a sellout and Stockton had only sold a paltry 2,000 tickets. The date was moved to February when Lil Wayne was expected to release a new album.
“We were really going to ride on that because when an artist released an album — hopefully it’s a good one — you get that momentum and you ride those ticket sales,” Perry said. But the album release was delayed. The show date was moved yet again, this time to coincide with a performance in Bakersfield. Once again, the album didn’t drop as planned and ticket sales didn’t match expectations in Stockton, leading to a loss of “close to” $300,000, Perry said.
Lee, the vice mayor who chairs the Audit Committee meeting, said he had suggested that Stockton bring in Wild ‘N Out Live, saying he viewed it as an opportunity. Lee’s face was featured on the poster for the event, among a large cast of performers.
The pitch to land Wild ‘N Out
Perry said it was complicated negotiation, one that went on informally with the promoters for weeks. The talks underscored the complicated nature of structuring a deal to bring an act to Stockton. A promoter can simply rent a facility. Some want to split the pot or get a cut of the food and beverage sales or parking charges. For Wild ‘N Out, the promoters wanted to rent the arena and share revenue from service fees and food and beverage sales, Perry said.
Tickets were initially priced high and sluggish sales alarmed promoters.
“Jason, we’re going to pull the show,” Perry recalled the promoters warning him as the performance date closed in. Perry said he believed its cancelation would have been too much of a blow to the city’s entertainment reputation. “Stockton cannot afford another show going away, especially on one of this large magnitude that’s getting as much publicity as it has gotten,” he said.
His ace in the hole: Making a request to the city to dip into a $600,000 Risk Mitigation Fund created the previous fiscal year. It was intended to lure performances to Stockton or cut their losses in hopes they might return to try again with top acts.
“The goal of this fund is to allow the venues to go ‘at risk’ to secure a show,” though never by more than the amount in the fund, states ASM’s slide presentation to the committee. “If the show performs well, the profits rebuild the fund.”
Lantern Festival loses its glow
The fund had been formed the previous year to cut losses in the the second year of the Lantern Festival held at the ballpark. The light show, a multi-million dollar production meant to create “generational memories” every holiday season, nets $4 million in some markets, Perry said. In establishing the show in Stockton, promoters expected it to lose $200,000 its first year. But in a surprise, it brought in $206,000 — a $6,000 profit. Hopes were high for the second year. But only half as many tickets were sold then, resulting in a loss of $125,000 over the two-year run, city documents show.
In the final week before Wild ‘N Out Live, ticket prices were slashed to as low as $6 on the deep-discount site Groupon. Yet promoters needed more than $750,000 in ticket sales to break even, Perry said.
“It’s probably the cheapest ticket ever in the history of the venue,” he said.
Some 2,797 people snapped up tickets in the final week for a final tally of 7,121 who saw Wild ‘N Out Live, according to Perry.
Though promoters took a loss and the city paid out compensation, Tina McCarty, director of the city’s Economic Development Department, said out-of-town attendance and parking revenues helped salvage the event.
“Ultimately, the event was a success for the city,” she insisted in a email to a deputy city manager.
The lesson for Stockton?
There really is no business like show business.