Bucks bank on arena concert boom
Autumn could see return of A-list blockbusters
Fiserv Forum hasn’t hosted a concert since March 11, 2020.
Box office revenue alone plummeted 88% last year, according to concert trade publication Pollstar, a $29.6 million decline from 2019. More than a year into the COVID-19 crisis, there’s still no clear indication when arenas can safely host packed concerts again.
“Arena tours are, sadly, going to be one of the last things to come back,” suggests Dave Brooks, senior director of live and touring for Billboard. “If states like New York and California are not 100% reopen, it’ll be difficult to do a tour map in that environment.”
So at first blush, the Milwaukee Bucks’ latest hire might seem like a head-scratcher.
The team has created a new position, vice president of booking and events, to line up concerts and other events at Fiserv Forum and the adjacent Deer District.
Starr Butler started the job Monday, coming to Milwaukee from the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, where she was director of booking and events for one of the top arena tour destinations in the world. In 2019, before the concert industry cratered, the Prudential Center ranked 15th in the country for the most concert tickets sold, according to Pollstar.
“With my new role, there is a focus on building out the booking and events division with a full team,” Butler said. “I was not necessarily looking to leave the Prudential Center. … (Fiserv Forum has had) an incredible run from (opening in) August 2018 with the amount of talent that has come through Milwaukee. As I met the team it was a great fit. I know what we can do together.”
Started with an A-list lineup
Before Butler, booking for Fiserv Forum was overseen by general manager Raj Saha. The $524 million state-ofthe-art arena boosted Milwaukee’s mega-concert options in a major way.
Metallica, the Foo Fighters and the Eagles played back-to-back nights just two months after the venue opened, and Fiserv Forum hosted blockbuster shows with Justin Timberlake, Pink, Elton John and other A-listers. It hosted the first Latin music arena tour in Milwaukee in 18 years with J. Balvin, and the first major hip-hop arena tour in the city in 16 years with Travis Scott.
In 2019, Fiserv Forum grossed $33.6 million from about 440,000 concert tickets sold, according to Pollstar. In reality, it actually sold more, since Pollstar data is based on what’s reported by venues and promoters, with some tours
opting not to provide numbers.
When Fiserv Forum’s first full calendar year of operation closed, it had hosted 32 concerts and one comedy show, more events than the demolished Bradley Center ever held in a single-year in its 30-year existence.
At Prudential Center, a big increase
But the Prudential Center did even better, grossing about $52.5 million from about 636,000 tickets sold in 2019, according to Pollstar. In terms of tickets sold, it was a 21% increase from 2016, the year before Butler joined the organization — even though ticket sales for the 100 top tours in North America were essentially flat during that time frame.
Beyond the major tours in 2019, Butler had a great get convincing MTV to host its VMA Awards at the arena, and in New Jersey, for the first time.
“The Prudential Center has done a really good job in the last couple of years of booking great shows,” Billboard’s Brooks said. “They’re creating their own events, like K-pop events that are part concert and part super fan convention. That is really smart to do, but also risky and scary, but she did it and had success.”
“That’s what Fiserv Forum is going to need, too,” Brooks continued. “Almost every arena has an on-staff booking or entertainment executive, especially an NBA arena. … It’s not just a booking job, it’s a sales job. You’re selling your building to the promoter world, the agents and the artist community, and you really need somebody full time to do that.”
Investing in the concert business
When Saha left the organization to relocate to California in December — Dennis Williams, Fiserv Forum’s original assistant general manager, is now general manager — the Bucks decided to create the booking VP position, even though the financial hit for the concert industry has been devastating during the pandemic. With virtually all tours called off beginning last March, the industry directly lost $9.7 billion in 2020, according to Pollstar, with a full economic impact of more than $30 billion.
Nevertheless, Peter Feigin, president of the Milwaukee Bucks and Fiserv Forum, said creating the new position now was “essential.”
“The only way to plan for growth is to make an investment for the business,” Feigin said. “Every move we make today is about how do we bounce back. … If you don’t make a move, you end up being reactive vs. proactive.”
With vaccinations underway and President Joe Biden saying all American adults will be eligible for a vaccine by May 1, Butler is expecting “a strong comeback coming out of COVID. … Artists want to work and people want to see them.”
We could start to see the beginning of the comeback around midsummer, when Michael Rapino, CEO of Live Nation, projects outdoor shows and festivals may return. It’s why Summerfest — along with several major music festivals like Outside Lands in San Francisco, Governor’s Ball in New York, Bonnaroo in Tennessee and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival — have moved to September and October. Furthermore, Rapino said that 83% of Live Nation ticket holders haven’t requested a refund.
Counting on shows in 2022
While a few scrapped 2020 shows at Fiserv Forum are scheduled for this fall — including Michael Bublé, Dan + Shay and Tame Impala — Feigin believes big arena touring won’t really come back until the first quarter of 2022. Last month, The Weeknd made the first major new tour announcement in about a year; it kicks off in January, with a stop at Fiserv Forum Jan. 26.
“There’s pent-up fan demand and we have to be smart about how we book the next 24 months in a competitive set,” Feigin said.
“Starr does that in her sleep.”
Goal: ‘Pushing Milwaukee at the forefront’
Butler said her top goal will be “to continue to have that programming come through and pushing Milwaukee at the forefront.” The goal is for the number of shows to get back on par with the number of events before the pandemic, Feigin said.
Butler said she’ll also be exploring new types of events, like potentially a Kpop concert or an e-sports tournament, that have yet to hit a Milwaukee arena or stadium.
But in terms of shorter-term programming, outdoor events at the Deer District plaza will happen first. The Bucks have already announced the return of the Morning Glory Arts Fair and Bloody Mary Festival in August, with a goal to expand those types of offerings. The Bucks also have started booking private events again.
“I’m looking to build a community focus,” Butler said, suggesting that was a key criterion at the Prudential Center. “The venue itself is incredible. … It’s about how do we draw people to host events with us, whether it’s a large event or 20-person meeting.”
“We were just realizing how to leverage the use of spaces, and if we hadn’t had a year of a complete halt, we could have evolved a little bit more,” Feigin said. “We went out to market to look for this person, and we found someone whose high bar was really high, who was used to booking an arena 300-plus nights a year.”
Predictions for post-pandemic world
Butler said it’s too soon to say what exactly those big arena events will look like in a post-pandemic world, but she expects best practices will be pulled from sporting events that are already underway, including Bucks games, capped at 3,280 fans as of Saturday. Masks have been required at all times when fans aren’t eating or drinking — a requirement Billboard’s Brooks predicts could stick with concerts through the end of the year — and touchless transactions are a major feature.
But it’s clear sanitation will be top of mind for all fans and employees. That prompted the Bucks to create another new position — vice president of housekeeping — with Joel Rozelle, previously the assistant facility manager for the Indianapolis Convention Center and Lucas Oil Stadium, filling the role.
Before the pandemic, “the cleanliness in terms of the bathrooms, the floors, the vendors — we had outsourced that,” Feigin said. “We have to control our entire sanitation. … We’re now in the business of selling safety and cleanliness. … We’ve got to come out stronger than when we came into this.”