GEDDES, N.Y. (CelebrityAccess) Citing costs, the New York State Fair has switched promotion companies and is working this year with Louisville-based Triangle Talent after wrapping a five-year contract with Live Nation.
The state will pay Triangle a base rate of $2,750 for each national musical act it brings to Chevy Court or the Experience Stage, the two main stages at the fair, according to the Syracuse Post-Standard. Under the previous contract, Live Nation was paid $5,000 per act. The state broke that contract last fall in order to rewrite one that covered more bookings, fair director Troy Waffner told the paper.
The state plans to ramp up its entertainment budget at the fairgrounds over the next few years to include up to 10 concerts outside of the fair, which runs this year Aug. 21 to Sept. 2.
“Things had changed, even in the last two years,” Waffner said. “There just was no way to expand the current scope of services that we’d bid two years ago.”
Triangle is booking acts under a special no-bid, one-year contract, Waffner told the paper, because it broke the five-year contract with Live Nation. The state awarded that contract in 2017.
The state spends about $3 million a year on entertainment with as much as $2 million going to national music acts, the paper said.
Last year, 26 concerts at Chevy Court drew more than 300,000; Triangle has booked 22 concerts so far for this year’s fair.
