Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino and Smith Entertainment Group CEO Ryan Smith stated this week that stay occasions are extra central than ever to tradition and commerce in a post-pandemic world.
Speaking at CNBC Sport and Boardroom’s Game Plan convention on Tuesday, the executives stated that the excessive demand for in-person occasions has been unmistakable.
“No matter what you bring to that table that day, you unite around that one shared experience,” Rapino stated. “For those two hours, I tend to drop whatever baggage I have and have a shared moment.”
According to Goldman Sachs, the stay music trade is expected to grow at a 7.2% compounded annual fee by way of 2030, fueled by millennials and Generation Z.
Smith bought the NBA’s Utah Jazz in 2020 and launched a new NHL franchise within the state in 2024.
“In sports, we’re really media companies,” Smith stated. “We’ve got talent, we’ve got distribution. We’re putting on a show or a wedding or something every night.”
Rapino additionally emphasised how the economics of music have shifted. With streaming income dwarfed by touring earnings, stay reveals have turn out to be a major income for artists.
“The artist is going to make 98% of their money from the show,” he stated. “We simply did Beyonce’s tour. She’s received 62 transport vans exterior. That’s a Super Bowl she’s placing on each night time.”
Despite headlines about rising ticket prices, Rapino argued that concert events are nonetheless underpriced in comparison with sporting occasions.
“In sports, I joke it’s like a badge of honor to spend [$70,000] for Knicks courtside,” Rapino stated. “When you read about the ticket prices going up, it’s still an average concert price [of] $72. Try going to a Laker game for that, and there’s 80 of them [in a season].”
The value of admission for motion pictures, theaters and concert events rose 3.4% in August from a 12 months earlier, in line with the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ shopper worth index knowledge, outpacing the total index’s enhance of two.9%. Meanwhile, the price of admission for sporting occasions final month fell 0.5%, in comparison with the identical time final 12 months.
Ryan Smith attends a media alternative previous to the premier recreation for the Utah Hockey Club at Delta Center in Salt Lake City on Oct. 8, 2024.
Bruce Bennett | Getty Images Sport | Getty Images
Looking forward, each executives are betting closely on Salt Lake City as a development market. Smith and Rapino are partnering on a brand new downtown leisure district within the Utah metropolis anchored by sports activities and music venues.
The plan is to finally host 100 to 200 nights of occasions a 12 months, from NBA and NHL video games to main concert events.
“If we do our job, that’s probably a million people coming downtown,” Smith stated. “The impact it has on a city and businesses is almost indescribable.”
Rapino additionally stated expertise, together with AI-driven ticketing, might make shopping for tickets smoother.
“Most websites are going to be challenged in the future, as you’re going to use that chatbot,” Rapino stated. “We think ticketing, and how you find that ticket and how you can get that ticket, needs to be improved.”