The owners of one of the LA region's large indoor venues is suing a subsidiary of AEG over allegations that the live entertainments conglom used an exclusivity deal to essentially damage their business.
Owners of the Forum arena in Inglewood entered into a deal with AEG owned LA Arena Co in 2000 which made the AEG company the exclusive booking agent for the their venue. However, Forum Enterprises Inc claim that LA Arena Co have consistently failed to book a sufficient number of shows into the venue, instead diverting bankable events to downtown LA's Staples Center, which is wholly owned by AEG.
They say that despite securing a contract revision that meant AEG guaranteed annual revenue of $500,000 for the Forum, that in itself is insufficient to cover their operating costs. Meanwhile, they claim, LA Arena Co has continued to give the Staples Center priority over the Forum, with ten of the twelve major events held at the Forum in the last year actually booked internally rather than by the AEG firm.
The lawsuit concludes "AEG has paid $500,000 per year to put the Forum out of business as an entertainment venue".
AEG are yet to comment on the lawsuit.