BACKGROUND:
The City Council approved a Contract for Services Agreement with the two leading venue booking agents in the Coachella Valley, Locations 760 and Locations Unlimited, to book for-profit events at the Cathedral City Community Amphitheater. These agents represent about 80% of all bookings at more than 100 properties in the surrounding areas. They have booked events such as the Louis Vuitton Event at the Bob Hope Estate that brought in 1,000 people, filled 5,000 hotel nights, and held 6 corporate events. They contract for corporate events for all the major weekends like Coachella 1 and 2, Stagecoach, and BNP Paribas Tennis Tournament. The contract was signed in February 2020 along with a one-year mutually agreed to extension.
Due to COVID-19, which started a month after their contracts were approved as well as construction delays at the Amphitheater, these two firms have not been able to book any events. However, now that events are ramping back up and construction on the amphitheater is near completion, they are ready to start promoting and booking events at the Amphitheater. Recently, one of the agents gave a tour with City staff to Redfin for a potential event in January for 1,900 guests.
DISCUSSION:
This contract for services agreement keeps all the same elements of the original contract except it now offers a two-year agreement with a one-year extension if mutually agreeable by the City and each of the booking agents. The two companies are:
Locations 760
Mr. Richard “Kip” Serafin
1775 E. Palm Canyon Drive, Ste. 110-250
Palm Springs, CA 92264
Locations Unlimited Inc.
Mr. Thies Lemke
41106 Yucca Lane
Bermuda Dunes, CA 92203
These two companies would perform the following tasks for booking events at the Cathedral City Community Amphitheater:
1. Market the amphitheater to potential clients
2. Negotiate the price of the amphitheater according to the fee schedule approved by the City Council
3. Have each client fill out the Special Use Permit to be submitted to City Staff for review and to be approved by the City Council
4. Appear at Council Meetings to answer any questions about the Special Use Permit submitted by their client
5. Collect all fees and security deposits to be paid to the order of “City of Cathedral City”
6. Check the client in, monitor their use of the amphitheater, and check them out.
7. Document any problems, damages, etc. to City Staff
8. City Staff will determine refunds of security deposits based on any documented damages during the client’s usage.
They will also abide by prior agreements with Pepsi and Kickback Cinemas as well as any future sound, light, and stage management agreement when using City’s sound and lighting equipment at the amphitheater. They will refer their clients to those approved contracted third parties.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The contract for services for booking the Cathedral City Community Amphitheater is commission based. For special events with a rental fee of $2,500 - $5,000, the booking agent would receive a commission of $1,000. For all events over $5,000, the booking agent would receive a commission of 20% of the gross rental fee. The agents receive no monetary compensation unless the City is paid through their booking of an event.
These seasoned agents have the potential to book clients unknown to the city and bring in significant dollars to go towards the park reserve fund for future improvements and maintenance.