Michael Jackson concert promoters could face huge losses

Following the tragic death of pop superstar Michael Jackson, who apparently suffered a fatal cardiac arrest at his home in Los Angeles on Thursday 25th June, serious implications are beginning to emerge for the promoters of his proposed 50 night sold-out residency at London’s O2 Arena.

Los Angeles based entertainment giants AEG Worldwide had reportedly paid $40m upfront in overheads and production for the Jackson shows and will now need to return an estimated $80m in ticket sales relating to the London dates. There will also be immense administrative costs involved in making the refunds and the 20,000-capacity O2 arena could conceivably be empty for several weeks until the obviously now cancelled Michael Jackson dates can be reallocated to other events.

The main issue surrounding this is to what extent AEG, a subsidiary of ‘Anschutz Entertainment Group’, were insured for the dates. There have been conflicting reports on this over the last couple of weeks with most news outlets claiming that although some of the shows were indeed covered by Lloyds of London, the promoters found it difficult to find insurance to cover all of the 50 dates due to mounting speculation surrounding Jackson’s ill health and ability to perform so many live shows in the weeks before his death. AEG had previously gone on record to the press, stating that they would self-insure if necessary.

It is estimated that AEG could lose a potential $30m from the cancellation of the concerts. In a statement, the head of AEG Randy Phillips said: "We had pretty good coverage, but a lot of it is going to depend on the toxicology results. We need to know what the cause of death was".

AEG have also announced refund details for the concerts, in which fans were given the option of either a full refund or to still receive the actual hard copy of the ticket they would have received as a commemorative souvenir. Michael Jackson designed the tickets. To find out more details about this, fans are urged to go to this website.

RIP Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

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