Masters Week event promoter C4 Live has fired back at Augusta’s lawsuit with a counterclaim singling out one Augusta commissioner, saying during extensive behind-the-scenes discussions about the project, he and other city officials should have warned them about unstable soil at Lake Olmstead Stadium.
Augusta Economic Development Authority and the city sued the Las Vegas firm in February, saying C4 failed to live up to its end of a 10-year sublease. C4 was supposed to host a Masters Week concert series at the stadium last year called XPR Augusta, but canceled days before the tournament, citing the unstable soil.
C4 had subleased the former Augusta GreenJackets stadium in an “as-is” condition for 10 years in 2020. The sublease called for C4 to make significant capital improvements there and put on several large-scale events each year, starting with a music festival during the 2020 Masters Tournament.
But with COVID-19 canceling or limiting the tournament in 2020 and 2021, C4 did little or nothing at the property until September of 2021, when the counterclaim said it undertook at least $700,000 in upgrades.
Shortly before planned April 2022 Masters Week concerts by Nelly, Blake Shelton, Pitbull, Tim McGraw and Jimmy Buffet, C4 learned of “dangerous subterraneous/subsurface defective conditions in the field,” which resulted in “very poor load-bearing capacity of the turf,” it said.
The baseball field “could not support the large stage and other structures that were to be erected, nor the very large crowd that was anticipated,” it said. A subsequent geological study found addressing the instability would take considerable time and cost upwards of $1 million.
Despite the “as-is” sublease, local officials knew a tractor had sunk into the field during the Papa Joe’s Banjo-B-Que festival held there two months before they solicited C4 to lease the property.
The counterclaim portrays AEDA Executive Director Cal Wray and board Chairman Steven Kendrick as passive helpers in an Augusta Commission initiative led by Commissioner Sean Frantom. Wray declined to comment on the ongoing litigation.
Frantom, then an employee at the Ronald McDonald House, arranged a meeting there in August 2019 between C4 principals with himself, Commissioner Brandon Garrett and Augusta Parks and Recreation staffers.The group toured the stadium that same day.
“At least two commissioners knew of the substantial scope of the work that C4 would be required to perform at the stadium,” states the counterclaim. Soon “Frantom, of his own volition, introduced the potential for C4 to lease the stadium,” it said.
C4 was then asked to submit a proposal in what the counterclaim said was a “workaround” to bypass Augusta’s procurement process.
AEDA wasn’t bound by Augusta’s procurement process, while the city could lease the stadium at any time, so C4 could lease the property from the AEDA without any concerns, it said.
Frantom would later arrange meetings between C4 officials and then-Commissioner Marion Williams at Augustino’s, then-Commissioner John Clarke at Beamie’s and by phone with then-Commissioner Mary Davis.
The arrangements were to “ensure that the city commissioners did not run awry of the ‘assembling’ laws pertaining to official commission meetings in which city business was discussed,” the counterclaim states.
Since the trouble went public, Frantom and others appeared on TV news stating they were not surprised about the soil issues after the Banjo-B-Que incidents, it said.
While C4 was on the hook for capital improvements and routine maintenance, it lacks the funds to fix the dirt and has lost profits likely in excess of $50 million as a result, it said.
In a footnote, the counterclaim advises that Kendrick told C4 they had to pay sheriff’s deputies in cash and not issue a 1099 tax form and had this confirmed by the sheriff’s office.
Frantom said Wednesday he had not seen the counterclaim and had done nothing wrong.
“How could I be named when all I did was introduce them to people? I wasn’t involved in any contract negotiations, didn’t receive anything from them, and the commission unanimously supported this initiative through the EDA. The EDA handled this deal and vetted them completely,” he said.
“It’s obvious they don’t understand how our government works to single me out, as I am only one commissioner and could never get this done without my colleagues. I’m disappointed by the entire situation and ready to move on,” Frantom said.
