When Michael Perry first drove past Lake Olmstead Stadium, he didn’t see an abandoned baseball field. He saw a unique opportunity for an outdoor event space and a new business model for C4 Live.
“Most of our work is at the Super Bowl,” said Perry, who is C4 Live’s managing partner.
For football’s largest game of the year, C4 creates entertainment experiences leading up to it. The company builds temporary structures and only stays in the city for the short term.
In Augusta, the concept is completely different.
Plans do include heavy-hitting entertainers during the week The Masters Tournament is in town, but other events are designed to draw crowds at other times during the year.
“I fell in love with the stadium when I was looking for a spot in Augusta,” he said. “I saw it Day One during a tour in 2019.”
The stadium has a lot of plusses, he said.
“Three-quarters of the infrastructure needed is here,” he said.
The site already has water, plumbing and electrical. The former locker rooms, concession stands and offices can be used for the future plan. The deck area near right field offers potential as well.
In other venues, his company has to bring in bathrooms.
Some of the stadium work is on hold while crews with the independent movie “The Hill” have been restoring the baseball field for upcoming filming.
In the meantime, C4 Live’s crews are working on the concession areas, locker rooms and other spaces that won’t be involved in the movie-making process.
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C4 Live will be investing $1.7 million in Lake Olmstead Stadium. C4 Live has a 10-year partnership agreement with the Augusta Economic Development Authority.
Once the film crews have left, Perry said it will be time to focus on his plans and get the stadium ready for April 2022.
The focal point of the stadium will shift. Instead of it being on the field, the center portion of the stands will be built to house the stage area for XPR Augusta, where Blake Shelton will perform April 6 and Tim McGraw will perform April 7. A third headliner, yet to be named, will perform April 8. Perry expects to reveal the third artist possibly around Thanksgiving. The baseball field will become the area where the crowds gather. Seats along the first and third base lines will disappear.
Not only will there be the concerts, but there will be other activities scheduled during golf week.
Perry said they won’t be adding a parking deck. Plans are being made to use other parking lots in the vicinity of the stadium and providing a shuttle service.
The bash is the first of the big events being planned. The next event will follow on its heels. Soul Fest is scheduled for April 29-30 and May 1.
Perry said summer concerts are better left for indoor arenas considering the heat, but another happening is in the works for fall 2022.
With each event, Perry said area organizations will benefit financially with donations going to The James Brown Academy of Musik Pupils (JAMP), the Jessye Norman School for the Arts, Augusta Boxing Club, Savannah Riverkeeper and Golden Harvest Food Bank.
Perry said he’d love to replicate the idea in other cities, but Augusta is unique.
“This is a blueprint for us, but it would take the right opportunity,” he said. “We’d need organizations like Jessye Norman and JAMP.”
And that part would be difficult to find.
Charmain Z. Brackett is the Features Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach her at charmain@theaugustapress.com.
