One of the biggest Masters Week disappointments since the cancelation of the tournament due to COVID-19 was last year’s collapse of XPR Augusta.
What was billed as being a weeklong festival with three evening VIP concerts by A-list headliners was called off on March 19, 2022 after event producer C4 Live announced ticket sales had been suspended.
The Las Vegas company had promised Blake Shelton and Nelly, Tim McGraw and Pitbull and Jimmy Buffet in three concerts with large, luxury VIP sections and high-end food and beverages geared toward tournament visitors and local big spenders.
C4 Live had halted construction of a stage and VIP area two weeks earlier, blaming soil instability at city-owned Lake Olmstead Stadium, the event’s intended venue.
C4 Live had been ‘vetted’
Coupled with last year’s return of the full tournament after two COVID-abbreviated years, the disappointment was almost palpable, and C4 Live couldn’t issue refunds fast enough.
“As far as I know, within 60 days everybody got refunded, but we weren’t involved in any ticketing,” said Cal Wray, executive director for the Augusta Economic Development Authority. “I haven’t had anybody call me since then.”
The authority underwent months of contract negotiations and had vetted C4, whose managing partner Greg Costello reported leading “key entertainment operations” for five Super Bowls and multiple Country Music Awards festivals.
‘We had our attorneys vet them, and everything they told us checked out,” Wray said.
The authority and C4 thrilled the Augusta Commission with the promise of free upgrades at the neglected stadium, abandoned since the Augusta GreenJackets moved to a new venue in North Augusta.
“When they came into the city and made their proposal, they were going to invest $3.5 to $5 million into that city property,” said former Commissioner John Clarke, who served on the commission during the episode.
“That would have been a great fix for that property and an investment for the city that taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay for,” Clarke said.
Group had two years to identify issues
C4 had more than two years to evaluate the soil at Olmstead since leasing the property “as-is” in January 2020. The group called off the first Masters Week event on March 11, 2020, claiming it was unable to secure A-list talent. Little was said during 2021, when the tournament was held with substantially fewer spectators.
Four area nonprofits designated as beneficiaries also missed out. They were the James Brown Academy of Musik Pupils, the Jessye Norman School of the Arts, the Augusta Boxing Club and the Savannah Riverkeeper.
Riverkeeper Tonya Bontitatibus said the C4 experience should be a lesson learned.
“Augusta got burned on that one, but it would be wise to closely look at all of Augusta Economic Development’s deals giving away/providing resources in exchange for projected events of jobs and ensure those deals really have our community’s best interest at heart,” she said.
Locals remained optimistic even after last year’s cancelation, saying it was a safety concern not worth the risk. And C4 had promised more than just a Masters Week show. Under a 10-year contract it was expected to put on a Soul Festival, and events for Halloween, St. Patrick’s Day, New Year’s Eve and other occasions during up to 80 days per year.
Lawsuits filed against C4 Live
Today, the company’s presence in Augusta has evaporated.
“Another year has gone by and another year, nothing,” Wray said. “Nothing has happened at the stadium since, and we’ve sued C4.”
Filed last month by the AEDA and the city, the lawsuit contends C4 did nothing, including paying $25,000 annually for operating costs. Nor has it paid the difference from the required $425,000 in improvements it was expected to make from 2020-2023.
“Defendant was well aware of the soil conditions as they existed,” the suit states, and has abandoned the project “for its own economic conditions, unrelated to any subsurface conditions.”
C4 was also required to leave the property in good repair, which it hasn’t, and all told, Augusta has suffered at least $1 million in economic injuries, it said.
The AEDA has now become the unofficial caretaker of the property, and has been spending thousands on basic repairs connected largely to vandalism at the isolated site, and maintenance such as cutting the grass, Wray said.
C4, meanwhile, is being sued for $784,454 by a contractor it hired to build double-decker tents and staircases at the site. The lawsuit, filed by Imarfer US LLC, contends C4 gave notice it was cancelling its contract on March 10, 2022 and has yet to provide any explanation.
C4’s counterclaim to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, blames Imarfer for the problems.
While the condition at Olmstead was “not foreseeable,” Imarfer was expected to provide “a site inspection and offer site-specific engineering if required,” it said. The firm “failed to address the condition of the venue that ultimately led to C4’s instability to move forward.”
