IFC
STURGIS - UPDATE
8-16-2004
Denver/Broomfield/Boulder,
CO
Promoter
issues statement
Sturgis
Music Festival promoter Ron Rose contacted us by phone today and issued
the following statement regarding the cancellation if the August 14th,
IFC event.
My name is
Ron Rose. I am the managing member of Sturgis 2004, LLC and one of the major
investors in this enterprise. Many of the fight websites have printed libelous
remarks about me and my involvement in the Sturgis Music Festival. I can no
longer remain silent and swallow this abuse without replying with the facts. The
following article making the rounds is typical enough of what is being said that
I will respond to it point by point with facts, not innuendo!
This
is what is being printed about me:
Some
friends of mine are involved in a fight promotion in Sturgis this weekend. Seems
Mr. Rose skipped town to the tune of $600k. This from
www.graciefighter.com
:
"An absolute fiasco has engulfed the IFC show in Sturgis, South Dakota. The
IFC was one of several shows to be prominently featured at the famous Sturgis
motorcycle rally. Musicians B.B. King and the group 38 Special along with
comedians Dana Carvey and Paul Rodriguez were all contracted to perform this
weekend. Unfortunately it seems as if a crooked investor has forced the
cancellation of all performances. Ron Rose is a 7x World Poker Champion and one
of the co-investor/promoters. Mr. Rose apparently stole an estimated 400 to 600
thousand dollars of the ticket sales and then promptly skipped town. He also
took with him all of the E ticket terminals. The terminals were the only record
keeping machines for the revenues being generated and it is assumed that he took
them so he could wipe out the hard drives, making an exact accounting of how
much he took impossible. Several hundred bikers had purchased tickets to the
various shows and are now left with the fact that they were duped out of their
money. Millions will be lost on the show due to the fact that there were several
television shows filming the performances
along with an HBO special. The IFC show
was set to be a pay per view event and will very likely be cancelled if other
investors don't ante up for the stolen revenue. Paul Smith and Monte Cox are
scrambling to make the Horn vs. Marquardt fight happen, however Pe De Pano vs.
Severn and all of the Brazilian fighters' fights have been officially cancelled.
We will not find out until tomorrow morning whether or not the whole show will
be cancelled. "
performances
along with an HBO special. The IFC show
was set to be a pay per view event and will very likely be cancelled if other
investors don't ante up for the stolen revenue. Paul Smith and Monte Cox are
scrambling to make the Horn vs. Marquardt fight happen, however Pe De Pano vs.
Severn and all of the Brazilian fighters' fights have been officially cancelled.
We will not find out until tomorrow morning whether or not the whole show will
be cancelled. "
First
and most libelous is the fact the I have been wrongly accused of taking off with
$600,000 of ticket receipts. If that were not so absurd, ridiculous and
downright malicious, it would be laughable. The sales for the first three
concerts, all of which were first class, were dismal. Total sales for the first
concert in an arena that would hold 15,000 spectators was 548 paid attendance.
Second Concert, 562 paid attendance. Third concert, Hank Williams, Jr., one of
our top draws was 1501 paid attendance. The receipts for these figures did not
even begin to cover what we paid in entertainment fees to the artists. All cash
sales were deposited the next day in the bank. All credit card sales were
recorded at Etix online ticket sales. All figures can be accounted for by the
bank, Etix and by the CPA who acted as the controller to be sure that sales were
conducted properly. How I could walk off with $600,000 is a mystery to me and to
any reasonable person. Accusations to this effect are not only libelous they are
incredibly hurtful to myself and my family.
As
to advance sales, Classic Rock Night had 252 tickets sold; B.B. King had 605 ;
Las Vegas Night, a mere 20, Comic Relief, 35 and the great IFC rumble had a
grand total of 36 seats sold. Again, no $600,000 figures here! And all sales
were accounted for in the same way as for the concerts which took place. I ask
you. Does this merit putting on five more shows? Only a moron would continue.
Next
point, Comic Relief Night. We had no contract at all with Comic Relief. Despite
repeated attempts to nail down a contract and have them provide us with a lineup
so that we could advertise and make advance sales, it was not until August 6,
one week before the performance that we were told that we had Paul Rodriguez and
6 no name comics lined up to perform. Dana Carvey was not scheduled or expected
to be scheduled. More lies! How can a promoter sell tickets for a show with no
lineup? And, oh, we were also promised one of the three big Comic Relief Stars
which we of course did not get – Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams or Billy
Crystal! Coincidentally we could never even get a contract with Comic Relief
even though they were paid $25,000 earlier in the process.
I
don’t need to comment again about the slurs to my reputation which are
asserted next in the post. They are of course libelous and actionable by law.
The writer does not even have my poker wins correct. I would love to admit to
being a 7-time World Champion, but it just ain’t so! More inaccuracies.
As
to the computer terminals, they were returned to the computer store which rented
them to Sturgis 2004 for ticket sales the morning after the concerts were
cancelled. They were laptops with a swipe for credit cards. I could not wipe out
the hard drives, since all information is on the system at Etix, not on the
computers we used to process the credit cards. Again, Etix has a full accounting
of tickets sold and are giving refunds from funds collected from Visa/MC ticket
sales. Despite repeated attempts over the last month to get a complete
accounting from Etix we have never seen one.
Several
hundred bikers have not been “duped” out of their money. Credit card sales
are being refunded and we have taken names of those who called in for cash
refunds. However, at this time those who have paid cash for tickets may not get
a refund because of lack of funds.
Now,
for one of the biggest bits of misinformation put out by my detractors –
Television contracts. There was never at any time the possibility of a
contract with HBO for Comic Relief. And we did not have a signed contract with
the IFC pay per view event. They presented us with a contract a few days before
the show, expecting, I guess that we would sign anything at that point. We did
not.
For
anyone interested in the facts, there are three major reasons why this
cancellation happened.
First,
lack of attendance. We had an A+ facility – stage, bleachers, LED screens,
plenty of room to stand – a capacity of 15,000. The attendance cited above
should speak for itself.
Second,
when our investment group was presented with this concert idea we were promised
one to one and a half million dollars in sponsorship. We were told of a list of
sponsors that were supposedly already signed or ready to sign like Ford,
Gillette, etc. In actuality, we received $7,000 to rent a tent which may or may
not be called sponsorship. That leaves a deficit in sponsorship monies of,
let’s see, “only” $993,000 to $1,493,000. The people that promised this as
a way to lure investors, are the real culprits. I tried my level best to keep
this thing going, working night and day since the day I was made a managing
member. Surprise after surprise from the other members who obligated the
corporation to pay monies without the authority to do so made it virtually
impossible. But for all my work and for all the money I put in (they put in
nothing as investors – nothing!) I could not make it go. As a last resort, I
turned to the group who owned the venue area in Sturgis if they would like to
take over the Sturgis Music Festival so that the shows would not have to be
cancelled. After I told them what the ticket sales had been;
they politely declined.
Third,
the city of Sturgis gave us zero in the way of support to bring bikers into the
city for entertainment. They “allowed” us to put a banner on the armory
which they required us to have made by their printer at a cost of about $5,000
and the mayor wanted 20 all events passes worth $4,500 in return. They promised
parking for the event. They charged $5 per head for parking (they got that
money) and provided another free lot a half of a mile away from the venue. That is it. That is what the city
did for us. Once the event was cancelled, the Mayor wanted to distance the city
from us so stated to all who would listen that the city had nothing to do with
the Sturgis Music Festival.
Why
did I leave without defending myself? I was advised by the police who were there
when we cancelled the show and by the security guards not to stay. My life was
threatened, both in person and by telephone. My family was with me (who by the
way worked 14-16 hour days the whole time solely out of the goodness of their
hearts) and I would not risk their safety for anything! I talked by telephone
continuously to those involved, Etix, bank, investors, ticket holders, Sturgis
officials, etc. what I got in return were more threats and malicious lies spread
about me.
This
brings me to my last point. I have a list of all who have posted libelous
comments on the net. If they are not taken off immediately they will be included
in my libel and slander suit against all who are spreading rumors which people
are only too anxious to pick up and spread.
I
did not have to write this rebuttal to all the garbage that has appeared, but
enough is enough! It’s time for action.
Sturgis
2004, LLC will not have enough funds to pay all its debts and will likely have
to go into bankruptcy. It is not what we had planned. We envisioned something
that would be good for Sturgis, for the bikers and visitors and for the
investors. It did not happen for the reasons stated above. My detractors should
also keep in mind that Sturgis 2004, LLC is not comprised solely of Ron Rose.
There are other members of the corporation, some of whom have started these
malicious lies about me. They must bear their share of the blame for what has
happened. I regret the outcome. I regret that there are others who are
profoundly affected by this development. But I can only speak for myself. You
will not likely hear from the others!
Ron
Rose
