“North America is the most attractive market in the world for live entertainment and ticketing,” Schulerberg said in a statement. “The platform eventim.com puts us in an ideal position to benefit from the restart there. The sale of tickets for Big Apple Circus is a first step on this journey. We are already in discussions with potential partners and customers about making our cutting-edge ticketing systems available to them soon.”
The Big Apple Circus is being co-produced by veteran entertainment executive Michael Cohl, a longtime promoter of bands like The Rolling Stones who briefly served as chairman of Live Nation in 2008. For much of the last decade he’s been producing touring shows through his company S2BN and a recent $10 million payout from the Small Business Administration as part of the Shuttered Venue Operators Grants program would indicate the company earned at least $20 million in 2019, based on application rules.
Cohl has formed a joint venture with CTS Eventim to produce content called EMC Presents with “the goal of bringing leading international artists to stages in the United States and Canada,” according to a release issued by CTS Eventim.
If more deals with Cohl continue, that kind of business activity could be very helpful for CTS Eventim as it tries to expand in the U.S., although it does little to solve a larger obstacle facing the German ticketer — venues hold the ticketing contracts in the U.S., not touring shows. Ticketing contracts for major venues only become available when the old contracts expire. In order to grow, CTS Eventim will need to try and peel away Ticketmaster’s clients one by one, an effort that will take significant time, money and resources with no guarantee of success.
CTS could also grow through an acquisition, but only ticketing company available in the U.S. that would put CTS Eventim in the same league as Ticketmaster would be the AEG-owned AXS and a source tells Billboard there’s no interest at AEG.
CTS Eventim’s growth plans aren’t solely tied to the U.S. This summer also saw the launch of Eventim Live Asia. The new company, headquartered in Singapore and is led by former Live Nation Jason Miller and is focused developing opportunities in China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines.
