Racedo - I think this is a bit of thread creep, but needless to say I don't agree with all your points! Figure I've heard from popcorn is the "food" costs about 0.3p, 1-2p for packaging, the rest is margin. No wonder Stelios' "easy" cinema never "took off" - as his "great" idea was keep it clean, no popcorn!
Some artists have fancy accounting, many don't - after all most of them espouse left wing principles, only one has been heavily targetted for their tax affairs (U2), and they aren't even British, even if their stage shows are UK designed. Without going through each and every one, I put it to you that the majority live in the UK and pay their fair share of UK taxes.
The VAT on tickets is levied on the sales price - so all should go to HMRC. Merchandise is also vatable and a very high margin product. There are a whole load of new hotels both next to the O2 and in the Docklands area which benefit from the combined existence of Excel, the O2 and the airport, together with the Docklands business area itself, and as leisure events peak at the weekends, the two uses can have a double peak, similar to the NEC complex adjacent to BHX - or does that suck money from the local economy too? Again, hotels pay business rates and room rates are vatable, although iirc some will be on corporate expenses so reclaimable, but you could say that about any conference or event.
The existence of the O2 is not a simple matter of displacement - prior to its opening, the largest venue in the world by revenue was the MEN in Manchester, not another London venue. London's other large venues were seriously out of date - Earl's Court was not a big earner (see local debate there) and Wembley Arena was also much in need of a revamp (now done, but capacity still lags well behind O2). It really isn't a zero sum game - create a 20k capacity venue when shows would have previously gone to a 10k venue and you have the opportunity to double revenue. In fact, the economies of scale here work in reverse - the larger the act, the higher the ticket price!
I don't know average occupancy for the O2, but I guess it would indeed give Ryanair a run for their money. Then you have licencing rights for a huge number of DVDs and TV shows recorded there on top. For the best atmosphere, a live shows wants to be a sell out, or as near as possible. Now by all means have a go at the ticket re-sale racket or whatever else, but the O2 is clearly a moneyspinner in its current form, so much so that O2 have sponsored a number of other similar venues built on a similar scale elsewhere (DUB, PRG, BER?), I believe also commissioned by the same entertainment company.
From a promoter's perspective, this kind of venue is preferable to a stadium show, as there is no risk of inclement weather, and much greater control of lighting and acoustics. Overall, a win-win. If you don't like seeing shows in big sheds like these then fair enough, but I really think the economics should be self explanatory.
Last edited by jabird; 14th Apr 2012 at 21:48.