Forum, Staples Operators Fire Concert Booker Nederlander

Anschutz Entertainment Group subsidiaries that run Staples Center and the Forum on Friday terminated the venues’ exclusive concert booker, Nederlander, and sued the firm for breach of contract for allegedly failing to keep up on guaranteed payments.

The Anschutz firms are seeking about $500,000 in overdue payments and an estimated $5 million that would have come due before the contract expired in 2004.

Barry Mallen, an attorney for the Anschutz companies, said, “We really have not been given a good reason” for the lack of payments. “We’ll get excuses and delays.”

Nederlander attorney Adam Burke said Anschutz’s organization, which includes a concert division, had interfered with Nederlander’s deals with artists and undermined its ability to make the payments due under the contract.

Jeff Leeds