A council official has dismissed suggestions of any commercial link between a proposed deal for St David's Hall and negotiations to build a new arena in Cardiff Bay. A member of Cardiff Council's economy and culture scrutiny committee, Cllr Catriona Brown-Reckless, said at a meeting of the committee on Thursday May 31 that some people think the proposed deal between Academy Music Group (AMG) and Cardiff Council for the running of St David's Hall is a "sweetener" to Live Nation to build the new Cardiff Bay arena.
Live Nation and AMG are both separate companies, but Live Nation owns a large part of AMG. Live Nation is also set to be one of the joint operators of a new 17,000 capacity arena which will be part of a wider development of Atlantic Wharf. At Thursday's committee meeting Cardiff Council's director of economic development Neil Hanratty denied there was any connection between the two proposals.
Cllr Brown-Reckless asked Mr Hanratty: "Am I right in understanding that Live Nation, or entities which Live Nation has an interest in, are in negotiations with the council to build an arena, and enter into this St. David’s Hall lease? If the council is saying that the arena and St. David’s Hall transactions are not linked, please could it be explained how the two transactions are not linked. I find it hard to believe the two transactions are not linked at some level given the wider relationship?
