Consumer Show Gets Date Protection Deal

Organizer wins date guarantees, as well as additional hall space

By Gary Tufel -- Tradeshow Week, 5/16/2005

A consumer show producer has won a battle in the ongoing war with convention center managers over being bumped to accommodate larger, more lucrative shows.

In the settlement of a lawsuit that Pat Riha Productions filed against the city of Kansas City, Mo., Riha has won guaranteed dates from 2006 through 2011 for its Kansas City Boat Show and Kansas City RV Show at the Kemper Arena/American Royal Center, along with date guarantees on two other shows.

Riha sued the city after the February 2004 dates for the boat and RV shows were changed in September 2002 to accommodate World of Wheels, owned by Championship Auto Shows. The change was made 17 months in advance, even though the city's stated policy guaranteed dates 18 months out. The city had argued the policy was a guideline, and not part of any contractual agreement.

Company President Patrick Riha said, "We were told that World of Wheels had scheduling conflicts in other cities, preventing them from having the Kansas City show at their previously scheduled time."

Riha said he argued with city officials for six months regarding the booking policy, pointing out that World of Wheels had often produced multiple shows in different cities at the same time. He said the city refused to listen to him, "probably assuming that we would not undertake the expensive and lengthy legal challenge. We filed our lawsuit in May of 2003."

Oscar McGaskey, executive director of Kansas City Convention & Entertainment Centers, confirmed that the settlement ensures Riha a specific timeframe each year to produce his boat and RV shows at the Kansas City Convention Center. Riha was also provided specific dates to produce annual remodeling and gardening shows at the American Royal.

"Mr. Riha's dates were modified to accommodate some convention business the convention center had booked," McGaskey said. "Mr. Riha felt his dates were firm. However, he did not have a facility lease contract from the convention center."

Nevertheless, he continued, "This settlement does not prohibit the city from providing dates to our repeat customers at the convention center. This is a good settlement for the city."

Riha said that, besides the guaranteed dates, the settlement also gives him additional hall space for several shows from 2008 through 2011. The city paid no damages, but granted Riha substantial rent concessions at its American Royal Center. Riha said the guaranteed dates and the rent concessions will be a bigger long-term financial benefit to him than any kind of damage award.

Riha said his real concern was not so much the specific dates as the precedent Kansas City was setting regarding its booking policy: Was the policy an ironclad guarantee a promoter could count on, or merely a guideline the city could choose to follow or not? By wiping out firm commitments for future dates, the "asset value" of the shows would have been similarly reduced, he said.