By DEAN MOSIMAN dmosiman@madison.com 608-252-6141 | Posted: Saturday, November 21, 2009 10:25 pm
A promising fundraiser featuring a band of TV stars nearly became a financial nightmare for the Epilepsy Foundation of Southern Wisconsin.
A concert by The Band from TV, which features moonlighting actors including Hugh Laurie of "House" and James Denton of "Desperate Housewives," was set for Alliant Energy Center on Saturday night.
But due to "unexpectedly soft ticket sales," the Epilepsy Foundation cancelled the show Friday evening, narrowly missing being responsible for perhaps $50,000 in concert-related expenses without the revenue to cover them, foundation executive director Art Taggert said.
The band "was really excited about this. They really wanted to do the concert," Taggert said. "But we could not risk the loss of tens of thousands of dollars."
The Band from TV, which has done charity performances across the country, was to donate the first $125,000 in concert proceeds to the national Epilepsy Foundation and other charities, while additional proceeds would have flowed to the Epilepsy Foundation of Southern Wisconsin, Taggert said. A sellout of the 7,900-seat Alliant Center would have generated perhaps a $200,000 net profit for the local organization, he said.
Initially, because a sponsor was paying for a charter plane for the band, the foundation had to sell 3,200 tickets to break even, Taggert said. But the sponsor pulled out, meaning 4,700 tickets had to be sold.
By Friday afternoon, advance sales were nowhere near what was needed, and the foundation couldn’t risk relying on a big day-of-show gate, Taggert said. Until the last moments, the band was trying to make the concert work and willing to play a smaller venue for those who had bought tickets, he said.
After the cancellation, some ticket holders donated their refunds and others owed money have been trying to minimize expenses for the foundation, Taggert said.
"I’m hoping this will be a net zero for us," he said.