By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Wednesday, April 8, 2015
The Bill Cosby show at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre is still scheduled for May 2, but the beleaguered comic may be facing plenty of empty seats following a spate of bad publicity regarding alleged sexual assaults by more than two dozen women.
On the secondary market, Cosby ticket demand appears alarmingly slack. There are more than 20 center orchestra seats on sale for below retail cost on Stubhub today. The cheapest? Two eighth row seats are going for just $38.01 each. (One incredibly optimistic seller is pricing front row seats at $414.75 each.)
Mike Smardak of the show's promoter Outback Concerts in Nashville did not return calls for comment.
Cobb Energy Centre is not accepting refunds. Jonathan Barge of Atlanta tried to get his money back earlier this week and received this response from Russell Kennedy, assistant box office manager at Cobb:
Unfortunately, the venue's contractual obligations with Mr. Cosby allow for no refunds for this show.
Thank you,
Russel Kennedy
Barge said they bought the tickets before all the bad press but his wife now does not want to go. They may just end up eating the tickets.
Rukkus, a third-party ticket aggregator, said the average ticket price on third-party ticket websites are down 33.5 percent for Cosby compared to his show at Cobb in the summer of 2013:
2015 average ticket price sold = $74.75
According to Rukkus, overall secondary market Cosby ticket prices nationwide are down 31.9 percent since last fall, when comic Hannibal Buress calling him a rapist on stage went viral and the legendary comic's reputation took a massive hit. (Cosby has steadfastly denied the allegations.)
Average ticket price for current tour after allegations = $71.71
On his tour, which is called "Far From Finished," some shows have been canceled in cities such as Rochester, N.Y., Albany, N.Y., Toms River, N.J., Pittsburgh, Des Moines and Las Vegas. Cosby faced protests in Denver. He dealt with hecklers in Baltimore last month.
But some shows have gone off without a hitch.
Lewis Black, a veteran comic who will be at Cobb Energy Centre on May 1, said earlier this week that he can't believe Cosby is still going on with this tour.
"That's a level of obliviousness I can't imagine," Black said. "I don't get it! It's beyond belief!"
In an extensive Washington Post story last month, the reporter Geoff Edgers noted that Cosby before all this began to cascade was a consistent theater draw nationwide: "Cosby typically gets a $50,000 guarantee from a promoter, according to multiple sources who have been involved in making deals with Cosby. The promoter, in turn, signs a contract to rent a theater and share proceeds of ticket sales."
In a poll I posted last November, 54 percent said he should cancel but 46 percent said he should stick it out, which he has chosen to do for now.
Cosby has come to Atlanta many times over the years. He headlined a show at the Fox Theatre in 2008 and the Ferst Center at Georgia Tech in 2011.
My previous stories on this show:
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