WHEATLAND, CA (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Officials of Sleep Train Amphitheatre's owner, Live Nation Inc., confirmed the open-air venue on Forty Mile Road in Yuba County is open to bidders, though they added the remaining 2010 concert schedule there is still on.
There was no online listing for the amphitheater, which has a capacity of 18,500 and was modeled after the popular Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View when it opened in 2000. The concert venue first went on sale in 2007.
County spokesman Russ Brown said Live Nation is asking $2.7 million for the site, which would be a significant markdown even if the county reassesses the property's value at $7 million, as the company has requested, according to Yuba County’s Appeal-Democrat.com.
"The reality is the dirt out there is worth more" than the amphitheater itself, Brown said, noting concert business nationally has suffered in recent years with the recession.
Though originally envisioned as both the premier live music venue in the greater Sacramento area and a jump start to a sports and entertainment complex in south Yuba County, the amphitheater hosts fewer concerts than when it opened.
In 2000, the then-Sacramento Valley Amphitheatre hosted 26 events, but Live Nation scheduled only about half that number this year, mostly by country acts such as Toby Keith next Thursday or rock groups such as those on the August 12 Vans Warped Tour stop. –by CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
