Live Nation Expansion Could Erase 117-Year-Old Historic Milwaukee Venue, NIVA Pushes Back

LOS ANGELES (February 2, 2026) — Last Thursday, a state-county-city public-private partnership in Milwaukee announced a proposal to demolish the 117-year old Miller High Life Theatre, an independent venue operated by independent promoter Pabst Theater Group. A report produced for the Wisconsin Center District argues the theatre should be removed in part because it will face “similarities” and “competition” from a new Live Nation venue being built across the street with taxpayer-backed incentives.

The proposal would raze the historic theatre to build a luxury hotel to serve the patrons of Live Nation’s forthcoming venue across the street and the nearby convention center. There are currently a dozen hotels within 1 to 10 minutes walking distance.

NIVA urges Milwaukee officials to abandon any plans to get rid of or limit Miller High Life Theatre’s operation or booking in any way.

“Live Nation’s ‘cultural infrastructure’…is actually just cultural extraction…” – Stephen Parker, NIVA Executive Director

Demolishing the theatre would erase a cultural anchor that has hosted thousands of performances over the past century, from The Rolling Stones, Ella Fitzgerald, Aretha Franklin, David Bowie, and Jerry Seinfeld to Dolly Parton, Noah Kahan, Nikki Glaser, and – famously – Theodore Roosevelt.

When the City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County transferred publicly-owned land for free and financed infrastructure to build Fiserv Forum, they didn’t just subsidize an NBA arena – they created a turnkey, publicly de-risked platform for $23 billion dollar a year publicly-traded, multinational company. The Milwaukee Bucks then partnered with Live Nation, a company being sued by the Department of Justice and 40 state attorneys general to break up its monopoly, to build a new venue with taxpayer-funded land and infrastructure that indirectly reduced Live Nation’s market-entry costs and operating risk in Milwaukee.

Live Nation has boasted about “$1 billion” spent on venues across the country with an expensive messaging campaign, but is relying on state, city, and county governments to subsidize their anticompetitive practices with taxpayer funds and resources – including $37 million in taxpayer incentives in Richmond and $40 million in taxpayer incentives in Kansas City for new amphitheaters. All the while, the independent venues and festivals that have served those same communities for generations, investing their own money, get nothing from their governments.

This comes as Live Nation sponsors a forum in Los Angeles today on “accelerating the future of cultural infrastructure” with Live Nation scheduled to be on stage throughout the day providing questionable narratives on the impacts of their venues. They will be joined at the forum by Hunden Partners, the author of the Milwaukee study recommending the demolition of Miller High Life Theatre – a move that will undoubtedly help Live Nation.

“Live Nation has spent millions on lobbyists to convince governments to give them hundreds of millions in taxpayer funding and incentives to ‘bring new shows’ to their communities,” said Stephen Parker, Executive Director of the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA). “What Live Nation calls ‘cultural infrastructure’ through expensive propaganda is actually just ‘cultural extraction’ that leads to even more industry consolidation, fewer shows for indie stages, and independent venues eventually having to close – just like what is happening in Milwaukee.”

“The Miller High Life Theatre is a unicorn – the only 4,000-seat traditional theatre in the entire State of Wisconsin,” said Gary Witt, CEO of Pabst Theater Group and Promoter for Miller High Life Theatre. “You simply cannot put Seinfeld, Dolly Parton, Nikki Glaser or Cirque du Soleil in a flat-floor, general admission, standing-room club. If this historic 117 year old venue is demolished, those world-class tours don’t ‘migrate’ to a general admission Live Nation room; they will bypass Milwaukee and Wisconsin entirely. Replacing a cultural anchor with a hotel isn’t progress; it’s a self-inflicted wound that permanently shrinks our city’s economic and cultural footprint.”

NIVA urges state and local leaders to refrain from providing any public funding, tax incentives, infrastructure subsidies, public land transfers below market value, preferential zoning, or public contracting that advantage publicly-traded or multi-national live entertainment companies with documented records of anticompetitive conduct – especially when those deals directly undermine existing independent stages and artists.

“The insatiable expansion by Live Nation is further reason why their breakup by the courts, the U.S. Department of Justice, and 40 state attorneys general is critical to ensure the survival of independent stages and touring artists nationwide – and the well-being of fans across the world,” said Parker.

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ABOUT NIVA The National Independent Venue Association (NIVA) is the national trade association representing independent live entertainment venues, festivals, promoters, and more. NIVA works to preserve and nurture the ecosystem of live entertainment. NIVA empowers members and their teams with member benefits, advocacy on the state, local, and federal levels, an annual industry-leading conference, and more.

NIVA led the Save Our Stages campaign, culminating in landmark legislation in 2020 that established the $16.25 billion Shuttered Venue Operators Grant program, the largest arts investment in U.S. history. NIVA is committed to equity in its support of independent stages. It seeks to create and encourage opportunities for venues, promoters, and festivals owned, operated, and staffed by people of color, women, non-binary, LGBTQ+, veterans, and people with disabilities.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.

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