Former Louisiana Gov. Edwin Edwards may have served his prison sentence for corruption, but he isn’t done costing the state money just yet.
The University Union Theater lost more than $45,000 when it hosted a live interview between Edwards and television talk show host Larry King on Sept. 8.
Union Theater Director Michael Derr said the deficit was caused by a lower number of ticket sales than the theater board anticipated. Less than half of the 1,256 seats in the theater were filled, Derr said.
King was compensated $66,400 for his appearance, while Edwards was paid $6,000 and given 10 tickets to the show, Derr said. King’s two-night, $600 hotel stay was also paid for by the theater, bringing the theater’s total expenditure on the speakers to $73,000.
The theater sold about 440 tickets to the interview at $60 each, bringing the total ticket sales to $26,637, Derr said. The average attendance for Union Theater events in the 2011-12 season was 487, according to University Media Relations.
The event was offered to University students free of charge, and Derr said about 100 students were also in attendance.
According to a statement from Media Relations, no state money is used to fund any of the Union Theater’s programs.
“All Union Theater performances hosted by the Student Union are historically funded through self-generated funds through ticket sales and student fees,” the statement read.
Derr said it’s not unusual for speaker fees to exceed revenue from ticket sales and that money from other activities in the Student Union is used to make up the difference.
The theater also constantly solicits funds from donors and alumni, according to the statement.
Derr said the committee in charge of scheduling and coordinating speakers for the theater expected King and Edwards to draw a bigger crowd, and said the theater had increased its usual marketing efforts to get the word out about the interview.