Claire Rothman, a pioneering woman in the live entertainment industry whose positions included president and general manager of The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., died Saturday (Nov. 22) in Las Vegas. She was 97.
Rothman began her facilities career at the Spectrum in Philadelphia in 1967, when she was 39. In a 2018 Billboard roundtable with other women who broke barriers in live entertainment, she said, “It was the time when the National Hockey League expanded from six to 12 teams and a lot of new venues came up. The Spectrum was one. Two weeks after I took the job, it filed for bankruptcy. I was newly divorced, with one kid in college and one in high school. I thought, ‘Oh, God, what did I do?’ But in five years, we brought the Spectrum out of bankruptcy. We paid 100 cents on the dollar, and I wrote out every check. We formed one of the first partnerships with Electric Factory Concerts. We provided the building, they provided the acts.”
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Rothman was hired by then-Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke to come to the Forum seven years later, in 1975, after stints at Wild Kingdom in Orlando, Fla., and the Cleveland Coliseum. She’s credited with introducing Cooke to Jerry Buss, who at that time owned a tennis franchise, the Los Angeles Strings, which she hoped to bring to the Forum, according to Men’s Health. In 1979, Buss bought the Lakers, which played at the Forum until 1999.
Buss’ daughter Jeanie, who is the controlling owner of the Lakers, paid tribute to Rothman Sunday night (Nov. 23), telling the Los Angeles Times, “Claire paved the way for women working in live entertainment. She was tenacious, creative and indomitable. My father always described her as the MVP who championed the Fabulous Forum as the West Coast concert rival to the legendary Madison Square Garden.”
Earlier today, the Lakers posted a photo of Rothman and Jeanie Buss on its Instagram with the caption, “Remembering an icon: Claire Rothman, the pioneering President of the Forum during the Showtime era.” The photo was taken in 2018, and Buss subsequently posted it on her social media, writing, “I was blessed with this amazing woman as my mentor, Claire Rothman. She has been there for me at every crossroads and hurdle placed before me. I don’t tell her enough of how grateful I am. Thank you Claire! I love you.”
During her early tenure at the Forum, Rothman was the only woman managing a venue that included an NBA (the Los Angeles Lakers) and NHL (Los Angeles Kings) franchise while also juggling concerts, circuses and other entertainment.
“So I was a curiosity. Everybody remembered my name because I was the only one,” she told Billboard. “I was very fortunate to work for men who had good relationships with their mothers and their wives. They were sure of their masculinity. Every man I ever worked for pushed me [to succeed]. A psychologist friend of mine said the reason they were supportive was I never gave them the feeling that I wanted their jobs — because I didn’t. I had ambition, but I wanted to do it myself.”
Rothman helped oversee a golden time for the Lakers, known as the Showtime era, that started in 1979 as players like Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar helped the team dominate and win five championships over 10 years. That period was captured in the 2022-2023 HBO drama Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. Rothman was portrayed by Gaby Hoffman in the series.
Rothman also heightened the Forum’s appeal as a must-stop for concerts, including by bringing Prince to the venue for a six-night run in 1985, and was bold and unrelenting when it came to pursuing talent. A 1985 Los Angeles Times profile on Rothman recounted her asking Barry Manilow to play the arena in front of rival promoters, the Nederlanders, who were also pursuing the singer. “When Manilow half-jokingly asked why she would make a pitch in front of the competition, Rothman replied, ‘I’m cuter,’” the Los Angeles Times reported.
Rothman left the Forum in 1995, moving to Ticketmaster, where she was executive vp until 1999. She also served on a number of boards, including City of Hope, the Music Center of Los Angeles County and the Reprise Theater Company, according to her LinkedIn page.
Survivors include a son, daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, according to the Los Angeles Times.
