The city of Denver has finalized a five-year contract to make the AEG Live-owned AXS the exclusive ticket seller for all city venues, Denver Arts & Venues spokesman Brian Kitts said Thursday.

“It basically puts the city on an even footing, from a music management standpoint, as the other promoters in town,” he said.

The contract guarantees the city and AXS each about $4 million in net revenue over five years. The deal covers all city-owned venues, including Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the Denver Coliseum, Boettcher Concert Hall, Ellie Caulkins Opera House and the Buell Theatre.

AEG Live Rocky Mountains currently runs most of the non-municipal professional music venues in the Denver-Boulder area, including Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre, the Ogden Theatre, the Gothic Theatre and Bluebird Theater. AEG Live, in partnership with Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, also runs the FirstBank Center in Broomfield.

Live Nation Entertainment-owned Ticketmaster, Kroenke Sports & Entertainment-owned Altitude Tickets and TicketsWest also bid for the contract.

The contract gives AXS $3 per ticket. The city also guaranteed it will sell at least 300,000 tickets a year through AXS and will pay a penalty if it does not meet that goal.

“We think that’s a pretty manageable figure,” Kitts said. “There’s about twice that number going through Red Rocks alone.”

As part of the deal, AEG Live, an arm of Anschutz Entertainment Group, has guaranteed it will book enough shows at Denver venues to move at least 275,000 tickets.

If it doesn’t, it will pay a penalty.

AEG launched the ticketing service in 2011.

The city of Denver has never had an exclusive ticket provider. Denver venues had an open system, which allowed promoters to choose the ticketing purveyor for each show.

“This is new territory. It brings the city venues into the 21st century when it comes to the way that we promote music and promote entertainment,” Kitts said.

“It provides a revenue stream for the agency that in the past had been missing.”

Arts & Venues has been working for two years to develop an exclusive ticketing agreement for its venues.

“This was a long process. It’s a complicated contract, and it fundamentally changes the way city venues do business,” Kitts said. “And I think it took us a while for us to recognize the benefit.”

Compared with bids from Ticketmaster, Altitude Tickets and TicketsWest, Kitts said AXS offered “interesting value-added” options, which included an agreement to market Red Rocks with a series of AXS TV shows at the mountain amphitheater. The contract also makes tickets to Denver venues available on the secondary market through StubHub.

“AXS came back with the best package of guaranteed revenue, guaranteed marketing assets and guaranteed service,” Kitts said. “They had, frankly, the most creative response and the most economical response.”

Once the contract begins in 2015, other promoters, such as Live Nation, are required to use the AXS ticketing service when renting Denver venues.

Live Nation did not return calls for comment before deadline.

Although AEG Live Rocky Mountains controls the majority of non-city professional music venues, Kitts said he does not think the AXS ticketing agreement gives the company a leg up in the Denver music promotion business.

“Our buildings are not exclusive when it comes to booking. We will work with AXS, we will work with Live Nation, we will work with a number of small independent promoters,” Kitts said. “This is one of those vertical business things that is just part of the industry.”

Matt Miller: 303-954-1785, mrmiller@denverpost.com or twitter.com/official_mattm