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Contract with city increases ACL Fest attendance cap by 10,000
Ten thousand more fans will be attending the Austin City Limits Music Festival this year than last. That’s what we can find in the fine print of a contract between the city and C3 Presents released Friday at the end of business.
There’s not much difference between this year’s contract and 2009’s- the fees for using Zilker Park from Sept. 27 to Oct. 15 remain $24,830, plus $1 for every ticket or three-day pass sold. But under the “special provisions” section, the allowable number of tickets sold this year jumps to 75,000, up from 65,000 in 2009.
So not only did ACL sell out in early July, three months before the fest, but it possibly sold 10,000 more tickets that last year. Representatives of C3 Presents could not be reached over the weekend.
After 75,000 folks showed up in 2004- and they all wanted to see the Pixies- promoters voluntarily lowered capacity to 65,000 a day to appease the all-powerful neighborhood associations. But this year, it’s back to 75K, plus 5K for artists, sponsors, media and the like, because estimates show that, due to attrition- coming and going- there will never more than 65,000 on hand at any one time.
The Eagles and Phish will make sure of that.
Click here to view the contract.
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Permalink | Comments (16) | Categories: ACL 2010
Comments
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By Jerry
September 27, 2010 2:04 PM | Link to this
Eagles and Phish…….ACL has become a joke. Could they at least make an attempt to be relevant? I don’t expect them to displace Coachella but, come on, at least make attempt to get quality bands.
By Ninja
September 27, 2010 2:11 PM | Link to this
Nice shot at Phish. Hater.
By ATX Guy
September 27, 2010 2:16 PM | Link to this
This is bullsh*t. ACL Fest is already insanely crowded. There are already certain stages that you can barely squeeze in to see a show at, and the dust and/or mud are only made worse by the larger crowds (not to mention the horrible lines created for things like food and restrooms, plus the parking problems). This sort of greed makes the whole experience less pleasant for everyone in attendance. I don’t relish the idead of raising prices, but I’d rather pay a few bucks more as opposed to cramming more people into Zilker Park for the festival (although I tend to think that neither option is really necessary).
By really?
September 27, 2010 3:40 PM | Link to this
ATX guy - It doesn’t sound like you go to ACLfest. I have been at all of them but the first. As long as you don’t try to eat right at 5pm the lines for food are not “horrible”. There are not long lines for the restrooms either. I can’t imagine the mud being any worse than it was last year even with 100k more people (hopefully no more dust at all).
I don’t like the idea of 10,000 more people but in reality, there won’t be that many that stick around for The Eagles. C3 needs to do better at their headliners.
By Cynthia
September 27, 2010 3:47 PM | Link to this
What’s wrong with the Eagles, Jerry? They’re a classic band..crossover to ALL types of people…
By Really?
September 27, 2010 3:59 PM | Link to this
Cynthia - Sure the eagles may have crossover appeal but it is pretty hard to get excited about them. They have not had any new music in a very long time.
By ATX guy
September 27, 2010 4:27 PM | Link to this
Actually, I’ve been at every single ACL Fest, including the first, and I stand by my statements. And the problems with food lines, bathroom lines, etc. have gotten worse every year.
By Crimson
September 27, 2010 4:28 PM | Link to this
With all of these terrible, irrelevant bands, they sure don’t seem to have a hard time selling the thing out…
By Fiftycal
September 27, 2010 5:22 PM | Link to this
I sure am glad that the City of Austin “contributed” $400,000 to the poor, FOR PROFIT company that runs this event.
By norm
September 27, 2010 5:27 PM | Link to this
I hope they move it to the Formula 1 track when it’s complete. ACL became too big for Zilker Park several years ago. And the soccer fields stay closed for too long.
By stan
September 27, 2010 9:09 PM | Link to this
Seriously, you guys are complaining? Guess what, the fest will always sell out. Sorry, you don’t like, it? Don’t go, the tix will still sell out quickly and bring a lot of cash into Austin. Ridiculous how people complain and trash Corky on his blogs, whatever. You don’t get it and never will. Lame lame, and lame.
By Mewing
October 4, 2010 11:44 AM | Link to this
I’ve said this before…. when did Austinites get too cool for school? ACL fest is fun. End of discussion. If you’re not having fun, then don’t attend and help the rest of us with the crowds.
By Mewing81
October 4, 2010 11:44 AM | Link to this
I’ve said this before…. when did Austinites get too cool for school? ACL fest is fun. End of discussion. If you’re not having fun, then don’t attend and help the rest of us with the crowds.
By Jose Andres Araiza
October 9, 2010 9:28 AM | Link to this
I’ve been going to ACL for years. This year has DEFINITELY been WAAYYY to crowded. I love being around tons of people, but when ACL packs people like sardines, the entire festival feels like a cattle call.
Please write your city council members to demand they lower the attendance cap for ACL.
By Kathy
October 9, 2010 11:41 AM | Link to this
Please go back to 65,000 tickets….if Friday felt like a Saturday, I cannot imagine what today will be like. Too many people that is for sure. And you should just let the early tics be sold to those on the email lists….immediatly after the tics became available they were sold out and the ticket outlets had many 1000’s of them for sale at 3-5x the price. That is just not fair.
By TheWildOne
October 11, 2010 1:41 PM | Link to this
The crowds looked much larger this year than the previous 5 years I have attended. Despite that, I never waited long for food or drink or a porta-pottie (timing is everything). However, the crowds at every act/stage I visited were HUGE. And surprisingly (or not) the Eagles drew a large crowd who stayed until the very end. This year’s festival had excellent weather and a lot of excellent music, and it may be my favorite year so far. But please, do cut the number of tickets back to 65,000. Perhaps then I will have a chance of actually seeing the artist I am hearing.