How Much Money Did Taylor Swifts Epic Chicago Tour Dates Contribute To The Citys Economy?
Highlights
- Taylor Swift's Eras tour was a massive success, with all three nights in Chicago completely sold out.
- The tour generated a significant amount of money for both Taylor Swift and the cities she visited.
- Taylor Swift provided generous bonuses totaling over $55 million to the crew members involved.
In the summer of 2023, there was nothing more exciting than securing tickets to the Taylor Swift Eras tour. Whether fans of the music superstar were able to see her perform in their hometown or they had to travel a few hours away, they were definitely ready. While fans have mixed thoughts about the pricey Taylor Swift tickets, there's no denying the fact that this tour was a massive success.
Several sources reported that Taylor Swift made an unimaginable amount of money from her tour. The cities that she visited saw a huge increase in spending, too. Here's how Chicago benefited financially from Taylor Swift's Era tour dates.
How Many Performances Did Taylor Swift Have In Chicago?
Instead of just playing one show in Chicago, Taylor Swift made her fans in that city and surrounding areas very happy by playing three nights in a row. She performed at Chicago's Soldier Field on June 2nd, June 3rd, and June 4th, 2023.
Swift decided to choose various opening acts for her Eras tour, and it was exciting for fans to see who would be playing in their city. The band OWENN was Swift's opener for her June 2 and June 3 Chicago dates.
According to ABC 7 Chicago, all three nights were completely sold out, which of course makes sense given the buzz surrounding the Taylor Swift Eras tour. This trend continued throughout the entire tour. Billboard reported that when the singer performed six nights in a row in Los Angeles in August 2023, every single available ticket had been purchased.
According to Billboard, all three Chicago concerts were memorable. Fans loved watching Maren Morris sing "You All Over Me" with Swift on June 3.
Swift shared a supportive message with her fans on June 2 and said to the crowd, “I’m looking out tonight, I’m seeing so many incredible individuals who are living authentically and beautifully and this is a safe space for you. This is a celebratory space for you. One of the things that makes me feel so prideful is getting to be with you, and watching you interact with each other, and being so loving, and so thoughtful, and so caring... I wish that every place was safe and beautiful for people in the LGBTQ community.”
How Much Did Taylor Swift's Chicago Tour Dates Make?
Anytime a popular artist plans a concert in a certain city, it's clear that fans will spend some money. Even if they live there, they might go out for a nice dinner before the performance or grab some drinks and food after the show. It's safe to say that Taylor Swift fans spent an amazing amount of money on the Eras tour in terms of tickets, hotels, transportation, and merch.
In June 2023, Fortune reported on the money Taylor Swift fans spent in Chicago. The publication noted that some people stayed Chicago around the time of the concerts because of the yearly conference put on by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. However, it's easy to assume that most of the hotel rooms were paid for by fans.
Choose Chicago shared that over June 2-4 2023, fans stayed in 44,383 rooms at local hotels.
According to USA Today, that means that hotels in Chicago made $39 million. That is definitely more than most hotels make from regular tours. While of course fans always travel to see their favorite artists, the Taylor Swift Eras tour was on a whole other level.
These figures are definitely in line with the overall success of the Taylor Swift tour. CNN reported in August 2023 that the tour was on track to be "the highest grossing tour of all time." In June 2023, Bloomberg reported that the singer earned $13 million for every performance. Fortune reported that QuestionPro guessed that the tour would lead to "$4.6 billion in consumer spending."
Other cities definitely benefited as well. According to Business Insider, the Common Sense Initiative thought that when 75,000 people went to the two performances in Denver, the overall "direct consumer spending" would be over $200 million.
Although not every U.S. city has reported how much money they earned from the Taylor Swift Eras tour, it's fair to guess that the story was similar in many places. While some might criticize the amount of money that Taylor Swift made from her Eras tour, it's great that her concerts brought so much money into each city's economy. Since the tour will continue in 2024, it's fair to assume that fans will keep spending money, and each city's tourism organization will be pleased.
The singer has always been compassionate toward the people who worked tirelessly to make the entire tour run seamlessly. In August 2023, People reported that Swift made sure that the people driving the trucks on the tour were given $100,000 as a thank you.
She also made sure that riggers, caterers, dancers, and sound technicians were given money as well. These bonuses added up to more than $55 million.
Taylor Swift's Chicago tour dates were a huge success, and the singer seemed to genuinely enjoy the entire tour. More than one fan has described the experience as beautiful and moving. While it's always fun to stand in a crowd of people who love the same artist, this was definitely different. Swift's fans exchanged friendship bracelets and felt a true and genuine connection with one another. It's fair to say that fans will never forget these concerts.
According to USA Today, Swift spoke onstage at one concert and said, "I've just never been this happy in my life in all aspects of my life ever. And I just want to thank you for being a part of that. It's not just a tour. I just sort of feel like my life finally feels like it makes sense. So, I thought I'd play this song, which brings me a lot of happy memories."
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