Coachella and Stagecoach Festivals May Expand to Five Events
Coachella and the Stagecoach country music festival will remain in Indio, California through at least 2030 – and they may develop from three weekends into five.
Yesterday, Indio’s city council approved the promotion company Goldenvoice’s proposal to stage and expand its festival offerings in the coming years, the Los Angeles Times reports. The agreement will allow Goldenvoice to stage two more concerts in the fall – one with a maximum capacity of 75,000 people, the other a massive 99,000 people. Goldenvoice has not yet announced if they will stage any events in the fall.
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Part of the deal includes an increase in the per-ticket revenue of Coachella and Stagecoach that Goldenvoice will share with Indio. The increase from $2.33 to $5.01 for every ticket sold will go into effect starting in 2014.
“Our tourist season begins in October and ends in April, so to begin with two festivals and end with three more would bookend nicely,” said Dan Martinez, Indio city manager. “It has huge support on a city level. It really impacts our community greatly. Many people would like to see the number of festivals expand.”
Coachella and Stagecoach have grown significantly over the past several years, with the former now taking place over two weekends and third day recently added to the latter. Estimates placed the impact of the three festivals on the 2012 Indio economy at about $89.21 million, while the city itself directly received $1,385,196 – a number that could increase to $2,746,667 with the two additional fall events.
During the approval process, Goldenvoice also compiled an environmental impact report that was made available to the public. Though many residents complained about damaged property and Coachella attendees visiting homeowners with “an urgent need to urinate and defecate in their pools,” a majority of residents advocated for the plan’s approval, many on behalf of their businesses.
Just last summer, it looked like Coachella’s future in Indio was in jeopardy when City Councilman Sam Torres pushed for a tax hike on admissions for events of more than 2,500 people. At the time, Goldenvoice president Paul Tollett said that would’ve increased ticket prices by approximately $36, a cost he didn’t want to make festivalgoers pay.