Live Nation Plans New Festival For Plano, Texas

PLANO, TX (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — The City of Plan Texas is teaming up with Live Nation to stage a new music festival in the vein of Austin City Limits.

Planned to debut in 2014, the city hopes that the two day festival will draw 20,000 fans per day in the first year, but Amy Fortenberry, director of parks and recreation for the city of Plano told Star Local News that attendance should increase to as much as 70,000 in future years.

According to the Star Local News, Plano has agreed to give Live Nation $500,000 for booking artists for the first year, and an additional $125,000 for related 'in-kind' expenses such as security. The in kind expenses donation from Plano will continue for five years, but the initial payment for artist bookings was only for the first year of the event.

Live Nation will shoulder the burden for additional expenses, including production, but will keep 100% of the revenue. The revenue split was a point of contention for Plano's city council, leading several members to vote against the agreement.

"If we are going to give them all this money to jump start it and it is wildly successful, you would think there could be some revenue sharing," Councilmen Jim Duggan told the Star Local News.

Details about the festival, or what kind of music it might feature have yet to be announced, but estimates generated by Plan city staffers suggested that the city could see $1.46 million in local spending, generating $14,600 in sales tax revenue. The report also said that the city anticipates $14,800 from the Hotel Occupancy Tax. – Staff Writers

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