$1 Million Payment to Garth Brooks Stirs Controversy in Chicago
It is getting chippy up in Chicago, and not just from the latest cold front. Garth Brooks is causing a stir in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont and beyond after it was revealed the town shuttled $1 million dollars to the country superstar to secure the right to host his very first comeback concerts in September of 2014 at the city-owned Allstate Arena. Brooks also received discounted rental rates for the venue as part of his Rosemont deal. In return, Garth promised to perform 11 concerts at the venue—his first shows after coming out of retirement.
What has elevated the anger over the revelations was the effort it took to receive the information. When first asked for the numbers surrounding Garth’s comeback concerts by the Chicago Tribune, the city of Rosemont refused, citing the difficulty divulging the information would cause negotiating future concerts for the venue. The result was a five-month legal battle where the Chicago Tribune sued the town, and Rosemont subsequently passed a city ordinance giving local officials the power to withhold documents if they felt it may put the city in a strategic negotiating disadvantage.
Then on January 23rd, Attorney General Lisa Madigan ruled that both the withholding of the concert information, and the new city ordinance went against the Illinois open-records laws and the Freedom of Information Act. Even then it took Rosemont another month to turn over the paperwork to the Chicago Tribune after the city decided to not appeal the judgement.
Garth Brooks was paid $1,050,000 by Rosement in what was characterized by critics as a payoff, and by Rosemont officials as a “rebate.” Garth was paid an agreed-upon $100,000 for every sold-out show, and a $50,000 payment for the final show that didn’t sell out. Garth was also given a discounted rate of $35,000 to $40,000 per show to rent the city-owned Allstate Arena. City officials still refuse to divulge what the regular rate for renting the venue is.
Though the numbers look big, and Rosemont did their best to keep them private, it’s questionable if anything that happened was improprietous, and few if any are saying it was illegal. Large headliner acts regularly draw big guarantees from venues, and the money doesn’t just go to the entertainer, but goes towards equipment rental, manpower, and many other expenses tied to the production of the concerts. In many instances performers attempt to keep the numbers private to help in future negotiations, and because it can be publicly embarrassing by portraying them as being overcompensated.
The Rosemont suburb has made it clear they feel it was worth the investment in Garth Brooks, and say the concerts brought a total of $2 million to the town, though they refuse to make the details of how they came to those numbers available to the public. The Chicago Tribune wants to see all the documents to determine if the deal Garth Brooks received was typical or extraordinary since a publicly-owned venue was involved.
Garth sold over 183,500 tickets for the 11 shows, and grossed around $12 million. The run of shows broke the North American sales record for a single city at that time.
February 24, 2015 @ 8:22 pm
‘Cause Garth’s got friends in high places…
February 24, 2015 @ 8:44 pm
Ego and Greed.
When Garth was here in PGH, it was his birthday. He had past and current Steelers lined around the stage. One big party for him that had nothing to do with music; just celebrating Garth the money machine.
As I commented on SCM before, I thought it was strange Garth played back to back shows on the same nights – herding the paying consumers in and out of the venue like cattle.
February 25, 2015 @ 9:51 am
I was kind of amazed that he played two shows on the same night, as well. I rarely attend a concert with over 100 people, so I don’t know how these Circuses operate, but I hadn’t heard of there being two massive shows in one night before… The thing with all of the local celebrities was pretty disgusting. Is Mike Tomlin a huge country music fan? His dubscalade and triple fat goose jacket tend to say “no…”
February 24, 2015 @ 8:58 pm
A lesson in how not to do a comeback. Watching his special as he closed his Vegas show, I was impressed by his musicianship & looking forward to his return. That said I think Garth Country has gone to seed. There is nothing there but pure ego.
February 24, 2015 @ 9:32 pm
And I’m Shamless when it comes to gettin paid by you, the check is goin through…
February 26, 2015 @ 10:32 pm
come now, let’s not drag Billy Joel into this
February 24, 2015 @ 9:35 pm
Blame it all on my roots, show up with your checkbooks…
February 24, 2015 @ 10:48 pm
and i stole up your tax dollars there…
February 24, 2015 @ 10:32 pm
Now THAT’S country. Man vs. Machine my ass.
February 24, 2015 @ 10:33 pm
So, what do you think his net was?
February 24, 2015 @ 10:34 pm
Ignorantly critical aren’t we? Remember that Garth concerts were always multi-day multi-show events.
He made sure everyone in each city got to see his shows. The tickets were $70 each, pittance compared to most artists in an arena. I went to one of his 6 sold out shows in Pittsburgh in 1997 and it was a great show then too; I think those tickets were $25 each, which was pittance back then too for a headliner.
He’s a big Pittsburgh fan, and he had spent the day with local children at a Steelers for kids football camp before his two shows that night. So they came to the stage and trust me it was as much a treat to the Pittsburgh folks as it was for him. He sweated his ass off for 2.5 hrs each show and it was a lot of fun. He is a performer.
http://m.wtae.com/news/garth-brooks-attends-kids-procamp-with-steelers-players/31153246
There are some legitimate things worth critiquing, but saying one of the biggest artists in history is greedy and self-absorbed because he makes money doing a megatour and works out deals with venues is about as dumb as blaming NASCAR drivers for driving fast.
February 24, 2015 @ 11:16 pm
Justin,
I know you may be talking about some of the commenters here and not specifically the article (or maybe you are), but I thought I did a very fair job telling both sides of the story here, how the city was trying to protect their business interests by not disclosing the information, how many artists are unfairly judged when they see the enormous numbers for artist guarantees and the top level, and how nothing illegal happened here, at least not that has been revealed. One of the reasons I decided to post this was to take the opportunity to clear up some of the misnomers. All that said I think you can see how this story would play into some of the lingering concerns about Garth Brooks being out-of-touch and all about the money. In the end I just told the story and allowed readers to decide.
February 24, 2015 @ 11:56 pm
Trigger, you’re post was well-balanced and fair. I was indeed responding to the comments.
February 25, 2015 @ 6:10 am
If it came out that the city of Pittsburgh paid Garth half a million for the six concerts, would you find his work during his time in the city a little less charitable?
Also, there is no way Garth was on stage a minute past 2 hours (at least Friday and Saturday nights when he doubled-up). The doors were 7:30 and 10:30. Allow half an hour for 18,000 people to get into their seats (then get out of them) and 15 minutes for the opening act, it was 2 hours max. If I was a Garth fan, which I’m not, then his Birthday celebration would have really pissed me off cause it was cutting into my already limited time.
February 25, 2015 @ 10:29 am
My wife and I were there for the early Saturday show in Pittsburgh and Garth (and Trisha) played for well over two hours – total of 27 songs. The setlist was comparable to the setlist they played on both Thursday and Sunday nights. The opener, Karyn Rochelle, did not play on Saturday, though – only Thursday and Sunday.
February 25, 2015 @ 11:55 am
If the city paid Garth (via discounts on city owned property), I would be mad at my city representatives, not Garth. The money would have come either through taxes or through the tourism department of the city. The only reason a city would do this would be if they felt they were getting something for it, like publicity or increased business; but then again in Chicago, the best interests of the city and her people are rarely the focal point for decisions from elected officials.
The first show started at 6:30 and there was no opening act. So yes…Garth played for well over 2 hours. He took a break while Trisha sang 2 or 3 songs though.
February 25, 2015 @ 2:58 pm
Just to clarify: 1) Garth started between 6:45 and 6:50 for the early Saturday show. It was after 9:00 when he wrapped up.
2) I’m not convinced Garth took a break during Trisha’s interlude. He was backstage for one song, then was on the stage playing guitar and singing for the couple other songs she did. Granted, he may have been just mouthing the words with his mic off, but he was definitely not backstage relaxing (and that was the same for the three shows I was at).
February 25, 2015 @ 12:03 pm
Ok. So no opener Friday and Saturday. Makes sense. Thanks for clarifying.
February 25, 2015 @ 11:50 am
Justin is correct. This is business-as-usual and a non-issue. I agree with starting a dialogue, and your story is fair and balanced, Trigger, but for people who don’t work in the concert industry it looks like a big deal.
It’s not.
February 25, 2015 @ 1:46 pm
If this were a privately-owned venue you would be correct.
But in this case it is a big deal because it’s a city-owned venue and the city hasn’t complied with open records laws.
It’s certainly not Garth’s fault for asking for and accepting the deal, but if I were a citizen of Rosemont I would have some concerns that a deal such as this might be put together for the benefit of business owners but the possible detriment of working-class taxpayers.
February 25, 2015 @ 6:21 pm
Well said!!!! Thank you for being the voice of reason!!! It just goes to show you can’t please everyone.
February 25, 2015 @ 7:59 pm
I went to one of the shows in Chicago. The music was too loud so I left early. I stayed long enough to see Trisha, but wasn’t impressed with Garth’s repeated Taylor-like look of awe, with mouth agape every time the crowd cheered. That got old fast. I know people say he is genuine and sincere, but I find him a bit cloying.
February 24, 2015 @ 10:51 pm
I can just see this conversation now
“mommy, the road is full of potholes, can’t they fix it”
“i’m sorry honey, the town gave all that money to Garth Brooks”
February 25, 2015 @ 6:05 am
If I may… and not that I’m taking sides on this, ’cause I don’t have a dog in this fight, but it seems to me that the old adage “You have to spend money to make money” applies here…
I believe Trig said Rosemont claims to have made their mill back, and another mill on top of that… so maybe the potholes will get filled once the roads thaw…
Also, there’s the hard to quantify other economic activity of folks going out to eat or have a drink, etc., as part of a night (or afternoon) out goin’ to Garth…
February 25, 2015 @ 1:35 pm
“I believe Trig said Rosemont claims to have made their mill back, and another mill on top of that”¦ so maybe the potholes will get filled once the roads thaw”¦”
That’s what they’ve said, but they haven’t provided any documentation to support that figure. And who knows if that’s a gross figure or if they’ve taken additional expenses related to having Garth in town into consideration. Rosemont is a city of 4000 people, adding 183,000 to that over the course of 11 days would have to put a strain on the infrastructure.
February 25, 2015 @ 6:15 am
Didn’t I hear somewhere that Lil Dale was leading the charge in his town to raise money to pay Colt Ford to play at their big stadium?
This approach seems to be catching on.
February 25, 2015 @ 3:31 pm
rascall flats not colt ford
February 27, 2015 @ 9:55 am
I heard later Dale’s mule, Dale 3, kicked a post out of the lean-to and made the rest of the roof fall in, so the venue wasn’t gonna be available anyway.
February 25, 2015 @ 6:18 am
While I understand that the City of Rosemont – as the owner of the arena – is trying to protect their business interests by withholding information, the fact of the matter is that they are not simply a business. They are elected officials running a local government agency using taxpayer dollars. They must be held to a different standard than a private company, whether they like it or not.
February 25, 2015 @ 7:31 am
I bet it was a good investment for the city. It was basically a “sure thing” for a return. Now, the city probably can fix some of the pot holes. I received Garth’s latest Album for Christmas and I pretty much hate it. It has 2 songs I like. All his 90s stuff is so overplayed, but I really don’t think he is a bad guy. Garth set the best business model for his brand that country music has ever seen. Now, the young guys follow that model. I don’t think anyone can ever accuse Garth of making a bad business deal. The man is a genius. I think both parties benefitted from this deal.
February 25, 2015 @ 9:14 am
I know the $1 million dollar up front money is pretty big, but the nightly rate doesn’t seem that big if that is all he got on a nightly basis. A guaranteed $100k and a $40k nightly rental fee leaves around $60k a night. I guarantee there are a ton of people who are getting paid out of that money from band members to road crew and other people. It seems like the majority of Garth money was made in that up front payment and not the nightly shows.
February 25, 2015 @ 9:49 am
You missed a pretty crucial detail there, it’s in the last paragraph: “Garth sold over 183,500 tickets for the 11 shows, and grossed around $12 million.”
February 25, 2015 @ 11:12 am
Okay, I didn’t know if that went to him or the venue. When I read he was paid $100k for each show I assumed that was what he got and the venue got that ticket money. If Garth got all that ticket money and the venue paid him $100k for each show and only charged him $40k rental for each show, where did they get their money from? DId all their money come from just concessions?
February 25, 2015 @ 11:40 am
From ticket sales. Over 183,500 of them.
February 25, 2015 @ 11:54 am
Gross receipts do not equal payment to the entertainer. Entertainers are generally paid a guarantee with incentives on top. Even the Eagles, who have the shittiest contract for venues I’ve ever seen, don’t get ALL of the ticket money…just most of it…plus a % of concessions and anything else that makes money.
February 25, 2015 @ 11:41 am
I grew up in Rosemont – the city has very close ties to the mob. The same family has run the town since day one. This is business as usual for them. So this is not a surprise to anyone in the area.
February 25, 2015 @ 11:51 am
http://faithtap.com/2050/garth-brooks-gives-guitar-to-fan/
Whatever. And then this happens. I think a million bucks is a bargain.
February 25, 2015 @ 9:42 pm
And I was bashed on the comments of SCM when I said this return mainly had to do with Garths love of money and nothing to do with his love of country music months ago. hmm.
February 26, 2015 @ 3:05 pm
Geez Louise, every major artist from all genres do this. People are really kidding themselves if they think Garth is the only artist that do these types of deals with cities.
February 26, 2015 @ 9:17 pm
machine had just defeated Garth.
February 27, 2015 @ 6:33 am
Rosemont is a crooked town in the heart of C(r)ook County.
March 6, 2015 @ 3:21 am
That SOB needs more money like Eskimos need ice & snow….Nashvegas Flash ain’t getting my damn money