Tickets to Swift’s show were given away because her contract called for the stadium to be adequately filledGETTY IMAGES
The 49ers and the Santa Clara Stadium Authority lost out on $2M in potential ticket sales last May after "giving away 20,000 tickets to fill the stands" for a Taylor Swift concert at Levi’s Stadium, which has "added fuel to the rift between the city and the NFL team" over management of the stadium, according to Phil Matier of the S.F. CHRONICLE. Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour originally booked just one show at Levi's Stadium on Friday, May 11, 2018, which "sold a whopping 50,503 tickets." Given that demand, the 49ers "allowed concert promoter Louis Messina to add a second show a day earlier." However, the Thursday night show "sold only 29,333 tickets, leaving the stadium about half empty." Swift’s contract "called for the stadium to be filled to an acceptable level, so those 20,000 tickets were given away." The two concerts still netted $1M for the stadium -- of which $500,000 "went to Santa Clara." The shows’ "roller-coaster ticket sales highlight some of the challenges of booking big events" at Levi’s Stadium. 49ers VP/Public Affairs and Strategic Communications Rahul Chandhok "laid part of the blame on the booking slump" to Santa Clara’s 10:00pm curfew for weekday concerts (S.F. CHRONICLE, 3/31).
