CINCINNATI — Taylor Swift is coming to Cincinnati next weekend and her two-day stop on the Eras Tour is expected to draw more than 130,000 people to Paycor Stadium for three hours of singing and dancing to songs like “Shake It Off” and “Karma.”
While the event will be an evening to remember for Swift fans, or Swifties as they call themselves, it will also be a big weekend for businesses in the greater Cincinnati area.
what you need to know
- According to the Cincinnati Chamber, Taylor Swift’s two concerts in Cincinnati could generate approximately $48 million in spending for the area
- The sold-out shows will draw around 130,000 people downtown, but thousands more could head to the Taygate area.
- At least 95% of hotel rooms in Cincinnati and Northern will be booked over the weekend
- Three Reds games, a game against FC Cincinnati, and other entertainment could bring that amount to over $90 million
The Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber estimates that Swift’s performances on Friday and Saturday have the potential to generate $48 million in direct spending and economic activity for the region. This figure includes the cost of tickets, airfare, transportation, parking, food, drink, and retail purchases.
According to Brandon Rudd, director of the chamber’s Center for Research and Data, about $20 million of that came from expected out-of-town concert-goers. He said more than $28 million would come from Swift fans throughout the Cincinnati metropolitan area.
The average spend is estimated at $1,550 per person for out-of-town guests and $974 per person for out-of-town guests, Rudd said.
Scott Allison and his fiancée drive seven hours to Cincinnati from their home in Traverse City, Michigan to see Swift live. He’s traveling with a group of four other friends, but knows at least three other groups of six who also want to attend.
Swift’s sold-out shows will draw more than 130,000 people to Paycor Stadium and possibly even more downtown.
“We’ll all try to spend as much time downtown as possible on Saturday and explore the area, if only to avoid traffic,” he said, laughing.
The couple have roots in the Queen City and plan to arrive on Thursday or Friday, Allison said. They would like to watch a Cincinnati Reds game.
The Reds – one of the hottest teams in baseball – have a three-game series against the San Diego Padres on what is known as Taylor Swift Weekend.
To accommodate the crowds, Major League Baseball decided to delay the start time for Friday night’s game by two hours to ease traffic congestion related to Swift’s concert.
The Reds also have early afternoon games on Saturday and Sunday. MLS leaders FC Cincinnati also have a game on Saturday. According to the Cincinnati Chamber, the concerts and these sporting events could have an economic impact of over $92 million for the region.
Brendon Cull, president and CEO of the Cincinnati Chamber, said the region is “uniquely positioned to attract and accommodate weekends like the one that’s coming up and draw people from cities across the region.”
About 20 million people live within 200 miles of Cincinnati.
“[V]”Visitors will see that Cincinnati is a world-class city that can support multiple major events simultaneously,” he added.
The Cincinnati Chamber expects regional hotels in southwest Ohio and northern Kentucky to have at least 95% occupancy. Rudd described this as a conservative estimate based on what they’ve seen in other cities.
“We absolutely believe it could be higher,” he added.
Julie Calvert, President and CEO of Visit Cincy, said the concerts provide the city with an opportunity to create an “amazing experience” that “will benefit the region well beyond this weekend.”
Most spending is in downtown and riverfront areas, but she anticipates businesses in other parts of the region will also see increases in sales.
To welcome guests, Visit Cincy partnered with MeetNKY on several “welcome” gestures, including organizing special Taylor Swift-themed events and promotions, as well as special events throughout the weekend.
The Cincinnati sign on the side of the Duke Energy Center will also be lit in lavender for the Taylor Swift concert. It pays homage to Swift’s song “Lavender Haze”.
“This is a unique attraction for the Cincinnati area for our minority owned hotels, restaurants, entertainment venues, women and businesses that will undoubtedly benefit from visitors – local, central and southern regions combined,” she added.
A portion of the $48 million reflects the number of ticket sales that will remain and circulate in the Cincinnati economy, Rudd said. However, he noted that some of the revenue from ticket sales would “flow away” into the national economy instead of staying here.
Additionally, the shows could generate nearly $3.8 million in tax revenue, according to the chamber. This includes $1.6 million in local taxes, $1.4 million in state taxes and $750,000 in federal taxes.
Lily McDonald is traveling to the concert with five other people on Friday night. Among them are two people from Dayton and their sister, who is traveling from Cleveland.
McDonald, who lives in Covington, Kentucky, doesn’t expect anyone in her group to have to stay in a hotel. But she takes half a day to work, and her group plans to hang out downtown and at The Banks before the concert.
“We know everything gets slammed,” said the 29-year-old McDonald, laughing. “Without a reservation or anything, we’re just going to go to a few different places, maybe a few smaller places or places that we wouldn’t normally go, and just audition for Taylor.”
The chamber made its predictions based on events in other cities. For example, according to a report by NBC Chicago, an estimated 190,000 people watched Soldier Field in Chicago during a three-day broadcast.
The expectation is that Paycor Stadium should have about 65,000 people a night with each sold-out show, Rudd said.
But the Cincinnati Chamber anticipates a lot of extra people coming into town just to be near the stadium and hang out before and during the concert, Rudd said. Swift fans have been known to do something called “Taygate,” where they line up in front of outdoor venues where she will perform before and during the concert.
Rudd said he knows several people planning to do this.
If you look at some of the other cities Taylor Swift has performed in, such as Pittsburgh, tens of thousands of fans lined up outside the stadium just to try to hear her show, noted Eileen Osborne, Visit Cincy’s senior communications manager.
“It’s not a stretch to say that we should expect something like this to happen here in Cincinnati,” she added.
The Cincinnati Chamber didn’t take this into account in the economic analysis because it couldn’t predict exactly how many people would show up, Rudd said.
“The issue here is that we’ve tried to be as conservative as possible in our calculations,” he added. “We wanted to have a believable number and not inflate the effect. I firmly believe that we have arrived at a total that should be considered as a lower bound for the potential impact.”
Calvert stressed that the upcoming weekend was the result of foresight by regional leaders to invest in projects like The Banks and the development of Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. She called Swift’s upcoming concerts a potentially “transformational event” that could fuel further regional growth.
“Cincinnati is ready to welcome both Taylor Swift and all Swifties with an amazing experience,” she added.
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