There’s this thing that happens when Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour comes to town, apparently.
It’s called “Swiftonomics,” according to one study by the Common Sense Institute in the U.S. that was released on July 10.
The report suggested that when Swift brought her two nights of the Eras Tour to Denver’s Empower Field (concert capacity: 76,000) on July 14 and 15, it may have contributed $140 million US to Colorado’s GDP.
So imagine what will happen when Swift arrives in Toronto in late fall 2024 for six dates (so far) at Rogers Centre (concert capacity: 50,000) from Nov. 14-16 and Nov. 21-23?
Right now, there’s even more hype around those dates as they signal the very end of Swift’s trek, but don’t be surprised if she adds even more shows.
“It’s coming at an amazing time of the year,” said Destination Toronto’s senior media relations manager Vanessa Somarriba.
“Because at that point, the business travel starts to wane, kind of right towards the end of November, and then it’s right before the holiday travel. And obviously, as the only Canadian city (so far) and six nights, we’re looking and expecting it will have a significant impact.”
The same study said a recent polling of Eras concertgoers indicated they spend an average of $1,327 US on all show-related expenses, such as tickets, travel, merchandise, lodging, and food, which would amount to more than $200 million in direct consumer spending associated with the Denver concerts.
“It’s extremely exciting for us,” said Somarriba. “Based on the Denver shows — and that was two nights — you use that data (to extrapolate what it will mean for Toronto). And we have more shows, right? This is absolutely going to have a huge impact and will inject multimillions into the local economy. We’re thrilled.”
The Toronto shows don’t start going on sale until next Wednesday with a verified fan system in place that you have to register for (kind of like a lottery system) to prevent scalpers, but ticket-resale site StubHub already has some listed for as high as $13,000.
So how can that be? (Swift tickets originally ranged from $49 to $449 US on Ticketmaster in the U.S., according to that study.)
“(They’re) third-party scalpers that work based on speculative access to tickets,” said veteran Toronto music commentator Eric Alper.
“Which means normally, in their history, they have seats available in this section. Who knows how? Sometimes it’s VIPs. Sometimes it’s a sponsored radio station. Sometimes it’s Ticketmaster. Sometimes it’s (the promoter), but somewhere along the line — (and) they actually don’t have these tickets — StubHub offers the customer a guarantee if those tickets aren’t available, then they can actually go get a refund for their money back.”
But who wants to disappoint little Chanel?
“What they’re hoping is that people won’t want their money back and they can buy tickets relatively comparable,” said Alper. “That ($13,000 price for a single ticket) is low. You watch, you’re going to see a pair of tickets for $40,000 and $50,000 simply because they’re waiting for that one person to want to please their daughter.”