Jay-Z’s superstar presence was not enough to make a recent Arizona Stadium concert a success, as event promoters confirmed the show posted a loss of $917,000.
The Last Smash Platinum Bash was organized by the Associated Students of the University of Arizona (ASUA), who paid Jay-Z $750,000 to co-headline the event with pop star Kelly Clarkson.
The strange pairing was not enough to entice potential concertgoers.
Arizona Stadium, which is known for football, had not hosted a concert in 32 years.
According to estimates, the student union gave away over 4000 tickets in hopes of securing valuable marketing deals with newspapers and radio stations.
Despite these issues, ASUA president Tommy Bruce blamed the failure on the Recession.
“Nobody predicted the economy would be the way it is now last May,”
he told the Arizona Daily Star.
In total, the concert cost $1,420,000, while tickets and merchandise purchases only posted $503,502.
The loss forced the ASUA to empty its$350,000 cash reserve to cover the debt.
According to the Arizona Daily Star, the Arizona University’s bookstore will assist the ASUA in paying off the debt through another established emergency fund.
As a consequence, the UA Bookstore organization will also lower its contributions to the student group by $570,000 over the next 5 years.
At press time, Jay-Z’s Blueprint 3 is tentatively aimed at a September 2009 release date.
