It is too early for singing, high fives and victory dancing, but sponsors of the Outside Lands concert moved closer to getting a 10-year extension on their contract after the San Francisco Recreation and Park Commission approved the deal.
By Thomas K. Pendergast
In a unanimous vote on January 17, the commission sent the deal to the SF Board of Supervisors for final approval. The City’s contract with the Outside Lands Art and Music Festival expires in 2021.
The festival started in 2009, and in 2012 the contract was revised and renewed after making changes in response to complaints from neighbors, while also increasing the amount of money going to the SF Recreation and Parks Department.
Now the company that runs the festival, Another Planet Entertainment (APE), is asking for an additional extension for another 10 years, through 2031, because festival organizers say they need to plan three years in advance to line up artists and gear.
According to the department’s Dana Ketcham, revenues from the festival started at $815,000 that first year, but increased over time, until last year the annual three-day concert garnered them $3.3 million. APE also contributes to funding a park gardener with $85,000 annually, plus supplies to keep the polo field in good shape and reimbursement to the department for all of the overtime for its staff, which comes to about $100,000 per event.
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