The University of Arizona held their extravagant Last Smash Platinum Bash concert last week, with Jay-Z, Third-Eye Blind, and Kelly Clarkson on the bill. The show turned out to be a resounding failure.
The Associated Students of the University of Arizona shelled out an eye-popping $750,000 for Jay-Z’s appearance, $350,000 of which came from their savings. Their original plan was to get Jigga on the bill and automatically sell 30,00 tickets. Ehnnn! Didn’t happen. They ended up selling a measly 6,100 tickets.” Ouch!
When the organizers finally crashed back down to earth, they lowered sales expectation to 17,000. Unfortunately, someone forgot to remind them that the economy is in a f-cking recession, Jay-Z or no Jay-Z.
The Arizona Daily Star says a chunk of the loss will come from an emergency fund. Another $114,000 a year will be deducted from ASUA’s share of profits from the university’s bookstore, its main revenue source.
Sounds like a case of piss poor planning. Who put this thing together? John McCain? Because that would certainly explain the planning FAIL.
[Source: Phoenix Times]
