Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ Has Mayors Groveling For Her Attention

Topline

Swift is visiting 20 American cities for her blockbuster Eras Tour—and their mayors, grateful for the increased tourism revenue as thousands of fans arrive, are in a “friendly competition” to give her the most flattering honors, including renaming the city after her and offering her symbolic mayorship for a day.

Swift performs onstage in Tampa, Florida on April 13. (Photo by Octavio Jones/TAS23/Getty Images for … [+] for TAS Rights Management)

Getty Images for for TAS Rights Management

Key Facts

Glendale, Arizona: To celebrate the first stop on the Eras Tour, Glendale was temporarily renamed “Swift City” on March 17 and 18, Mayor Jerry P. Weiers announced in a statement littered with references to Swift’s songs (in which he also encouraged Swifties to share the news on social media).

Las Vegas: The city had a Swift-themed light show honoring all of her albums at its Gateway Arches, which the City of Las Vegas Twitter account promoted (“We’re ‘Ready For It,’” the account tweeted, referencing Swift’s 2017 hit).

Arlington, Texas: Arlington declared it is in a “friendly competition with other U.S. cities hosting The Eras Tour to demonstrate its ‘Reputation’ as one of Swift’s biggest fans”—and to prove it, the city temporarily renamed Randol Mill Road to Taylor Swift Way, offered Swift a key to the city, named the weekend (March 31 through April 2) of Swift’s visit “Taylor Swift Weekend” and lit up city hall red, a reference to her album Red.

Tampa, Florida: Hillsborough County temporarily changed its name to “Swiftsborough,” and in a video message posted on the Tampa’s Twitter account—which was renamed “City of Tampa (Taylor’s Version),” a reference to the title Swift gives her albums she’s re-recorded—Mayor Jane Castor said she wants to go bigger than the other cities Swift has visited, offering her a key to the city and temporary mayorship for a day.

Houston, Texas: In a Twitter video message, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo announced she would rename NRG Stadium to NRG Stadium (Taylor’s Version) for the weekend, and she issued a proclamation declaring April 21 through April 23 to be “Taylor Swift – The Eras Tour” weekend.

Surprising Fact

Cities hosting Eras Tour dates are raking in millions of dollars thanks to tax revenue and spending on hotels, restaurants and other local amenities. Hotel occupancy was projected by Visit Tampa Bay to be up 60 to 80 percent in Tampa the weekend Swift performed, and her last two tours that stopped in Tampa brought $730,000 to the city based on tax revenue alone. “We’re talking millions in economic impact,” Visit Tampa Bay CEO Santiago Corrada said.

Key Background

Swift’s Eras Tour kicked off in March following a storm of controversy over Ticketmaster’s handling of the “historically unprecedented” demand for tickets. Tickets went on sale in November and were first made available to those who signed up for a “verified” fan pre-sale. Though 1.5 million people were given access to the pre-sale, 14 million users (including bots) tried to purchase tickets, Ticketmaster said, causing the website to crash. Ticketmaster said some people couldn’t get tickets because of Swift’s “massive demand,” but critics, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), slammed the ticketing company, accusing it of antitrust violations and holding an unfair monopoly in the concert industry. Upset fans filed a class-action lawsuit against Ticketmaster in December, accusing the company of fraud, misrepresentation and antitrust violations, which had its first procedural hearing in March. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing in January, in which Live Nation President Joe Berchtold blamed the website issues on a bot cyberattack.

What To Watch For

How will the next 16 cities Swift will visit on the Eras Tour honor her? Her next stop is Houston next weekend. Other big cities to come include Atlanta, Nashville, Philadelphia and Chicago, before she concludes her tour on August 9 in Inglewood, California.

Tangent

The Eras Tour is projected to become the highest-grossing female tour according to Billboard Boxscore with a projected $591 million in ticket sales. Swift would dethrone Madonna’s 2008-2009 Sticky and Sweet Tour, which grossed $407 million. That number would place Swift fourth on the list of highest-grossing concert tours, according to Billboard, which is led by Elton John’s ongoing Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, which has grossed $817 million as of January.

Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ Has Mayors Groveling For Her Attention—Here’s What They’ve Given Her So Far