Lightfoot announces deal to keep Lollapalooza in Grant Park for another decade

The mayor made the announcement onstage to throngs of screaming fans, appearing alongside festival founder Perry Farrell.

SHARE Lightfoot announces deal to keep Lollapalooza in Grant Park for another decade
Mayor Lori Lightfoot talks to the crowd before Jazmine Sullivan’s performance on day one of Lollapalooza in Grant Park, Thursday evening, July 28, 2022.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot talks to the crowd before Jazmine Sullivan’s performance on day one of Lollapalooza in Grant Park, Thursday evening, July 28, 2022.

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Lollapalooza will stay at Grant Park for at least another 10 years, Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced Sunday.

The mayor made the announcement onstage to throngs of screaming fans ahead of J-Hope’s headlining performance to close out the weekend, appearing alongside festival founder Perry Farrell.

“I’m here to tell you that Lolla, all the great work, all the fabulous music, will continue for 10 more years,” Lightfoot told the crowd. “That’s 10 more years of music, of arts, of support for the city of Chicago. Four billion dollars in economic impact, 10 more years.”

In a statement, Lightfoot’s office said the new agreement between C3 Presents — the festival’s production company — and the city will be in place for 2023 and run through 2032. There’s also an option to extend the deal for five additional years.

The agreement calls for the Chicago Park to rake in 5% to 20% of revenue, depending on how much the festival makes. The city will make at least $2 million for a four-day festival, $1.5 million for a three-day fest, and $750,000 if it’s canceled.

In 2021, the festival directly generated more than $4 million in taxes for Chicago, officials said. The festival generated $7.8 million in fees for the park district in 2021. 

The new deal also caps daily festival attendance at 115,000.

Lightfoot’s announcement — which was tipped by Farrell three days earlier in an interview with WGN — comes less than two weeks after touting an agreement for a series of downtown NASCAR races starting next summer.

Lollapalooza returns August 3-6, 2023.

The Latest
Glass-facade buildings can disorient birds in flight. The city is expected to update and revise rules for new developments and rehabbed buildings next month. But bird groups say the proposed guidelines need to be mandatory.
The man was shot in the left eye area in the 5700 block of South Christiana Avenue on the city’s Southwest Side.
Most women who seek abortions are women of color, especially Black women. Restricting access to mifepristone, as a case now before the Supreme Court seeks to do, would worsen racial health disparities.
The Bears have spent months studying the draft. They’ll spend the next one plotting what could happen.
Woman is getting anxious about how often she has to host her husband’s hunting buddy and his wife, who don’t contribute at all to mealtimes.