Busch Stadium Wanted Buffett

STLToday.com revealed today that Cardinals ownership hoped to lure Jimmy Buffett to play a show at Busch Stadium this year:

St. Louis Cardinals vice president Bill DeWitt III said concerts are the biggest way to drive additional revenue into Busch Stadium.

“It’s a goal of ours to have one big show a year. But it takes two to tango,” DeWitt said.

“If you have more than one stadium show a year you’re doing well,” said Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar. “If you have three or more, you’re doing exceptional.” The stadiums have such a large capacity, they are hard to fill, he added. Giants Stadium in New York is one notable exception.

It takes a special kind of act to book Busch Stadium, DeWitt said. They have to be able to fill the majority of the space and have to be willing to play an outdoor show. But most importantly, “the tour needs to be flexible enough to fit into our baseball season. All those things have to be in place. There just aren’t that many bands out there that fit the bill.”

Jimmy Buffett also was considered for a Busch concert, but he preferred amphitheaters over stadiums for this tour. He’s coming to Verizon Wireless Amphitheater next month.

Buffett will play the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in St. Louis on April 29th.