The city of Austin made $388,000,000 on the festival last year, so the owners have certainly done splendidly the past 34 years.
“Penny wise, pound foolish.” They will be sued, and they deserve it.
That is exactly my thoughts.
Awwwwwwwwwwwwww!
And with that SWSX was suddenly back on the schedule!
“Springtime for SWSX”
starring Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder
Tsk, tsk ...liberal gasm down the tubes.
Lloyds of London....just missed that one.
North by Northwest is not amused...
Gee that’s a shame.
So... I assume they require tickets to most, if not all of their events?
And I assume that if the above assumption is correct, that they have advance ticket sales?
I wonder if they will be refunding advance ticket sales.
Deposits on hotel rooms?
Etc.
I work in the outdoor amusemen industry...that is fairs and festival. Believe me...fairs, carnivals, vendors do not have such cancellation insurance. I checked. Cancel a fair....millions of dollars lost...not only carnival revenue...The fair gets a percentage of the take. Admission revenue...parking....percentage from all food concessions...as high as 35 percent (Marin County)...Vendors lost sales.
Then, the community looses too. No hotel rooms rented by vendors. Food delivery, (Sysco, etc) Beverage suppliers...Home Depot. Huge amounts of revenue are created when the fair comes to town...
This is pain all along the way...
There is a wailing and rending of garments in the Progressive Ghetto of Austin this night!!!
If I was a Judge and a plaintiff filed a case because of financial hardship for canceling the SXSW festival, I would dismiss the case.
SXSW organizers have a right to err on the side of public safety with regard to the news of rapid spread of deadly COVID-19. It is a no win situation for them. They would also surely be sued if they allowed the festival to continue resulting in an almost certain infection spread of many attendees. Financial loss weighed against possible extreme illness and even death? No contest...
At this point, I cannot fault anyone or group for canceling large public gatherings. And I would think it would be wise of everyone to think twice about attending any large gathering in the near future…