Taylor Swift is coming to Cincinnati. Not Columbus. Not Cleveland. Not Toledo or Dayton or Lima or Bucyrus. Cincinnati, and Cincinnati alone.
By making the Queen City the only Ohio stop of her Eras tour, she鈥檚 re-opened an old debate:
Which Ohio city gets the biggest concerts?
鈥淎ll three cities think that they don't get the better shows,鈥 said Marissa McClellan, marketing director with Ohio entertainment company PromoWest. 鈥淚 see everyone commenting on social media like 鈥楥incinnati never gets the good shows鈥, and it's funny because people in Columbus say the same thing.鈥
But Swift鈥檚 tour 鈥 while highly anticipated 鈥 is only one data point in the fight for concert primacy. So the Ohio Newsroom looked at the top 30 highest grossing North American tours in to settle the debate.
So, who鈥檚 right?
In 2021 and 2022, 80% of those tours made a stop in Ohio. Cleveland came out on top with 20 visits. And Cincinnati was just behind with 17. Columbus lagged 鈥 only 11 big acts visited the state capital in that timeframe.
McClellan said a lot goes into touring decisions. She said it鈥檚 not so much the size of a city, but the size of its venues that counts. Cincinnati and Cleveland have bigger capacity, in a lot of spaces.
鈥淗aving football stadiums has a big big thing to do with it to get those bigger artists,鈥 McClellan said. 鈥淐olumbus no longer has a large amphitheater 鈥 so they get different artists and different level acts than we do here in Columbus because we don鈥檛 have that.鈥
Columbus鈥檚 biggest amphitheater is , but its capacity pales to the other two cities鈥 counterparts. KEMBA can hold a maximum of 5,200 guests. For a concert series earlier this month, KEMBA鈥檚 parking lot was the only outdoor space large enough to fit the fans of the indie rock group boygenius. Bigger crowds aren鈥檛 an issue at the in Cuyahoga Falls or at in Cincinnati 鈥 they both hold around 20,000 concert goers.
Football stadium-wise, the Cleveland Browns Stadium seats 68,000 and Paycor Stadium, where the Bengals play, can fit 65,000 attendees. Columbus has Ohio Stadium, where the Ohio State Buckeyes play. It has a 100,000 person capacity, but that size actually works against it.
鈥淵ou have to be able to sell a lot of tickets to fill that one,鈥 McClellan said. 鈥淛ust having the pro-sports teams in the [Cincinnati and Cleveland], they just have a lot more options.鈥
Plus, you have to consider who owns each venue, said Eric Holt, an assistant professor of music business at Belmont University in Nashville. He said some big artists work with large touring companies to set their schedules. That means they play where those companies own spaces.
鈥淭hey鈥檒l say we want to buy the entire tour. So you're not dealing with independent concert promoters in each city, you're dealing with one entity for all the dates of your tour,鈥 Holt said.
That could explain why almost two-thirds of the bands that chose Cleveland in 鈥21 and 鈥22 played at the Blossom Center, owned by the biggest concert promoter in the country:
Holt said you also have to factor in the history of the city. Cleveland is home to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame 鈥 so it鈥檚 no surprise that nearly half of the big rock tours in that two-year time span chose northeast Ohio.
鈥淚 feel like if you go to a Bruce Springsteen show here [in Cleveland], there's a higher level of enthusiasm because of the history that someone like that has with the city,鈥 said Jeff Niesel, a freelance music writer for the Cleveland Scene.
Money, money, money
The state鈥檚 musical roots 鈥 and the concerts they bring in 鈥 are important. And not just to live music fans, said Ohio Arts Council Executive Director Donna Collins.
She said every time an artist chooses to visit the state, it鈥檚 like music to her ears.
鈥淚t's an economic driver,鈥 she said. 鈥淣ot only the spending of money to purchase tickets, but then all the revenue that comes into the state because these folks are here.鈥
Swift鈥檚 concert alone is expected to bring $48 million in on hotels, transportation, tickets and food, according to the Cincinnati Regional Chamber.
Across Ohio, the impact of live music reached nearly three billion dollars in 2019. That鈥檚 according to commissioned by LiveNation, the aforementioned concert promoter, which has a vested interest in touting the economic benefits of music shows.
So even if Swift didn鈥檛 fulfill your wildest dreams by coming to your city, Columbus promoter McClellan said Ohioans are in a pretty good position.
鈥淚 think we're spoiled, where we can literally go two to four hours and see almost any show,鈥 she said. 鈥淛ust because it's maybe not specifically in your city, you still have really great access.鈥
In McClellan鈥檚 view, fans who are grumpy that a concert isn鈥檛 coming to their city鈥robably just need to shake it off.
