Tiger Stadium’s new concert series raked in big bucks for the Capital City.
The Death Valley Live concert series, which began Saturday with a performance from Grammy award-winning country music singer Zach Bryan, generated an estimated $7.6 million economic impact on the city, according to a Visit Baton Rouge estimate. A crowd of about 70,000 filled 75,000 available seats on Saturday, directly spending about $17.5 million on tickets, parking and concessions and $7.6 million outside of the event on needs like hotels and meals.
That’s a total of $25.1 million in visitor spending for the concert. Most of the event-based revenue, including tickets, concessions and parking, went back to the university’s athletic department, LSU Athletics Chief Revenue Officer Clay Harris said.
“The energy of 70,000 music fans in Tiger Stadium on Saturday was infectious — but the impact stretched far beyond Death Valley,” Laura Cating, senior vice president for marketing and communications for Visit Baton Rouge, said in a statement. “A concert of this scale boosts small businesses and elevates Baton Rouge’s cultural profile.”
Visit Baton Rouge has said that a big LSU home football game adds $18 million to the local economy.
City-parish sales tax revenue collected from event-related sales on Saturday and the May 23 Post Malone-Jelly Roll concert will be given back to the artists’ entertainment promoters, thanks to a deal approved by the Metro Council in the fall. Entertainment promoter AEG declined to comment for this article.
Bryan, known for tunes including “Pink Skies” and “Something in the Orange,” headlined the first Death Valley Live show put together by LSU Athletics, Baton Rouge Area Foundation, Greater Baton Rouge Economic Partnership and Visit Baton Rouge. The series is intended to build on the stadium’s allure with live music and economically benefit to the city.
Special Zach Bryan x LSU-branded merchandise was available for purchase before the event at the Walk-On’s Sports Bistreaux on Burbank Drive. LSU receives royalties for any university-branded merchandise, which Harris said was a “win-win” for the school and the artist.
“I think it’s a really big win for the city just because it does bring in those out-of-town guests when you’re talking about these large-scale concerts,” Harris said.
Memorial Day weekend music
Some downtown hotels, including the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center, were sold out for the weekend. In addition to concert attendees, local hotels saw an influx of guests for other events like the Dupree Dance Competition, a youth competitive dance event, said Gary Jupiter, general manager of the Hilton Baton Rouge Capitol Center.
A similar turnout is expected on Memorial Day weekend, when Post Malone and Jelly Roll will take the stage in the series’ second set of performances. The timing of that concert is reminiscent of Bayou Country Superfest, a multi-day country music festival hosted in Tiger Stadium, Jupiter said.
The festival, which ended in 2020 after 10 years as a Memorial Day tradition, brought out-of-state visitors to Baton Rouge, boosting business during an otherwise quiet time for the city. In the last few years of its run, the festival moved to New Orleans, bringing hotel occupancy rates down in Baton Rouge for that weekend.
Superfest goers fill the stadium at the Bayou Country Superfest on Sunday, May 26th at LSU Tiger Stadium.
The potential to make Memorial Day weekend into an arena-concert holiday again is promising, Jupiter said.
“Any opportunity we have to showcase our hospitality industry, that’s always exciting,” Jupiter said.
Elevating the entertainment scene
In recent years, city leaders have been engaged in conversations about attracting more entertainment and major events to the Capital Region. The discussions resulted in plans for a new $400 million arena on the LSU campus and for redeveloping the Raising Cane’s River Center, though it will bar major events to avoid competing with the LSU arena.
In 2024, BRAF, The Partnership and Visit Baton Rouge backed LSU’s proposal to build the arena and supported an ordinance that allowed the city-parish to explore ways to add meeting spaces and a hotel to the River Center, hoping to boost talent attraction and retention, tourism and the city’s cultural scene.
Lori Melancon, president and CEO of the Partnership, said strengthening Baton Rouge’s entertainment scene will make it easier to attract people of all ages to the region, which has struggled to retain talent.
“The shows are about more than a single event series—they will create consistent, high-quality experiences that give residents more reasons to engage locally and signal that the Capital Region is thriving,” Melancon said in an email.
BRAF CEO Chris Meyer said the Death Valley Live concerts help create a sense of belonging and pride in Baton Rouge through music, while also bringing in tax revenue to the region and dollars to local businesses that can be reinvested in the community.
Plan Baton Rouge III, the third iteration of a master plan for downtown, will include some suggestions for entertainment along the riverfront, he said.
“Tiger Stadium is one of our communities’ largest assets, yet we only use it a handful of days each year,” Meyer said in an email. “Death Valley Live helps put entertainment, and all of the benefits that flow from it, front and center for the capital region.”
