Coachella may already have one of the strongest festival brands in the world with a solid bottom line and sell-outs months in advance of even the lineup announcement, but that is not stopping it from trying to expand on its Southern California stronghold. According to new reports, the Pasadena City Council in Los Angeles has approved a new music festival by Coachella organizers AEG Live in the historic Rose Bowl, the home the UCLA football team and other music and cultural events year-round.
According to the Pasadena Star News, the three-day event would take place at the Rose Bowl and at the neighboring Brookside Golf Course.
It is being pitched as an event that is very different from Coachella - very family friendly with space for bookstores, art and place alongside major musical acts who will perform until 11 p.m. on four main stages. They want to have parents and children, not just a bunch of teens and early 20 year-olds running around in tanks and flower crowns.
AEG and the Rose Bowl Operating Company (RBOC) are predicting as many as 90,000 people could attend each day.
They hope to weave the festival into the fabric of the local community, getting restaurants, the children's museum and local art venues involved.
RBOC hopes to get the deal done since it would bring in much needed revenue for the Rose Bowl with a needed third tenant after the UCLA football team and the Tournament of Roses. Contracts could be signed on a 10-year deal that could net the festival between $90 and $106 million over the course of the deal.
This is not the first news we have heard of AEG Live looking to expand its festival output in Southern California. Indio officials confirmed that they are looking to put together a fall Coachella "imminently" on the same grounds as where Coachella currently sits.
