George Strait kicked off his 10-date 2017 residency at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Feb. 17 and 18 with back-to-back sold-out shows. After looking at the early returns, itâs definitely good to be King.
Billboard reports that Georgeâs two shows raked in a combined $5.5 million via gross ticket sales.
Obviously, George doesnât pocket all that moolaâthere are plenty of people to pay, including sound, lighting, management, etc.âbut letâs just assume that Georgeâs take of the $5,546,145 is 75 percent. That comes to $4,159,608 for the two shows. George is scheduled to play eight more shows in Vegas this year (April 7 & 8, July 28 & 29, Sept. 1 & 2, Dec. 8 & 9). If he keeps selling out the T-Mobile Arenaâand thereâs no reason to think otherwiseâGeorge stands to clear (by my unofficial estimation) $20,798,043 from his Vegas shows in 2017.
The Cowboy may have officially ridden away from touring in 2014, but the call of the sirensâin this case, 20 million of themâis enough to get George back on the stage.
â[The Vegas shows] just kind of worked perfectly with what I said I wanted to do,â George told NCD in 2016. âI wanted to have a few dates here and there, and when this came up, I said that this is what I was looking for. This venue is so beautiful and itâs going to hold close to 20,000.â
Keep in mind, aside from the reported gross ticket sales, all of my numbers are my unofficial estimations.
photo courtesy EB Media