ACL pays city $20,000 to rent Zilker

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The Austin City Limits music festival is big business for the Live Music Capital of the World. Last year, according to the Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau, the ACL Festival dumped $80 million into Austin's economy.

But how much of that goes into the city's budget? Roughly $100,000. 

Late Friday afternoon, the City and ACL producers, C3 presents , officially signed a lease agreement for Zilker Park.

That agreement allows ACL to close down the great lawn of Zilker Park for three weeks, and the entire park for three days during the actual festival. To close the park down, C3 pays a $20,000 rental fee to the City of Austin. They also pay $1,000 per day for utilities, $30 bucks for a sound permit and $1500 to use Republic park for shuttle service.

The fee charged to close Zilker Park is a set fee determined by the Austin City Council and it's been the same price since before the ACL Festival started. 

The lease agreement sets the maximum capacity at 75,000 per day - 10,000 more than last year. At the end of the festival C3 gives the city $1 for each 3-day ticket purchased. Those passes are typically $185 each.

When compared to Lollapalooza , another three-day festival in Chicago produced by C3, the numbers look a little better for Chicago’s parks department.

Although Chicago does not charge C3 a rental fee, C3 did pay $1,050,000 to The Parkways Foundation (Chicago's non-profit park foundation).

C3 does donate a portion of the ticket sales to the Austin Parks Foundation . Neither the foundation nor C3 will say how much is donated.

The contract also stipulates that C3 is required to pay for any damages done to the park during the festival.

The music begins on Fri., Oct. 8, and ends with the Eagles on Sun., Oct. 10.