The Daily Swarm

As my colleague Andrew Herrmannn reports in today’s paper, when it meets this afternoon, the Chicago Park District board of commissioners is almost certain to rubber-stamp a new five-year, $50-million deal allowing national venue managers SMG and their new partners—Austin, TX-based concert promoters C3 Presents, the folks who bring Lollapalooza to Grant Park each summer—to manage the city’s biggest stadium, that landmark waterfront behemoth, Soldier Field.

What does this mean to rock fans, and why am I posting about it here?

As I first noted last week when I reported that control of Soldier Field was in play, this was a showdown between the giant national concert promoter Live Nation and those absurdly ambitious Texans at C3. Both have been in a relentless and ruthless competition with longtime Chicago promoters Jam Productions.

Until now, some industry observers discounted C3’s desire to play a bigger role in the Chicago concert and entertainment market—even though Lollapalooza has made a major impact on the summer concert calendar, and not for the best. Now, C3 will be responsible for bringing more music and other events to Soldier Field.