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, it’s definitely good to be King.
Billboard reports that George’s two shows raked in a combined $5.5 million via gross ticket sales.
Obviously, George doesn’t pocket all that moola—there are plenty of people to pay, including sound, lighting, management, etc.—but let’s just assume that George’s 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 Arena—and there’s no reason to think otherwise—George 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 sirens—in this case, 20 million of them—is enough to get George back on the stage.
“[The Vegas shows] just kind of worked perfectly with what I said I wanted to do,” George told NCD in 2016. “I 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 it’s going to hold close to 20,000.”
Keep in mind, aside from the reported gross ticket sales, all of my numbers are my unofficial estimations.
