Events
COTA GRABS ANOTHER HEADLINER: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE TO PERFORM AT 2017 USGP IN AUSTIN
COTA GRABS ANOTHER HEADLINER: JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE TO PERFORM AT 2017 USGP IN AUSTIN
TICKETS ON SALE FRIDAY, MARCH 31 @ 10 A.M.
Following the huge success of last year’s Taylor Swift concert during the 2016 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix Weekend, Austin’s Circuit of the Americas (COTA) announced on Wednesday it had booked Justin Timberlake to headline this year’s entertainment package.
Taylor Swift inspired the largest crowd in COTA history when she performed her only concert of the 2016 season. Crowds jammed the special stage set-up at COTA to see and hear Swift perform her Saturday night concert.
Can Justin Timberlake enjoy the same success? COTA certainly hopes so.
After watching annual attendance fall following the Inaugural USGP at COTA in 2012, COTA came up with a great plan to bring back the crowds (and attract music fans as well) for 2016. It was a brilliant move which no one was expecting.
In 2015, the USGP at COTA was hammered by a combination of disastrous weather conditions, including high winds, torrential rains and flooding over the first two days of the three day race weekend. Then funding from the state’s Major Events Trust Fund was cut due to lower than anticipated attendance. It was, to say the least, demoralizing for everyone involved, from promoters to diehard race fans.
But by early 2016 a plan was developed to boost race weekend attendance, and deliver some brand new fans as well; in this instance, music fans. Taylor Swift agreed to perform in concert, a huge coup for Bobby Epstein and his Circuit of the Americas. For the price of admission to the USGP, you got Taylor Swift in a spectacular Saturday night performance. And music fans, arriving early for the concert, were able to watch F1 practice and qualifying, over a stunningly beautiful weekend.
No one can predict the weather. As Mark Twain famously said, “everyone complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it.” Regardless, rain or shine, COTA has just signed Justin Timberlake to keep the crowds excited, if – for some reason – a Formula 1 field (alone) can’t do it. Tickets for the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix, October 20-22, 2017, go on sale Friday, March 31st at 10 am CDT.
