NASCAR is gearing up for its third Chicago Street Race this summer with a smaller concert lineup, downsized hospitality buildout, reduced ticket prices and an accelerated setup/breakdown schedule.
The Cup Series race is also moving from broadcast to cable TV.
Southern rockers the Zac Brown Band will perform following the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, July 5, NASCAR announced Monday. Unlike the first two years in which a full weekend of scheduled concerts were disrupted by rain, the headliners are the only musical act on the bill for year three.
In addition, NASCAR is also planning to start the Cup Series run through Grant Park earlier Sunday in the hopes of finally getting the full race, which has been shortened by rain and darkness during the first two years, to the finish line.
The Chicago Street Race on July Fourth weekend will once again feature a 12-turn, 2.2-mile pop-up course through Grant Park, down DuSable Lake Shore Drive and up Michigan Avenue, which are closed off and lined with temporary fences, grandstands and hospitality suites.
One major change in the streetscape, however, will be a concert stage where the Skyline, a mammoth temporary structure along Columbus Drive which last year housed the most expensive suites overlooking the start/finish line at Buckingham Fountain, rose last year.
The concert stage is being relocated from Hutchinson Field on the southern end of the race grounds. The move is aimed to shorten the buildout and minimize disruption, a NASCAR spokesperson said.
In 2023, the inaugural Fourth of July weekend event navigated record rainfall that curtailed races, canceled concerts and left fans soaked. Last year, while sunny skies prevailed for the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, the Cup Series race was once again shortened when rain delays forced officials to call the race after 58 laps as darkness fell on the unlit street course.
Despite the rain, NASCAR was able to pull off a full slate of concerts throughout the weekend last year, including shows by Keith Urban, The Black Keys, Lauren Alaina and The Chainsmokers.
This year, the Grant Park 165 main event on Sunday is scheduled to start at 1 p.m., which is 2 1/2 hours earlier than last year. The nationally televised broadcast is moving from NBC to cable channel TNT.
Tickets, which went on sale in January, are also less expensive this year. Single-day general admission passes start at $99 – a third less than last year – while premium grandstand reserved seats are priced at a nearly 50% reduction.
The most expensive premium individual seats are at the Fountain Club near Buckingham Fountain, which have been reduced slightly to $1,300 for the weekend. Last year, the most expensive seats sold for $3,000 in the now defunct Skyline structure.
Under the terms of a three-year deal struck during Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration, NASCAR agreed to pay the Chicago Park District a $500,000 permit fee in 2023, $550,000 in 2024 and $605,000 this year, with an option to renew for two years. In addition, NASCAR will pay the Park District a $2 fee per admission ticket, and an escalating commission for food, beverage and merchandise sold at the event.
Last year, the race generated $128 million in total economic impact and drew 53,036 unique visitors, according to a study commissioned by Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism arm.
The nationally televised Cup Series race also generated $43.6 million in media value for Chicago, according to a companion report.
The extended broadcast of the Grant Park 165, broken up by nearly two hours of programming filler as the street course shut down during the rain, averaged 3.87 million viewers last year on NBC, according to Nielsen data.
rchannick@chicagotribune.com
