AUSTIN, TX (WBAP/KLIF News) — Austin’s premiere annual event is in trouble. This year’s South-by-Southwest festival was canceled last week due to fears of coronavirus. Hundreds of thousands of people planning to attend are deeply disappointed as are some big high tech companies that felt it prudent to drop out thereby forcing the cancellation.
Now it turns out this year’s cancellation could threaten the future of the festival.
SXSW Chief Executive President Roland Swenson told the Wall Street Journal that the cancellation has already delivered a “devastating blow” to the finances of the festival, a loss he believes could reach more than ten million dollars.
Swenson said he is most concerned about the festival’s 175 year-round employees and the prospect of running out of money by this summer. He said they all want to start working on next year but there’s no guarantee at this point that it will be possible.
Last year SXSW drew 400,000 in attendance and generated more than 350 million dollars.
