How much cancelling tour leg would have cost Ed Sheeran instead of dropping Macklemore
This is how much it would have cost Ed Sheeran to cancel his tour rather than dropping Macklemore from the support lineup, which came after the rapper used his platform on stage to speak on the conflict in Palestine.
On Monday (14 September), Macklemore revealed the news that he'd been dropped from Sheeran’s Loop Tour after he called to ‘free Palestine’ during his New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium performance that took place on 4 September.
The US rapper then issued a statement about the incident, where he claimed the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft had issued Sheeran an ‘ultimatium’, resulting in his dismissal.
However, amid the news, several more updates have come from the firing of Macklemore.
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Fellow support artist Finneas quit the remaining dates of the tour, as did Irish singer Aaron Rowe, who was also part of the North American leg.
Irish band Beoga, who does backing on Sheeran's hits like Galway Girl and seven others, also shared a statement and promptly quit, as did Danish pop band Lukas Graham.
This now leaves Sheeran without any supporting acts for his tour.
But while keeping Macklemore on would have seemed like a popular choice in hindsight, financially, it could have been much worse.
Cancelling the leg entirely would have apparently cost an estimated $60 million to $100 million, which includes things like crew member salaries, paying the acts, keeping the lights on, transport, and much more.
However, when you consider the profits loss, there's much more involved.
According to Nine, his Mathematics Tour grossed $875 million, and The Divide tour grossed $776 million.
There's also the fact that if Sheeran can't replace the talent - which also costs money to hire - he'll have to stretch his own performance to account for the time left.
But he needs to make sure he doesn't go over any stadium curfew times, which could see the singer fined for noise pollution past certain times in the evening.
Merchandise will also be a loss now that the supporting acts' fan paraphernalia won't be available to sell and buy, which means vendors miss out on the sales.
In the long run, it could also hit Sheeran's reputation, and put future tours or collaborations at risk – reducing his personal profits due to lost work.
Sheeran recently broke his silence on the decision to drop Macklemore, with him claiming that he wasn't the one to make the decision.
"Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter's decision, it was not mine. Macklemore's contract for the tour was with the promoter, not me,” he said.
"I would never let down the fans who had made plans, nor would I abandon the touring crew and the other support acts and musicians who rely on me for work and to make a living."
LADbible Group previously contacted Ed Sheeran's representatives for comment.
Topics: Ed Sheeran, Music, Palestine, US News
Britt Jones