Superfest Tax Rebate Proposal

East Baton Rouge Metro Council members voted Feb. 23 to seek legislation that would create a sales tax rebate program for tickets to the city’s annual Bayou Country Superfest and similar events.

If approved, ticket prices for concerts won’t go up but a portion of the sales tax could be repaid to Superfest co-producers Festival Productions, AEG Live and The Messina Group as incentive to keep hosting events at Louisiana State University’s 91,600-capacity Tiger Stadium.

The Memorial weekend festival drew 75,000 last year and more than 85,000 in 2010, its inaugural year.

The country music event, scheduled for May 26-27, is said to be receiving a subsidy of $600,000 this year, part of which comes from the state Tourism Office and the rest from a tourism grant from British Petroleum.

Top performers on the bill include Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Eric Church, Little Big Town, Jerrod Niemann, Rascal Flatts, Jason Aldean, Dierks Bentley, Sara Evans and Joe Nichols.