2025 Impact 50 Honoree: Louis Messina

LOUIS MESSINA
CEO & Founder
Messina Touring Group

PREVIOUS JOB: “Flipping burgers. I lasted three hours. Besides that, this is the only job I’ve ever had.”

Taylor Swift’s record-bashing, world-historic “Eras Tour” wrapped Dec. 8 in Vancouver after 149 shows in 51 stadiums with an eye-popping estimated gross of $2.2 billion on more than 10 million tickets. So Swift’s promoter, Louis Messina, can just take a year off.

Yeah, right. The legendary promoter, who got his start in New Orleans 53 years ago and went on to greatness first at PACE Concerts with his mentor the late Allen Becker, before hanging his own shingle, never takes it easy.

During his induction to Pollstar’s Hall of Fame during the 2025 Pollstar Awards, Messina rattled off (some) of his impressive roster. There’s stadium acts Swift, George Strait, Ed Sheeran, Kenny Chesney and the new-to-stadiums Lumineers as well as major arena acts Eric Church, Shawn Mendes, Blake Shelton and Old Dominion.

Add to that, indie favorite Phoebe Bridgers, who Messina subtly snuck into his list as a new signing of his, breaking his own news and sparking hopes of a long-awaited third Bridgers solo album.

“Growing the artists we work with is always the most impactful accomplishment, like taking the Lumineers to stadiums,” says Messina, who remains partnered with AEG Presents. When he declared the Lumineers a future stadium act in the pages of Pollstar in 2022, it raised eyebrows. But he was really raising the bar: the folk favorites are playing eight stadiums on their 2025 tour. “The dreams and aspirations of the artists we work with inspire me more than anything,” he says.

In the last year, the dreams he made manifest – beyond Swift’s world-changer – included a George Strait show at College Station, Texas’s Kyle Field that drew a then-record 110,905. 

Kenny Chesney – already one of the top ticket sellers of the 21st century despite only headlining for 15 years – became the first country artist to play Sphere when his residency began in May 2025. 

There’s plenty more dreams to make, and Messina will be there to guide them