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Benefit Concert Dollars Add Up
So far, the rough total is $17 million. The take from ticket sales, sponsorships, online contributions and auctions, telephone pledges and sales of merchandise all needs to be added up, organizers said.
Already, the Concert for New York at Madison Square Garden, which featured Paul McCartney, the Who, Billy Joel and Elton John among others, raised at least $14 million in ticket sales. That’s despite more than 5,000 tickets being given away to firefighters, policemen and rescue workers involved in the World Trade Center disaster. Tickets for the event ranged from $200 to $5,000.
The United We Stand concert in Washington, where the Pentagon was attacked, raised about $3 million from ticket sales. Tickets for that event, which featured Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, the Backstreet Boys and ‘N Sync, were priced from $25 to $75.
Ticket sales figures were unavailable Monday for the Nashville charity concert, which featured Martina McBride, Tim McGraw, Trisha Yearwood and others. Prices for that concert ranged from $25 to $1,000.
The New York and Nashville concerts were aired live, on VH1 and CMT respectively, and telephone numbers were flashed during the concert for viewers to make donations.
In addition, the New York event featured an eBay auction of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia, and a CD and DVD from the event will be sold later, with much of those proceeds going to charity.
The Washington benefit concert will be aired November 1 on ABC, and a phone number will also be displayed to raise additional funds.