Chesney concerts serve dual purpose: entertainment, business

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Sure, concerts benefit the economy. Ticket sales alone do a lot for the community. Add to that the $25 parking, $30 t-shirts and $15 margaritas that many concert-goers who insist on getting the full experience willingly pay for, and it's certainly not a stretch to say that concerts are money-raising events. But beyond the walls of the stadium or arena where the show is held, could a Kenny Chesney concert actually benefit the economy of the local town?

The answer is, seemingly, yes. Chesney was in Sandy City, Utah on Thursday for a show that repeatedly attracted 25,000 people. That's a lot of people who are probably doing more in Sandy City this weekend than just jamming along with Chesney's songs. Of course, some people will try to do the whole concert scene as cheaply as possible, passing on all the extras for sale such as the t-shirts, other promotional materials and those margaritas that are so watered down you wonder if the workers trying to appease a frenzied crowd before Chesney's next song begins are putting any tequila in them at all. Others, however, decide that even when funds are tight, all budgets have to allow splurge room. And for many who have been looking forward to this summer's Kenny Chesney tour since the second last year's ended, cheating themselves of any of these concert extras would be as bad as not attending the show at all.

So while many of those 25,000 people went straight home after the show, others likely decided to make a weekend out of it. Living off the high that any concert provides--especially a Chesney one--excited fans probably spent the weekend in Sandy City, paying for tourist-type entertainment and prolonging the whole experience as long as possible. Even if most concert-goers were local, surely some of them had to travel to get to Chesney--which means hotels had to be booked and meals had to be purchased. All of this tourism can benefit the economy in and around Sandy City. Without even thinking too much about it, then, Chesney fans continue to do their part for the economy.