Matt Payne
Dickies Arena
The sales tax collectors are grinning from ear to ear, though they might have to spring for a new calculator.
A list of the busiest cities in the U.S. in August, in terms of places to be and people to see, is out, and one not-so-modest locale ranks awfully high.
Greater Fort Worth ranked fourth among more than 40 U.S. cities examined, with high volumes of large events in August, according to PredictHQ’s Event Index Report.
PredictHQ’s study is generated by a model to identify how substantial an impact events will have each week.
This score is calculated for each city's baseline event activity based on five years of historical, verified event data and millions of events per location. An index score of 10 represents an average score, a score above 15 means the city is likely to be significantly busier than usual, and a score below an 8 means that city will likely be noticeably quieter than usual.
Every city has its own baseline and scale to accommodate for the variation in their populations and event norms. For example, a score of an 18 in New York City will entail millions of people moving about the city, whereas a score of 18 in Wichita, Kansas, will involve just over 100,000 people.
PredictHQ says companies such as Uber, Accor Hotels and Domino's Pizza use the data to forecast demand more accurately. The Event Index is a simple entry point for companies to begin to prepare for the fluctuations in demand that events cause as a score out of 20 per city.
Fort Worth showed with a score of 15.7, Detroit (16.4), Indianapolis (16.4), and Pittsburgh (16.1). Indianapolis surged with the Indiana State Fair and a forecast attendance of 900,000. Chicago, had a 15.7. We’ll share with you, Windy City, although we’re windier than you. (Google it.)
The peak week in August for Fort Worth, the “demand surge alert,” is the week of Aug. 21-28. Pro sports is the driver. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 80,000 people will for some reason attend an NFL preseason game between the Seattle Seahawks and Dallas Cowboys. The Detroit Tigers are in town for a three-game series with the Rangers, drawing a total of 70,000-80,000 spectators.
Also in Arlington that week is The Stadium Tour, featuring Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and Joan Jett, at Globe Life Field on Aug. 22. It's a Generation X festival. Stadium crews will clear out whatever is left behind from that convention of unorthodoxy and welcome Lady Gaga on Aug. 23.
Between the two events, PredictHQ forecasts a combined crowd of 56,600.
On Aug. 23, Seventeen brings the band to Dickies Arena and an expected crowd of 7,600. Three days later, Aug. 26, the Original Fort Worth Gun Show, with attendance expected about 10,000, returns to the Will Rogers Memorial Center.
In total, according to PredictHQ, Fort Worth and Arlington will be hosting 170 events in the month, including 76 with 2,500-plus attendees, including 64 conferences and expos, 28 festivaals and 208 concerts with 300-plus attendees, 49 sports games, plus, 266 performing arts and community events.
Our buddies over in Dallas, the John Neely Bryans, they came in at 7.1. Whose city is it that’s so sleepy that a Dallas attorney saw a panther asleep in downtown? A better time is likely to be found in Bastrop. The Houstonians, meanwhile, registered an 8.8.
Better luck to you fellers in September.