BTS is now the biggest show to take over Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso. And for Jorge Vazquez, executive director of the Special Events Center, the impact is, in some ways, yet to be seen.
Yes, 48,000 people each night of two concerts, May 2-3, had a great impact on the economy as fans bought tickets (sometimes for both nights), used Uber and Lyft, stayed in hotels and Airbnbs and spent money dining and enjoying the Sun City.
“I know the economic impact that this show will bring to El Paso will be astronomically higher than Coldplay,” Vazquez said.
El Paso Mayor Renard Johnson agreed, saying the visibility for El Paso was incredible with the Korean pop group as well as other events sponsored by the city that weekend. It was the first time for the Sol Summit music festival also May 2-3 in Downtown El Paso.
“It was incredible — the enjoyment and the excitement and visibility for El Paso that weekend. We had a tremendous amount of activity across our city. Our hotels were busy, restaurants were busy. The small businesses did well; our entertainment districts did well,” the mayor said. “It was a major economic impact to our local economy.”
But what does BTS mean for the future big acts and their connection to El Paso?
“Coldplay showed us that we can do it,” Vazquez said. With BTS, Vazquez is now thinking of Bible verses. “Ask and you shall receive.”
It was a surreal moment to see the international Korean pop group performing inside the Sun Bowl, with all the lights and people, Vazquez said.
“It was unbelievable,” he said. “I really feel blessed to have a team of people beside me. They are the best. You should have seen them work so hard for so many days. Our days were from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. — and that was a light day.
“Dr. (Heather) Wilson, the entire university rallied with me to make this happen and it’s such a proud moment,” El Paso is growing and I get to say that my team and I are part of it.”
Johnson said the UTEP community must be congratulated and said the concert weekend definitely showed what’s possible for El Paso’s future.
“When your community can host world class entertainment like that and other events all at the same time, it continues to reinforce that we are a destination place for tourism, culture and just unforgettable experiences,” he said. “We had folks that I personally talked to that were visiting from Guadalajara, from parts of Asia and we had a number of visitors who flew into El Paso and stayed for two nights, making a destination out of it.”
Each big show — from Ricky Martin and NSYNC, to One Direction to Coldplay last year — has been preparation for BTS.
“Coldplay was the biggest when they came. Just to give you an idea, I think when we unveiled the fun guide, we said they had 60 trucks of production for Coldplay. There were over 110 trucks of production and merchandise and everything for BTS,” Vazquez said.
“When they say they truly are the biggest show in the world, it’s the biggest understatement of the year. They came in with a Korean team that is massive. They have an American team helping them produce these things and then there’s Live Nation.”
Vazquez said Coldplay prepared him mentally more than anything else. They had already done massive productions like RBD (Rebelde) in 2023, Rolling Stones in 2006, NSYNC in 2000, and Ricky Martin’s Livin’ La Vida Loca Tour in 1999-2000.
“Each and every show, and it could be a showing up in Magoffin or a show in the Don Haskins Center. Every show teaches you things that you didn’t know and makes you a better manager, better person. And for us to get there, it’s about trust — they don’t just give the best shows touring just because they like you.”
On social media, some fans grumbled about having to wait in line for hours to get into the stadium. And another common complaint was that the Internet was not reliable enough to scan tickets in a timely way.
Brian Kennedy, an El Paso attorney and sports and entertainment consultant, said the BTS concerts overall were amazing and great for the city. He did note that stadium challenges, such as long security lines and ticket scanning, dampen the excitement, calling it a high-stakes puzzle of safety and efficiency.
“The ‘first mile’ of the fan experience — getting into the venue — becomes the biggest operational challenge,” he said.
“Many venues teach the concept of the first three feet, which means people really care about what’s three feet around them. Their experience begins when they get close to the venue. What was traffic like? How quick was getting into the stadium? That’s where we started to see challenges,” Kennedy said.
Vazquez’s response is that people were misinformed by posts claiming there was only one way to get in on Saturday, which wasn’t the case. What happened is that people were naturally drawn to line up at the north gate, as it’s the most visible. However, UTEP had shared a QR code showing all the entrances. There were four main entrances and one for premium ticket holders.
He also says that people chose to stand in line at 3 p.m. and were upset that they were still in line at 6 p.m. But they had been advised that the doors would open at 5:30 p.m.
“So that person who complained about being there for three hours was 2.5 hours early, which is totally normal (for a show like that one),” he said.
Technology, he said, was an issue on the first day of the concerts. For some reason, Android phones were not scanning as quickly as other phones. However, the glitches were fixed and day two went a lot smoother.
“We did some changes to the scanners, so it was better for Sunday,” he said.
The same weekend as BTS, other events were happening in El Paso, including the El Paso Comic Con and the Sol Summit, which Vazquez said only made El Paso look better to tourists.
“The fact that El Paso had all those events going during the same weekend showcased the city in a way that would not have happened otherwise,” Vazquez said “Because we had people from all over the United States that came for the first time to El Paso and they saw a city that was full of activity and vibrant — I think the first impression is way more than what we expected it to be for BTS.
“The atmosphere made us look even more that we are a bigger city that can do these kinds of things with no problem,” he said.
And perhaps the best thing of all is that visitors fell in love with the city.
“They absolutely fell in love with El Paso and I think people are gonna absolutely come back to our city. They were just so over over the moon about how friendly we are. We are America’s friendliest city. The hospitality that El Pasoans showed our out-of-town visitors was first class,” Johnson said.
“We picked up a lot of new friends from all over the world, and they’ll be coming back.”
María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; mcortes@elpasotimes.com; @eptmaria.bsky.social on Bluesky, and @eptmariacg on TikTok.
This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: BTS concerts showed El Paso is destination place for world-class events
Reporting by Maria Cortes Gonzalez, El Paso Times / El Paso Times
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
