Another one bites the dust.
Organizers of the Coachella Music and Arts Festival, set for next month, are reportedly in talks to postpone the festival until October, as the CDC advises Americans to avoid crowds and large gatherings as much as possible. Unfortunately, this puts Coachella and other large music festivals at risk for cancellation until we all figure out what the heck is happening exactly.
The annual festival, which was originally scheduled to take place over two back-to-back weekends— April 10-12, followed by April 17-19—is now looking to reschedule for the weekends of October 9 and October 16 in an attempt to save the event from cancellation altogether.
Headliners for the festival included Travis Scott and Frank Ocean, who are trying to be solidified for the new fall dates as well.
If postponed, Coachella, where an estimated 250,000 people attend each year, would be the third major festival to be impacted by the coronavirus outbreak, following SXSW in Austin and Ultra Festival in Miami.
Following the news of the cancellation, SXSW announced that it was forced to lay off a third of its staff, due to the economic loss from not being able to host the festival this year, which is largely why Coachella is probably still trying to salvage their festival. In terms of economic reach, Coachella and its sister festival, Stagecoach, together bring in some $1.4 billion in profits each year.
California has been one of the U.S. states hit hardest by the global coronavirus outbreak, reporting over 110 confirmed cases and at least one death as of Monday evening.