Musicians cancel tour dates for various reasons including illness, death in the family, issues with venues or a worldwide pandemic. Have you ever heard of a musician canceling a tour date to attend a Final Four basketball game?
What Happened: Country music star Eric Church announced he will not be playing his originally scheduled tour date on Saturday, April 2 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas as part of the “The Gather Again Tour.”
An email sent from Ticketmaster, a unit of Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV), highlighted Church appealing to the “Church Choir” fans with the reasoning for missing the concert and called it “the most selfish thing” he has ever done to his fans.
“This Saturday, my family and I are going to stand together to cheer on the Tar Heels as the team has made it to the Final Four. As a lifelong Carolina basketball fan, I’ve watched Carolina and Duke battle over the years but to have them matchup in the Final Four for the first time in history of the NCAA Tournament is any sports enthusiast’s dream,” the email reads.
Church mentioned the huge significance of the game and compared it to the same passion “felt by the people who fill the seats at our concerts.”
The news comes after Church tweeted on March 28 that he was excited to be coming to Texas.
“There’s nothing we love more than being on stage playing music for y’all. Texas…we’re coming for you this weekend!” Church tweeted.
The canceled concert is sold out. The Ticketmaster email said refunds will be automatic and will hit accounts within 30 days.
There is no tour date scheduled for Monday, April 4, so there shouldn't be worries there if North Carolina wins and makes it to the championship game.
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Why It’s Important: It’s worth noting the date wasn't rescheduled and instead just canceled outright, leaving fans who bought tickets and made plans for Saturday now out of luck.
Church was born in North Carolina and is well-known as a huge Tar Heels fan who attends many basketball and football games.
North Carolina is set to take on Duke, noted as the team’s biggest rival, in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The game, which will be shown on TBS, a unit of AT&T Inc (NYSE:T), could also be historical as the last game in Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s coaching career as this is his last season.
North Carolina advanced through the tournament as an 8 seed and wasn’t favored to make the Final Four. Duke is currently a four-point favorite in the game with North Carolina paying out +160 on DraftKings Inc (NASDAQ:DKNG).
While Church is a huge North Carolina sports fan and the game is historic, many fans were rubbed the wrong way and the news quickly spread making Eric Church a top trending topic on Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR).
Church was born in 1977 and North Carolina has made it to 14 Final Fours since he was born including six since 2000 prior to this season, so there have been many opportunities to attend games to see North Carolina advance throughout the tournament. North Carolina has been crowned the NCAA Men’s Basketball champions six times with three of them happening over the last 17 years.
Photo: Eric Church, courtesy of Townhouse Media/Flickr.
