Last month, news broke that AEG Live, the company responsible for putting on Coachella and other large festivals around the world, was negotiating with New York City officials to start a new music festival in Queens. This still unnamed evert was rumored to be scheduled to take place two weeks after Governor’s Ball. (A representative for AEG declined to comment at this time.)
Today a petition appeared on Change.org from the organizers of Governor's Ball. The document appeals to Mayor Bill de Blasio, asking him to “help keep Gov Ball alive for many years to come.”
Along with the petition comes a letter authored by "Team Gov Ball" which levels some serious allegations against AEG. “As a small, independent company in an industry dominated by major corporations and rapid consolidation, we've come a long way and given hundreds of thousands of you first class entertainment,” the petition notes. “Sadly, today our future is in jeopardy and we need your help… The timing of [AEG’s] proposed event is an aggressive, greedy attempt by AEG to push a small independent company of born and bred New Yorkers out of business and out of the market.”
The organizers of Gov Ball stress in the letter that they're not asking de Blasio to deny AEG the chance to put together their festival; they just want more distance between the AEG event and their own. The petition requests that concerned citizens “tell the Mayor’s Office and the City of New York to reject this proposed event that would take place two weeks after Gov Ball. We are asking that this proposed event take place at another time of year because this would allow both events to succeed.”
Read the full petition here.