Home Music City Of Miami Denies Ultra Music Festival Contract Renewal In Unanimous Vote

Music

City Of Miami Denies Ultra Music Festival Contract Renewal In Unanimous Vote

September 28, 2018

142

In a meeting on Thursday, the Miami City Commission unanimously voted to deny Ultra Music Festival‘s application for a new contract to continue staging their lavish annual event at Miami’s Bayfront Park next spring. Eugene Ramirez, Director of Communications for the City of Miami, tweeted the committee’s decision yesterday afternoon following the hearing:

The @CityofMiami Commission has unanimously voted against the contract that would have kept Ultra Music Festival at Bayfront Park.
— Eugene Ramirez (@EugeneRamirez) September 27, 2018

According to EDM Life, the City Commission declined the festival’s proposed 5-year renewal even though it promised to bring in $2 million per year, more than twice the rent that Ultra had paid in the past. The city also denied a one-year deal proposal. The Miami City Commission’s opposition to Ultra Music Festival’s return to Bayfront Park likely stems from widespread complaints by local residents about the noise, traffic, and general chaos the festival imports from all corners of the Earth each year.

With their current contract having expired after this year’s 20th-anniversary edition of Ultra Music Festival and their new deal shot down by the city, Ultra is now a festival without a home going into its 21st year. However, as the organizers of the long-running EDM destination event explained in a tweet, they are still determined to make Ultra 2019 happen, and there is enough time for them to hammer out new terms before March. As the note reads,

We are naturally disappointed with the outcome of today’s Miami City Commission meeting. We are still working with officials and the local residents on establishing a resolution that works for everyone.

There has been some confusion about the ramifications of today’s vote. The vote today represents only a denial of certain terms of the current proposed 5-year contract, rather than the continued production of the overall festival itself.

The outcome of today’s meeting with the Miami City Commission does not mark the end of Ultra in Miami and we look forward to staging the 21st edition of Ultra Music Festival as planned, March 29th–31st, 2019.

We appreciate your patience and thank you for your support.

To quote a tweet by the festival from last week, “Can you imagine what surprises we have in store for Ultra?” Even if you could imagine it last week, today, the answer to that question is more unclear than ever. We’ll keep you updated as the pieces start to land.