Ultra Music Festival: Time For The Next Act?

MIAMI, FL — The Ultra Music Festival has yet to announce its new home, but Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said the city stands to lose not only the $2 million the festival paid out in its agreement with his city, but also "hundreds of millions of dollars in economic impact" every year.

Speaking on WPLG TV's "This Week in South Florida," the mayor said he supported Ultra over the years despite complaints of thunderous bass notes washing over parts of his city.

"I was always a long-term supporter of Ultra as commissioner because I really felt that it went to the brand of the city," Suarez said, acknowledging that changes would have had to be made if the festival stayed in Miami. "We had the attention of the world during that week similarly to Basel during Art Basel week for the arts community."

After two decades in Miami, Ultra announced last week that it does not plan to come back. The announcement came on the eve of a planned vote by city commissioners that was to decide if city officials would allow the festival to return to Virginia Key Beach Park and Miami Marine Stadium, where the event was moved from downtown Miami amid resident complaints.

Ultra has been in discussions to possibly move the festival to the Homestead-Miami Speedway, which has seating for 46,600 in its grandstand but sits on a total of 650 acres that includes a combination of open land, recreational vehicle lots and parking areas.

The site is accustomed to large crowds. Race Weekend, an annual three-day event at the Speedway, draws an estimated 100,000 people over the course of three days while Ultra draws an estimated 165,000 to 170,000 attendees over a similar time period. This year's Race Weekend will be held on Nov. 15-17.

Speedway spokesman Neal Gulkis told Patch that he was not able to publicly comment on the discussions with Ultra at this juncture.

But, a spokesman for the city of Homestead confirmed that discussions are ongoing between the track and Ultra.

"We're expecting a proposal from the track," said the city's Zackery Good. "Once we receive that, we'll bring it to the Homestead City Council for their consideration."

Like Miami, Homestead is also in Miami-Dade County, though in a far more rural setting close to Everglades National Park.

Even so, the Speedway is only about 31 miles from Miami International Airport and 37 miles from Bayfront Park in downtown Miami, where the music festival staged many of its 21 installments.

"We support Ultra. Virginia Key wasn’t the right place," explained attorney David Winker in an interview with Patch.

Winker waged a legal battle against the city for approving the move to the environmentally sensitive area of Virginia Key, which also has limited access.

"It’s ridiculous that the city could not figure out a way to accommodate Ultra," he shared. "This is an important cultural event that results in millions and millions of dollars and jobs. This is a failure that’s going to reverberate in our community for years.”

On Tuesday, Miami city officials announced they will hold a special meeting at 2 p.m. on May 21 "regarding Ultra Music Festival and city bond issues."

But, it was not immediately clear if the city was planning to mount a campaign to win Ultra back, or if the planned discussion will focus on related issues, such as funding for an African-American museum that was to be located on Virginia Key.

In his appearance on "This Week in South Florida," Mayor Suarez placed much of the blame for Ultra's decision on Commissioner Joe Carollo, whom he accused of negotiating in bad faith on behalf of the Bayfront Park Management Trust.

"I think they just didn’t want to deal with the politics," Suarez said. "They’ve been dealing with the politics of Miami for 20 years and they got tired of it."

In a letter addressed to "Ultranauts" that was posted on social media, Ultra officials said they were in the process of "putting the finishing touches on the final details" of a new South Florida location.

"After listening to feedback from many of you, including over 20,000 fans who took our post-event survey, it is clear that the festival experience on Virginia Key was simply not good enough," organizers penned on social media. "This is Ultra Music Festival, after all, and our attendees expect us to deliver on our commitment to excellence."

If the festival does move to the Speedway for 2020, it is unclear whether the festival would have to change its dates to accommodate Race Weekend or visa versa. Race Weekend is scheduled to take place on March 20-22 in 2020. The most recent Ultra festival was held on March 28-31.

Last month, Miami commissioners heard from a chorus of angry residents complaining of thunderous bass notes, out-of-key traffic and a less than encore-worthy performance by some festival goers.

The noise concerns were exacerbated by transportation problems when thousands of festival goers took to the streets because of an insufficient number of buses on the first night of the event. The problem was corrected for the other two nights, but the experience didn't sit well with event goers.

Ultra previously said that its March 2019 festival sold out, drawing attendees from 105 countries.

Event organizers said they have had offers from a number of locations but haven't said specifically which ones they are considering. Ultra already plans to hold an upcoming June event at the Everland Speedway in South Korea.

"We are now finalizing a new South Florida location that will serve as an incredible and permanent home for Ultra Music Festival," organizers said in the post. "We have been approached by many interested parties over the years with offers to host the festival at some very unique and impressive locales. One of these, however, has shined far above the others and we look forward to making our home there for many years to come."