According to Rolling Stone, plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the organizers of Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival have submitted new evidence to the court claiming that the showrunners had allegedly miscalculated the crowd capacity for the event grounds, believing that the fire code allowed for five square feet per person instead of the approved seven square feet per person. They alleged that this miscalculation lead to an overselling of tickets from the maximum 34,500 people to about 50,000.
Along with the expert evidence, the documents filed in court also include alleged conversations among organizers who had voiced their concerns about the safety of the event. For example, Seyth Boardman, the festival’s head of safety had reportedly reached out to the operations direction with the message: “I feel like there is no way we are going to fit 50k in front of that stage.”
Another organizer had also raised concerns about possible “gatecrashers” who might contribute to an even larger crowd size, commenting: “We are going to be absolutely screwed when the sun goes down.”
The 2021 festival took a deadly turn, leaving ten dead and hundreds injured in a crowd crush incident. Officials said that there were about 50,000 people in attendance at the outdoor venue and that about 300 people were immediately treated at the field hospital located near the festival. Fans reportedly began surging towards the stage during Travis Scott’s performance around 9:30pm, leaving many attendees trampled and struggling for space and air. According to Stereogum, the final night of the festival was cancelled.
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