AUSTIN -- Tuesday morning, music lovers will have their first look at the 2018 Austin City Limits festival lineup and have their first chance to buy tickets.
On Monday, C3 Presents, the company that puts on ACL each year, released an Economic Impact Study for the festival and gave a check of $4.8 million dollars to Austin Parks.
"That is an amazing event for our parks,” said Austin Parks Foundation CEO Colin Wallis.
Wallis said they are still trying to decide what projects they’ll fund with the money, but announced they will use half a million dollars for a restoration of the playscape at Pan Am Park in East Austin.
"It's one of the most used playscapes in our system and, like a lot of them, it's outdated and in need of renovations,” said Wallis.
KVUE spoke to a group of young-at-heart softball players who grew up playing in the park in the 1960s.
"That's where we were born and raised,” said Jake Varela.
"We just love it, love the park,” said Gary Coyle.
They hope the park will be home to new memories for the next generation.
"They're out here all the time,” said Coyle.
That's why they were happy to hear about the restoration.
"Very needed, very needed, those kids got to have a place to play where you're safe,” said Varela.
According to C3 presents, ACL has generated $30 million in the last 12 years for Austin Parks, which went to fund projects like the Auditorium Shores Renovation, Zilker lawn restoration, and the Republic Square Park revamp.
"The music festival happens in public space and it is our responsibility to take care of the space we operate in,” said Charlie Jones, co-founder of C3 Presents.
But it's not just the greenspace that sees the green from ACL.
"A lot of people had a good time at Austin City Limits, at ACL last year, but regardless of whether you went or not, everybody in Austin was a winner,” said Mayor Steve Adler.
According to the Economic Impact Study commissioned by C3 Presents, the 2017 ACL festival generated $255 million for the Austin economy.
It’s a big boost compared to in 2006 when it was about $68 million.
That's compared to SXSW’s $348.6 million generated in 2017.
Of the ACL money, the top two sectors: $26 million to hotels and $56 million to food and drinks, both in and out of the festival.
The report shows that in 2017, the ACL festival created 2,588 full-time job equivalents.
"In fact, this was such an impact on work force in our city, that it effectively lowered our unemployment rate for October from 3.3 percent to 2.8 percent,” said Adler.
For the back-to-back weekend festival at Zilker Park, the report says they see about 75,000 visitors on each of the six days.
"The ACL music festival means a lot to this city,” said Adler.
A festival, they hope, will continue to be a grand slam for Austin and its residents.