January 29, 2008

By By Mitchell Peters, L.A.

The figures are in for Garth Brooks' historic run at the 20,000-seat Staples Center in Los Angeles, where the country artist played five concerts between Jan. 25-26 to raise money for those affected by the October 2007 blazes in Southern California.

All five shows sold out, grossing more than $3.8 million and drawing 97,940 fans in attendance, according to Billboard Boxscore. Tickets were priced at approximately $45 (including service fees), with proceeds going to the 2008 Fire Intervention Relief Effort, a campaign of the McCormick Tribune Foundation.

?It?s about the closest thing you can get to being a 100% benefit,? longtime Brooks promoter Ben Farrell told Billboard.biz prior to the concerts.

Ticketmaster reduced its service fees, later donating a percentage of that fee, which totaled to $355,000. Los Angeles-based AEG, which owns and operates Staples Center, donated use of the facility and covered all building-related costs to put on the concerts. In addition, American Express and the McCormick Tribune Foundation each donated $1 million.

It's still undetermined how much money was raised through a one-hour CBS broadcast of the first concert on Jan. 25, where viewers were able to contribute to the fund via phone and online. The broadcast received 8.17 million viewers, according to CBS.

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