Funding Fling, piece by piece

There is no such thing as a free Spring Fling.

The Social Planning and Event Committee’s 2012-2013 year budget allocations show that putting on the annual Spring Fling concert is a $376,000 affair. The Undergraduate Assembly, which decides the division of the annual budget to the branches of student government, allocated $156,150 to the Concerts committee.

This difference is made up for by ticket revenues, which for this year were projected at $220,000. Last year, the projection for concert ticket revenues was $190,000 and by the end of Fling, 8,500 tickets were purchased.

This year, with the highly publicized departure of Penn students for Villanova University’s concert on the same night, the figure may be less than the projection.

The SPEC Concerts directors expect about the same in terms of costs for the whole event.

“The projections are always pretty accurate,” Concerts Co-Director and College senior Dorian Mendoza said.

SPEC Treasurer William Madden added in an email that “of course sometimes we have the occasional jump [in costs] … but I’m not aware of any such changes this year.”

Madden, a senior in Engineering and the College, also pointed out that artist expenditure is nearly equal to what they allocated in their budget.

The carnival is the other major portion of the Spring Fling budget, and is managed by the SPEC Spring Fling committee. The whole fair is projected to cost $147,690.

Fling committee Co-Director and College junior Casey Peeks said that at the Saturday night carnival this year, students consumed thousands of Pat’s cheesesteaks and cupcakes.

Security projections for the carnival this year remained unchanged from last year at $47,500.

SPEC expects final numbers on Fling costs to come in the next few months.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.