Niantic and the city of Chicago have reached an agreement to return Pokémon GO Fest to Grant Park, Chicago, for the next two years. This agreement locks in the dates for GO Fest 2026 as June 5 through June 7, and Niantic will be charged $2,320,851 for the fees to the Chicago Park District.
Niantic has previously held GO Fest events in 2017, 2018, and 2019, with 2017 being widely considered a disastrous event in terms of organisation and connectivity. It was Niantic’s first big real world event, but it was plagued with issues.
Many attendees couldn’t connect at all, some got in but then couldn’t maintain the connection, many were stuck in line for hours before even getting in. It got so bad that GO Fest 2017: Chicago tickets were refunded to anyone who had one and requested a refund.
Fortunately, Niantic’s event organising skills have improved dramatically over the next two years, which likely lead to this agreement. The details of the agreement have been shared on the Chicago Park District Legislation website, with the legislation text detailing exactly what Niantic and the city have agreed on. Here is an explanation extract from the official report.
P.S. Curiously, the agreement still refers to Niantic, despite being purchased by Scopely, so we are continuing that verbiage in this article as well.
Multi-Year Agreement with Niantic for Pokemon Go Fest in Grant Park and Provisional Approval for 2026 Event
Pokémon GO Fest has had three successful events on Chicago Park District property in 2017-2019 in Lincoln Park and Grant Park. Niantic has hosted events in other cities domestic and international. Pokémon GO Fest is a family friendly event that welcomes everyone. It will feature local food vendors, merchandise sales and activations. Grant Park will remain open and accessible to the general public during the activation. Drawing attendance of approximately 40,000 people per day, this event has a proven success record both here and at locations around the globe.
Based on these successes, the Chicago Park District and Niantic wish to enter into a multi-year Agreement to produce the event for Chicago residents and visitors. Key elements of the agreement include:
- The festival area will be within Grant Park, unless alternative location otherwise mutually agreed to by the parties.
- Paid attendance at the festival shall not exceed 40,000 people per day unless otherwise mutually agreed to by the parties.
- Niantic shall be responsible for organizing, producing and holding the event and for the payment of all related costs and expenses, including all reasonable costs related to repairing and restoring the event area to its pre-event condition.
- Niantic will pay fees as detailed above in consideration of the Agreement.
- Niantic will contribute an additional 10% of the permit fee to the “give back to the parks” to fund to capital improvements in Grant Park.
- Niantic will provide 100 GA tickets (or equivalent) per day each year for Park District use (e.g., to raffle for summer program funds).
- No perimeter fencing, open footprint with the exception of back of house areas.
- 2026 event dates June 5-7.
- 2027 event dates TBD.
- No alcohol.
- No live music.
- The Agreement will contain termination provisions standard in all such Park District agreements. Over the life of the Agreement, including extension, the fees to the Park District will total $2,320,851. Of this amount $410,986 will fund improvements in
Grant Park.
