A state worker is under investigation after swapping use of a White Sox skybox for free tickets to Lollapalooza last August.
Eric Stefancic, the marketing director for the state agency that owns U.S. Cellular Field, gave Lollapalooza promoters free access to a 60-seat skybox in exchange for numerous free passes to the festival, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Stefancic gave the promotion company C3 Presents the skybox, with half-price food and drinks, for a Yankees-White Sox game on Aug. 1, four days before the festival's opening, records pulled by the Sun-Times show.
In a July 19 email to Jaclyn Mayer, an assistant to C3 partner Charlie Jones, Stefancic asked to trade the game tickets for "10-12" free 3-day passes, which Lollapalooza sold for $215 apiece this year.
Former Gov. James R. Thompson, who was chairman of board of the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, Stefancic's employer, until July 18, told the paper he questioned the transaction. “It sounds like an effort on [Stefancic's] part to get the stadium on good terms with the concert promoter. But asking for tickets in return for that would raise questions in my mind.”
Illinois law bars state employees from soliciting gifts from companies their agency is trying to do business with.
