OVG Oak View Group, LLC is an American Global Advisory, Development and Investment Company for Sports and Live Entertainment industries. Based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, it was formed on November 16, 2015 by

Tim Leiweke Timothy J. Leiweke (born April 21, 1957) is an American sports executive who is the chief executive officer of the Oak View Group. Leiweke was the former president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) and former President and CEO of ...

and his business partner,

Irving Azoff Irving Azoff (; born December 12, 1947) is an American entertainment executive and chairman of Full Stop Management, which represents recording artists. In the mid-1980s, he brought success to MCA Records. Since September 2013, he has been chai ...

. Leiweke is the company's

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

History & business developments

The former KeyArena in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

was redeveloped in preparation for the

Seattle Kraken The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and began play during the league's 2021–22 season. ...

, the city's

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

team. The new arena, named

Climate Pledge Arena Climate Pledge Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is located north of Downtown Seattle in the entertainment complex known as Seattle Center, the site of the 1962 World's Fair, for which it was or ...

via a naming rights deal with

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology c ...

is also the home to the WNBA's

Seattle Storm The Seattle Storm are an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The Storm competes in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was founded by Ginger Ackerl ...

. On December 4, 2017, the

Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-lar ...

voted 7–1 to approve a memorandum of understanding with the Oak View Group for the redevelopment, which built a new subterranean arena on the existing site while retaining the historical landmarked roof and three exterior walls. Demolition and construction for the new arena began in 2018 and was fully completed in 2021. The company was competing against a rival proposal by Chris Hansen. On December 7, the NHL's board of governors agreed to consider an application for an expansion team from Seattle, with an expansion fee set at $650 million. The Seattle ownership group is represented by

David Bonderman David Bonderman (born November 27, 1942) is an American billionaire businessman. He is the founding partner of TPG Capital (formerly Texas Pacific Group), and its Asian affiliate, Newbridge Capital. He is also one of the minority owners of the ...

and Jerry Bruckheimer. On February 20, Mayor Jenny Durkan launched an NHL campaign during her State of the Union and announced that the Oak View Group would be initiating a season ticket drive on March 1, 2018. OVG manages Climate Pledge Arena. The group is also a partner in UBS Arena with the

New York Islanders The New York Islanders (colloquially known as the Isles) are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. The Islanders compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference ( ...

. In December 2017, New York Arena Partners (a venture of the Islanders, Oak View Group, and Sterling Equities) won a bid to construct a new, 18,000-seat arena and mixed-used district at

Belmont Park Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse racing facility in the northeastern United States, located in Elmont, New York, just east of the New York City limits. It was opened on May 4, 1905. It is operated by the non-profit New York Racin ...

, beating a competing proposal by New York City FC for a new soccer stadium. The new arena was completed in time for the 2021-22 season. In 2016, Oak View Group announced an "Arena Alliance" of independent arenas such as AT&T Center (San Antonio), Scotiabank Arena (Toronto),

Amalie Arena Amalie Arena (officially stylized as AMALIE Arena) is a multipurpose arena in Tampa, Florida, that has been used for ice hockey, basketball, arena football, concerts, and other events. It is mainly used as the home for the Tampa Bay Lightning ...

(Tampa Bay),

BB&T Center 200 South College (formerly BB&T Center) is a high-rise in Charlotte, North Carolina. Completed in 1975, it consists of 22 floors, a 11-story parking garage, and on the second floor it is connected to neighboring buildings via skybridges, as ...

(Ft. Lauderdale), Bankers Life Fieldhouse (Indianapolis), Chase Center (San Francisco),

PPG Paints Arena PPG Paints Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena in Pittsburgh, that serves as the home of the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL). It previously was the home of the Pittsburgh Power of the Arena Football League (AFL) from 2 ...

(Pittsburgh),

KeyBank Center KeyBank Center is a multipurpose indoor arena located in Buffalo, New York. Originally known as Marine Midland Arena, the venue has since been named HSBC Arena and First Niagara Center. Home to the Buffalo Sabres of the National Hockey Leagu ...

(Buffalo), The Forum (Los Angeles), Golden 1 Center (Sacramento),

Little Caesars Arena Little Caesars Arena is a multi-purpose arena in Midtown Detroit. Opened on September 5, 2017, the arena, which cost $862.9 million to construct, replaced Joe Louis Arena and The Palace of Auburn Hills as the home of the Detroit Red Wings of th ...

(Detroit),

Madison Square Garden Madison Square Garden, colloquially known as The Garden or by its initials MSG, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in New York City. It is located in Midtown Manhattan between Seventh and Eighth avenues from 31st to 33rd Street, above Pennsylva ...

(New York),

Pepsi Center Ball Arena (formerly known as Pepsi Center) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Denver, Colorado. It is situated at Speer Boulevard, a main thoroughfare in downtown Denver, and is served by two nearby exits off Interstate 25. A light r ...

(Denver),

State Farm Arena State Farm Arena (formerly Philips Arena) is a multi-purpose arena located in Atlanta, Georgia. The arena serves as the home venue for the National Basketball Association (NBA)'s Atlanta Hawks. It also served as home to the National Hockey Leag ...

(Atlanta), Prudential Center (Newark), Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse (Cleveland),

Rogers Arena Rogers Arena is a multi-purpose arena located at 800 Griffiths Way in the downtown area of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Opened in 1995, the arena was known as General Motors Place (GM Place) from its opening until July 6, 2010, when Ge ...

(Vancouver),

Enterprise Center The Enterprise Center is an 18,096-seat arena located in downtown St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Its primary tenant is the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League, but it is also used for other functions, such as NCAA basketball, NC ...

(St. Louis),

United Center United Center is an indoor arena on the Near West Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is home to the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League (NHL). It is named ...

(Chicago),

Wells Fargo Center Wells Fargo Center may refer to: *Wells Fargo Center (Los Angeles), California *Wells Fargo Center (Sacramento), California * Wells Fargo Center (San Francisco), California * Wells Fargo Center for the Arts, Santa Rosa, California * Wells Fargo Cen ...

(Philadelphia), and

Xcel Energy Center Xcel Energy Center (also known as "The X") is a multipurpose arena in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. Completed in 2000, it is named for its locally based corporate sponsor Xcel Energy. With an official capacity of 17,954, the arena has four ...

(St. Paul). In 2016, the company acquired Venues Today, a trade publication for the live entertainment industry. In 2017, the company purchased Pollstar, a trade publication for the

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety a ...

industry. In 2018, it was announced that Oak View Group and the

University of Texas at Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas. It was founded in 1883 and is the oldest institution in the University of Texas System. With 40,916 undergraduate students, 11,075 ...

(UT) had agreed to build a new $338 million arena for the Texas Longhorns men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

basketball programs to replace the

Frank Erwin Center The Frank C. Erwin Jr. Center (commonly known as Frank Erwin Center or UT Erwin Center and originally Special Events Center) is an inactive multi-purpose arena located on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas. It is also ...

. Under the agreement, UT has exclusive use of the arena for 60 days per year and receives all revenue from Longhorns games, while Oak View and its partners

Live Nation Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. is an American global entertainment company and monopoly that was founded in 2010 following the merger of Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The company promotes, operates, and manages ticket sales for live entertainme ...

and

C3 Presents C3 Presents is a concert promotion, event production and artist management company based out of Austin, Texas. C3 also produces several multi-day festivals including Austin City Limits Music Festival in Texas, Voodoo Music + Arts Experience in Ne ...

have the right to hold events on the other days, receiving the bulk of the revenue from those dates. The arena, ultimately named

Moody Center Moody Center is a multi-purpose arena on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin (UT) in Austin, Texas. The arena, which replaces the Frank Erwin Center, stands on a former parking lot located immediately south of UT's soccer/track and fi ...

, opened in April 2022. In 2019, Oak View Group launched Oak View Group International. Based in London, it will focus on building arena and stadium development and partnership opportunities in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. Jessica Koravos, president of

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

’s Really Useful Group, and formerly MD of Anschutz Entertainment Group Live and COO of AEG Europe, serves as co-chair of OVG International alongside

. In February 2019, it was announced that Oak View Group had become the arena manager of Webster Bank Arena, now known as

Total Mortgage Arena Total Mortgage Arena (formerly The Arena at Harbor Yard and Webster Bank Arena) is a 10,000-seat multi-purpose arena in downtown Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States. It is the home venue of the New York Islanders' AHL farm team, the Bridgepor ...

, in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the List of cities by population in New England, fifth-most populous ...

. Oak View Group also will operate

Acrisure Arena Acrisure Arena is a multi-purpose 10,000-seat indoor arena in the unincorporated community of Thousand Palms in Riverside County, California's, Coachella Valley Palm Springs Area. The arena broke ground on June 2, 2021, on of land near the ...

in Palm Desert, California. When completed, the arena will serve as the home ice for the Kraken's

American Hockey League The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...

affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds. In August 2021, it was announced that Oak View Group and Spectra, a venue management company, would be merging to form a full-service live events company. In October 2021, Oak View Group partnered with the Hamilton Urban Precinct Entertainment Group (HUPEG) to redevelop

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...

's Arts and Entertainment district, including a renovation of FirstOntario Centre. On March 30, 2022, Oak View announced its largest project to date, a 20,000-seat arena in Las Vegas.

References

{{reflist

External links

Website for the Oak View Group
Entertainment companies based in California Sports event promotion companies Companies based in Los Angeles 2015 establishments in California