A signed non-prosecution agreement in the indictment involving the top contender for the LSU arena project indicates the company pocketed millions of dollars to steer its paying client venues to Ticketmaster without disclosing the arrangement.
As LSU athletics and other stakeholders are “evaluating the implications” of the federal cases involving Oak View Group, new revelations have been made public in the federal indictment case against former Oak View Group Chair and CEO Tim Leiweke, who faces 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine in a case alleging his involvement in a bid-rigging scheme related to the construction of the Moody Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
As Daily Report writes, Oak View Group itself also figures in the civil antitrust lawsuit that the Justice Department has brought against ticketing giant Ticketmaster and its parent company, Live Nation Entertainment.
As Business Report reported last week, the Denver-based consulting firm described itself as a “pimp,” “hammer” and “protector” for Ticketmaster, according to the complaint filed just over a year ago in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Oak View Group is not a defendant in that case.
The complaint alleges that Live Nation-Ticketmaster exercises monopolistic power over performers, venues and independent promoters in ways that harm competition, forcing fans to pay more for tickets. Forty states have joined that case, including Louisiana.
As described in the federal complaint, Ticketmaster subsequently became the exclusive primary ticketer for the five venues owned by Oak View Group and obligated Oak View Group to “advocate for” exclusive agreements with Ticketmaster for more than 100 venues Oak View Group manages. Federal authorities allege the agreement also applied to all future venues owned or managed by Oak View Group, essentially locking those venues into long-term exclusive Ticketmaster agreements.
