Photo Credit: Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance (Tim Leiweke)
Former Oak View Group (OVG) CEO Tim Leiweke’s indictment has uncovered not just a bid-rigging scheme, but also secret kickbacks paid by Ticketmaster.
While the indictment does mention OVG’s alleged bid-rigging activities, the standout revelation centers on evidence from internal emails. These communications reveal that Ticketmaster funneled secret payments to Leiweke. The payments were made in exchange for his efforts to push other arena owners and operators toward signing exclusive ticketing deals with the Live Nation-owned company.
The emails exposing these kickbacks were first discovered during a regulatory investigation into the proposed merger between Legends Hospitality and ASM Global. They show that Leiweke and OVG received both upfront money and annual incentive payments from Ticketmaster. The arrangement was not disclosed to OVG’s partner venues—even though OVG was hired to represent their interests.
“OVG agreed to receive tens of millions in payments in return for promoting [Ticketmaster] services to venues OVG managed without disclosing this conflict to venue owners, despite fiduciary duties,” says government investigators. Documents from the non-prosecution agreement show that Ticketmaster wired OVG an up-front payment of $20 million in November 2022d and agreed to pay $7 million annually thereafter.
The U.S. Department of Justice alleges that the secret relationship gave Ticketmaster a lock on ticketing for many arenas nationwide, undercutting competition and transparency across the industry. OVG is accused of advocating for exclusive Ticketmaster contracts for both its own venues and those managed by third-party owners. Officials note that OVG served as a “pimp, hammer, and protector” for Live Nation and Ticketmaster by exploiting their management footprint to shield the companies from rivals and scrutiny.
During the high-profile 2010 merger of Ticketmaster Entertainment and Live Nation, Irving Azoff served as the CEO of Ticketmaster. Azoff’s leadership at Ticketmaster was of central importance to the merger approval. In 2015, Azoff partnered with Tim Leiweke to found Oak View Group.
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