Oak View Group

Oak View Group, LLC (OVG) is an American professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Denver. It manages several sports venues, including Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, which was constructed under the company's supervision. OVG was formed in November 2015, by Tim Leiweke and his business partner, Irving Azoff.

Business developments

The former KeyArena in Seattle was redeveloped in preparation for the Seattle Kraken, the city's National Hockey League team. The new arena, named Climate Pledge Arena via a naming rights deal with Amazon is also home to the WNBA's Seattle Storm. On December 4, 2017, the Seattle City Council voted 7–1 to approve a memorandum of understanding with the OVG 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 and Jerry Bruckheimer. On February 20, Mayor Jenny Durkan launched an NHL campaign during her State of the Union and announced that the OVG 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. In December 2017, New York Arena Partners (a venture of the Islanders, OVG, and Sterling Equities) won a bid to construct a new, 18,000-seat arena and mixed-used district at Belmont Park, 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, OVG announced an "Arena Alliance" of independent arenas such as AT&T Center (San Antonio), Scotiabank Arena (Toronto), Amalie Arena (Tampa Bay), BB&T Center (Ft. Lauderdale), Bankers Life Fieldhouse (Indianapolis), Chase Center (San Francisco), PPG Paints Arena (Pittsburgh), KeyBank Center (Buffalo), The Forum (Los Angeles), Golden 1 Center (Sacramento), Little Caesars Arena (Detroit), Madison Square Garden (New York), Ball Arena (Denver), State Farm Arena (Atlanta), Prudential Center (Newark), Rocket Arena (Cleveland), Rogers Arena (Vancouver), Enterprise Center (St. Louis), United Center (Chicago), Wells Fargo Center (Philadelphia), and Xcel Energy Center (St. Paul).

In 2016, OVG acquired Venues Today, a trade publication for the live entertainment industry. In 2017, the company purchased Pollstar, a trade publication for the concert industry.

In 2018, it was announced that OVG and the University of Texas at Austin (UT) had agreed to build a new $338 million arena for the Texas Longhorns men's and women's basketball programs to replace the Frank Erwin Center. Under the agreement, UT has exclusive use of the arena for 60 days per year and receives all revenue from Longhorns games, while OVG and its partners Live Nation and C3 Presents 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, opened in April 2022.

In 2019, OVG 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’s Really Useful Group, and formerly MD of Anschutz Entertainment Group Live and COO of AEG Europe, is co-chair of OVG International alongside Tim Leiweke.

In February 2019, it was announced that OVG had become the arena manager of Webster Bank Arena, now known as Total Mortgage Arena, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Oak View Group also will operate Acrisure Arena in Palm Desert, California. Upon completion in December 2022, the arena became the home ice for the Kraken's American Hockey League affiliate, the Coachella Valley Firebirds.

In August 2021, it was announced that OVG 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's Arts and Entertainment district, including a renovation of FirstOntario Centre.

In November 2021, Oak View Group and Thirty Five Ventures (founded by basketball star Kevin Durant) reached a 30-year agreement with Baltimore City to operate the city-owned arena, now called CFG Bank Arena. The arena underwent $250 million in renovations and reopened in April 2023.

In March 2022, OVG announced its largest project to date, a 20,000-seat arena in Las Vegas. The is south of the station for the high speed rail line to the Los Angeles area, Brightline West.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.oakviewgroup.com/

Entertainment companies based in California
Sports event promotion companies
Companies based in Los Angeles
2015 establishments in California