Oak View Group (OVG), Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. and Sphere Entertainment Corp are coming together, announcing the formation of the Crown Properties Collection. The new entity, led by OVG, will “manage marquee partnerships with sports and entertainment brands worldwide,” according to a joint announcement from the component companies.
Jay Voelker will lead Crown Properties as its President. Its portfolio of represented venues and organizations at launch include Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, Beacon Theatre, The Chicago Theatre, the New York Knicks, New York Rangers, MSG Networks, the Radio City Rockettes, and the soon-to-open Sphere in Las Vegas.
“Crown Properties Collection’s purpose is to provide unprecedented global representation for world-renowned sports and entertainment brands and venues, and there is no greater portfolio to begin with than the MSG family of companies’ world-class assets,” says Voelker, who previously served as the PGA Tour senior vice president of business development. “I am honored to join OVG, the leading full service live entertainment and hospitality company to represent CPC and create a new model for global partnerships in our industry.”
Crown Properties Collection brings together MSG and OVG, though the companies were also somewhat connected through OVG’s co-founder Irving Azoff. Azoff, who once led Ticketmaster and Live Nation, and famously quipped that the “show was over” after the contentious Senate hearing on ticketing earlier in 2023, founded the joint venture Azoff MSG Entertainment in 2013, bringing together his music management company and James Dolan’s famous venues. Azoff continued to serve as an advisor to both MSG and the Sphere project following his buyout of MSG’s share of that business in 2018.
Interestingly enough, Azoff’s direct connection with MSG was not mentioned in the announcement of the Crown Properties Collection. Instead, it was indicated that Voelker will report directly to OVG co-founder Tim Lieweke.
“Under Jay’s leadership, Crown Properties Collection will represent only the most valuable properties in all of sports and entertainment together with the most revolutionary venue in the world, Sphere in Las Vegas,” says Lieweke of the new company. “This, along with OVG’s already industry-leading Global Partnerships platform, which has proudly sold $4.5B in partnerships over the last five years, will create the largest partnership of its kind in the live industry and change the game for partnerships as we know it.”