Oak View Group CEO Asks UK to Allow Venues to Void Valid (but Resold) Tickets

In an interview discussing Co-Op Live Arena in Manchester, England, Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke says lawmakers should let venues cancel tickets bought anywhere but the “official” exchange—a move that would unquestionably supercharge the already allegedly monopolized ticketing industry.

Lieweke, whose OVG co-founder is former Live Nation Entertainment chairman and music mega-agent Irving Azoff, is urging lawmakers to grant venues the explicit right to turn fans away if their tickets were resold on platforms the venue doesn’t control. This would effectively allow event operators, rights-holders, and ticketing platforms like Ticketmaster to declare all ticket resale unlawful.

“We need the Government to help us with this so we have the right to turn people away,” Leiweke told Britain’s PA news agency this week, calling secondary marketplaces “the biggest problem in our industry.”

A key player in a major U.S. antitrust fight

Leiweke’s plea comes as Oak View Group (OVG) finds itself woven deeply into the U.S. Department of Justice’s sweeping antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment and its Ticketmaster subsidiary. The DOJ complaint—joined by dozens of state attorneys general—references OVG 73 times while detailing alleged coordination that helped Live Nation maintain dominance over primary ticketing contracts.

Live Nation is accused of leveraging its promotions muscle and artist relationships to lock venues into Ticketmaster deals, a strategy federal prosecutors say illegally stifles competition and inflates consumer costs. Court filings describe OVG as a “favored” venue partner that often reinforces that leverage.

READ MORE: DOJ Alleges OVG Colluded With, Rather Than Competed Against Live Nation in Antitrust Lawsuit

Critics say proposal would entrench control

The empowering of the use of a ticket’s terms and conditions to eliminate resale competition suggested by Leiweke is similar in nature to language found at the core of Live Nation Entertainment’s “FAIR” ticketing reform platform. That platform, eagerly backed by multiple purportedly “grassroots” organizations with direct ties to OVG and Live Nation through the Azoff family, can be found in proposed legislation here in North America such as the recently introduced California AB 1349 – which has the direct backing of Live Nation Entertainment as well as NIVA.

READ MORE: Live-Nation Backed California Bill Draws Warnings From Consumer Advocates

Consumer-advocacy groups and rival marketplaces argue such regulations would hand even more power to the very companies under antitrust fire. If venues could nullify any ticket resold outside their own or Ticketmaster-aligned exchanges, buyers would effectively be forced into the channels controlled by Live Nation, OVG or their partners, eliminating price competition and transparency.

“This is the same playbook we’ve seen for years—control the inventory, then dictate the rules,” said an executive at a competing resale platform who spoke to TicketNews on background to avoid retaliation. “Giving venues cancellation power would weaponize that control against fans.”

Technology—or thinly veiled ban?

Leiweke argues improved digital ID technology can ensure “the person that shows up is the person that bought the ticket,” suggesting it would weed out profiteers while protecting fans. But the language of “illegal resales” is contentious: in the U.K. and many U.S. states, reselling a ticket is legal provided consumer-protection rules are met.

“It ruins the credibility of the industry and it ruins the experience for the fans,” Leiweke said, adding that artists and venues see no revenue from those mark-ups. (Yahoo News UK)

Opponents counter that resale provides vital liquidity for fans who can’t attend, pointing to data showing regulated secondary sites slash fraud rates and often undercut face-value platinum pricing—another revenue stream for promoters.

Co-op Live’s rocky debut

Leiweke’s comments arrive as Co-op Live marks one year since its chaotic launch, which included construction overruns, multiple opening-night delays and a ventilation unit collapsing from the arena ceiling—forcing postponements for the likes of Olivia Rodrigo. (Yahoo News UK) A new Lichfields report commissioned by OVG claims the 23,500-seat venue has generated £1.3 billion in economic impact since 2021, despite the setbacks.

What’s next

The DOJ case against Live Nation is expected to head to trial next spring; any finding of collusion involving OVG could complicate Leiweke’s lobbying for broader ticket-cancellation authority. Meanwhile, the U.K. competition watchdog and lawmakers are weighing proposals ranging from stricter transparency rules to outright resale price caps—measures that, unlike Leiweke’s plan, aim to protect, rather than penalize, fans who buy on the secondary market.

For now, the industry’s power struggle over who gets to decide when a ticket is “valid” shows no sign of letting up.