LN To Jettison Venues?

Live Nation, in an effort to make its merger to Ticketmaster palatable to the U.S. Department of Justice, is offering to sell venue assets to AEG in exchange for a regulatory blessing, according to a recent report.

AEG, the world’s second-largest promotion company after Live Nation, has expressed some concern about LN becoming more powerful. However, according to the New York Post, real estate concessions may be in the wings.

“The fact that they are out there talking with others about deals suggests that they are nervous about getting approval,” a source told the Post. “They are trying to pretty up the deal as much as possible for the regulators.”

“Venues” could mean many things. Does it mean all its venues or just ones it is willing to jettison? Live Nation owns practically every amphitheatre in North America but they have not been the company’s highest revenue generating buildings, and AEG has not indicated any desire to own them.

However, Live Nation does own the House of Blues chain and venues like the Fillmores, which could be enticing.

Whatever the case, a source that would know details of the situation told Pollstar there has not been any discussion between Live Nation and AEG regarding venues.

Which does suggest there are discussions. And they could be discussing assets.

AEG could benefit from having its own ticketing service, but there is no indication it is interested in buying Live Nation’s CTS Eventim-powered system if it was up for sale. As for Live Nation’s secondary ticketing company TicketsNow, AEG is apparently not interested.