Ozzy Osbourne Files Antitrust Class Action Suit Against AEG Over ‘Block Booking’

Kevin Winter / Getty Images for Live Nation – Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne
MITCH SCHNIEDER OF MSO introduces Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne at their Beverly Hills, Calif., home Feb. 6 as they announce Ozzy’s “No More Tours 2” global farewell tour.

As promised by wife and manager Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy Osbourne filed a putative class action suit March 21 against Anschutz Entertainment Group and associated companies alleging Sherman Act violations in tying bookings at London’s O2 arena to performances at LA’s Staples Center.

Osbourne wasted little time in filing the suit after directing Live Nation UK on March 19 to sign and return the so-called “Staples Center Commitment” letter that Sharon Osbourne returned, unsigned, to AEG Presents Chairman Jay Marciano in January and made public shortly thereafter. In her own open letter, Sharon Osbourne accused AEG of attempting to “blackmail” Ozzy into performing at Staples Center as part of his recently announced his “No More Tours 2” global farewell tour.

At the center of the suit is the practice of “block booking,” in which a company ties booking of one or more of its venues to a subsequent booking in another that the company owns. In this case, AEG has tied shows booked at London’s O2 to at least one play at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The Forum, Staples Center’s main competitor in nearby Inglewood, Calif., is run by Azoff MSG Entertainment, which has been accused by AEG of the same practice, by tying the Forum to plays at New York’s Madison Square Garden Arena. MSG denies the accusation. 

The Madison Square Garden Company has a joint venture with Irving Azoff who is co-founder of the Oak View Group, Pollstar‘s parent company. 

Osbourne defines the aggrieved class as “all persons required to sign the Staples Center Commitment as a condition of renting, booking, or otherwise using The O2.”

The antitrust action, filed by attorney Daniel Wall of Lathan & Watkins LLP, an antitrust specialist based in San Francisco, accuses AEG of creating a tying arrangement “so explicit and brazen that AEG has given it a name: the ‘Staples Center Commitment.’”

The complaint points out that The O2 is “a singular concert venue – the only indoor arena in London with the capacity to host major concerts. The O2 is a ‘must have’ venue for the top international touring artists, as witnessed by the steady stream of marquee artists who play the O2 annually.”

Conversely, according to Osbourne, the Forum in Los Angeles is part of a competitive market. “Artists touring in Los Angeles have therefore been able to enjoy the benefits of competition between Staples and the Forum,” according to the complaint. “Ozzy would have been such an artist if AEG had not insisted, through the Staples Center Commitment, that he performs at Staples – the venue that AEG owns.”

The suit alleges violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act and seeks injunctive and declaratory relief in the form of an injunction that prohibits enforcement of the “Staples Center Commitment,” a judicial determination that the Staples Center Commitment “is contrary to the antitrust laws of the United States,” that the portion of the agreement signed by Osbourne that conditions the use of the O2 on use of Staples Center is unenforceable, and attorney’s fees and costs.

Pollstar reached an AEG representative who said the company would not comment.