LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK — Top powerhouses in the sports and live entertainment industry have joined forces to represent and manage corporate deals for iconic event venues such as Madison Square Garden, Radio City Music Hall, and Sphere, a groundbreaking new $2.2 billion property opening September 29 in Las Vegas. Called Crown Properties Collection (CPC), the entity will be led by industry veteran Jay Voelker of the Oak View Group (OVG). Voelker previously oversaw the PGA Tour’s global sponsorship business and corporate rights deals as SVP of Business Development before joining OVG as CPC President.
OVG, which builds and operates arenas globally, will take the lead in representing event venues across the family of companies owned by CPC founding co-partners — and CPC’s first clients — Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp. (MSG Entertainment) and its Sphere Entertainment Corp. subsidiary.
Voelker sees Sphere as a particularly interesting opportunity for trade show organizers. “The trade show and convention industries are obviously a considerable presence in Las Vegas,” he said. “Sphere represents an opportunity for trade show and convention participants to own the skyline of Las Vegas for key strategic moments for brand activation. Crown Properties Collection is excited to explore this audience base with MSG family of companies.”
OVG, CPC’s majority owner and managing partner, is the parent company of VenuesNow and Pollstar, and has a $10 billion resort project, including a sports arena, in the works in Las Vegas. The company also has recently completed or is close to completion on arenas in Seattle; New York; Austin, Texas; and internationally in Vienna, Madrid, Sao Paulo and Manchester, England, and manages live entertainment and hospitality services for approximately more than 400 arenas, stadiums, performing arts centers, cultural venues and convention centers worldwide. Even before the collaboration was announced, OVG had sold $4.5 billion in corporate arena sponsorships and other deals over the past five years.
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CPC will handle global partnership and sponsorships, including stadium naming rights and other corporate sports and entertainment venue deals, for all the MSG company’s properties, with a focus on high-end sports and music venues. In addition to Sphere, Radio City Music Hall and Madison Square Garden, MSG properties include MSG Networks, The Beacon Theatre, The Chicago Theatre, Knicks, Rangers, the Radio City Rockettes and the Christmas Spectacular. But CPC isn’t stopping with those event venues. The plan is to continue to scale up operations under the CPC umbrella. According to OVG Co-Founder Tim Lieweke, the future-client focus will be on high-end properties.
“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,” Voelker said in a release. CPC would be “a new model for global partnerships in our industry,” he added.
“The alliance of our two global powerhouses through Crown Properties Collection will revolutionize the partnership space across the sports and entertainment industries,” said MSG President and COO David Hopkinson. “Together, we will be on the forefront of creating game-changing opportunities for our venues, teams and brands.”
Reach David Hopkinson (212) 465-6000; and Tim Voelker via LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/jay-voelker-8999571a or info@oakviewgroup.com.
