Sports and music fans, flocking to a once-questionable corner of downtown, were the springboard for an L.A.-born multibillion-dollar empire of venues and events for screaming enthusiasts around the globe. <\/p>\n
AEG, the company behind Crypto.com Arena and the L.A. Live district, has turned its know-how about hosting and promoting big shows into a formula it has rolled out on five continents. It is literally setting the stages for the world\u2019s biggest pop stars, sports teams and even \u2014 most recently \u2014 sumo wrestlers. <\/p>\n
It is one of the city\u2019s lesser-known global success stories. With more than 20,000 employees and billions of dollars of projects running at any one time, AEG is one of the planet\u2019s biggest venue and event companies. L.A.\u2019s high concentration of sports teams and musical talent forced it to develop a system that uses its spaces for up to five different events in a day.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe learned how to be nimble in moving from one to the other to really maximize,\u201d AEG Chief Executive Dan Beckerman told The Los Angeles Times.<\/p>\n
AEG is prospering by executing a fairly simple business plan, said Andrew Zimbalist, professor emeritus of economics at Smith College. Its industry is fairly straightforward \u2014 and more use of each seat means gives the company more capital to build more venues. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou have to pick your niche, have capital, have tenacity,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd stick with it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sumo wrestlers bashed bellies this month in AEG\u2019s newest venue on the grounds of a legendary castle. The recently opened IG Arena stands in the outer citadel of Nagoya Castle in Nagoya, Japan, which was built in the early 1600s, when samurai battles raged in the region. <\/p>\n
While the summer sumo tournament required a traditional ring of sand, clay and rice straw bales, the arena will be soon be transformed to host such diverse events as a basketball clinic hosted by the L.A. Lakers\u2019 Rui Hachimura, a professional boxing match and a concert by English musician Sting.<\/p>\n
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The new IG Arena in Nagoya, Japan stands in the outer citadel of Nagoya Castle.<\/p>\n
(AEG)<\/p>\n
In Nagoya and increasingly across East and Southeast Asia, AEG is doing what it does better than most \u2014 build arenas that can host pro sports and shows by big-name artists, with the venues often built within an ecosystem of bars, restaurants and hotels also built by the company and its partners. <\/p>\n
The company was founded in 1995 when Denver billionaire investor Philip Anschutz bought the Los Angeles Kings and in 1999 opened the downtown arena then known as the Staples Center, which was built by Anschutz and Kings co-owner Ed Roski. <\/p>\n
It was considered a risky project at the time, when the gritty blocks near the Los Angeles Convention Center were deemed undesirable by most real estate developers. AEG added the $3 billion L.A. Live complex in 2007, and other developers also moved into the South Park district, building hotels, restaurants and thousands of residential units.<\/p>\n
The popular venues have now hosted 22 Grammy Awards shows, a Democratic National Convention, two Stanley Cup championships, six NBA championships and All-Star hockey and basketball weekends.<\/p>\n
That high-profile success gave it an edge when competing to build or buy around the world. AEG has expanded to own and operate more than 100 venues serving 100 million guests annually. Among its holdings are the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team and German pro ice hockey team Eisb\u00e4ren Berlin. As the second biggest event promoter in the world, it puts on large festivals including the annual Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival and American Express Presents BST Hyde Park music festival in London.<\/p>\n
It has faced slowdowns and other tough periods as well. <\/p>\n
Its London arena was the site of Michael Jackson\u2019s planned comeback announced in 2009. During a period when he was rehearsing for the physically demanding shows, Jackson died.<\/p>\n
His mother and three children sued AEG Live in 2010. The lawsuit alleged that AEG was negligent in its hiring of the physician who administered the fatal dose of propofol that led to Jackson\u2019s death. A Los Angeles jury unanimously decided that the concert promoter wasn\u2019t liable in the singer\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople heard of AEG because of Michael Jackson and the and the subsequent lawsuit from the family,\u201d said Randy Phillips, former manager of music promotions at AEG. \u201cThey would never have even known what it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company was laid low during the pandemic, when live events were canceled starting in March 2020. Venues stayed dark until well into 2021, when AEG started putting on sports events with no audiences and later with limited seating. Times changed in 2022 when revenues reached new records as fans stormed back, Beckerman said. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe were all very pleasantly surprised,\u201d he said. \u201cI think people learned during the pandemic that there really is no substitute for live events.\u201d<\/p>\n
AEG also lost a longtime arena tenant when the Los Angeles Clippers moved to a new arena in Inglewood after the team\u2019s lease at Crypto.com Arena expired in 2024. Owner Steve Ballmer said he wanted the Clippers to have their own home that they didn\u2019t share with other teams.<\/p>\n
AEG\u2019s touring business lifted off with a 2001 concert with Britney Spears at Staples Center.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Britney Spears tour is what broke the company wide open,\u201d said Phillips, who became head of music promotions for AEG after landing Spears. \u201cThat\u2019s when we became players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Big acts followed including Tom Petty, Paul McCartney, Tina Turner and Pink.<\/p>\n
AEG expanded its U.S. concert touring empire by building large multipurpose arenas in Las Vegas and Kansas City. It also is establishing a network of smaller venues such as the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles and the Showbox in Seattle. It recently opened the Pinnacle at Nashville Yards, a concert hall that is part of a mixed-use district including housing and offices that AEG and a local partner are developing in downtown Nashville. <\/p>\n
Its highest-profile property outside of Los Angeles is in London, where the company resurrected a large dome-shaped building built to house an exhibition celebrating the turn of the millennium in 2000. After AEG\u2019s redevelopment of the site, the O2 Arena became one of the world\u2019s busiest venues for entertainment and sports with 10 million visitors a year.<\/p>\n
In Berlin, the company built the Uber Arena, one of the highest-grossing arenas in the world and part of an entertainment district with restaurants and theaters. <\/p>\n
The Nagoya project is part of the company\u2019s pan-Asian strategy to grow its real estate empire and create more venues for artists like Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran.<\/p>\n
The United States and Europe, where AEG has long been active, are largely built-out with modern arenas for sports and entertainment, but many Asian countries are ready to upgrade their old facilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cJapan is at the top of the list\u201d for AEG, said Ted Fikre, head of development at the company. <\/p>\n
The country\u2019s venues are typically decades old and pale in comparison to modern multi-use arenas typically found in the U.S. and Europe.<\/p>\n
The IG Arena in Nagoya, with a capacity of 17,000, is expected to annually host 150 events for 1.4 million attendees at concerts, basketball games and other live entertainment.<\/p>\n