"Our foundation will be bricks and mortar,” said Peter Luukko, president of Oak View Group’s Arena Alliance and now helming the [possibly] newest OVG division, OVG Facilities, with Tim Leiweke, founder and chairman, OVG.
The two have a long history in private management of venues, Luukko through years with SMG and Comcast¬Spectacor, where he formed Global Spectrum, which is now Spectra, and Lieweke through establishing AEG Facilities. Both in prior and current lives have managed venues as well.
That’s the key to this new venture, which officially launched with purchase of Pinnacle Venue Services in October of this year, bring-ing more veterans of private management, Tom Paquette and Doug Higgons, into the OVG Facilities fold.
That launch and OVG Facilities’ pledge to positively disrupt the sports and entertainment industry with new thinking based on broad experi¬ence secured the Venues Today Hall of Headlines Award for News for Luukko and Leiweke.
In some ways, this is “the more things change, the more they stay the same,” but Luukko points out that OVG Facilities is “a dif-ferent platform. When we started Global Spectrum, we were doing it out of the arena, First Union Center at the time [now Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia], and we had the platform of the National Hockey League (NHL) team and National Basketball League (NBA) team. We were going to add accounts and really look¬ing to get into primarily the fee business.”
Chasing the fee business is pretty much 99 percent of municipal bidding, Luukko added, “and that was really our niche. The difference here is that we’re well capitalized by our founders, Tim, Irving [Azoff} and MSG [Madison Square Garden], and we will not only be bidding on the fee business but our foundation will be around bricks and mortar,” Luukko said.
Luukko and Leiweke are working hard on two brick and mortar projects that will anchor that foundation, the rebuild of KeyArena, Seattle, which OVG has been awarded, and construction of a new Islanders arena in Belmont Park, New York, which OVG will manage for the group which won the bid to build it this month.
Even in the fee business, they will be cre¬ative, willing to take risk and up the ante, Leiweke said, lauding OVG’s luck at having Luukko leading the charge with his experience and knowledge, along with the fact Leiweke personally has been in venue management more than 30 years. The combination, along with purchase of Pinnacle, gives OVG Facilities “instant infrastructure.” Now they’ve added veteran venue manager Steve Mattson in the Northwest, based in Seattle.
The goal? “To make OVG Facilities the biggest venue management company in the world, and I welcome the challenge,” Leiweke said. Two¬year¬old OVG has been on a growth spree second to none and includes, full disclo¬sure, purchase of Venues Today and Pollstar.
Leiweke said the strategy is “resources and relationships” and OVG is “100 percent committed. Yes, we will invest money. Yes, we will bid on projects, some of which are under¬utilized. We like taking risk and sharing the upside. That’s our model.”
OVG Facilities will bid on The Greek, Los Angeles, for instance, Leiweke said. It will be in the mix when contracts go out to bid and Leiweke guaranteed that OVG Facilities will “grow quickly.”
Luukko concurred wholeheartedly. In some bids, the approach will be “we have an alternative. We can guarantee your bottom line and/or put capital into your business. We will look to step up and make those financial guarantees,” Luukko said, though he declined to name examples yet.
Published reports have them working on a potential booking deal with Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.; and a rebuild of the Norfolk (Va.) Scope, which is in pricing mode.
“The key I’ve learned over the years is you have to be a good listener and tailor your deals to the needs of the client. The key is to be flex¬ible,” Luukko said. “This is strictly manage¬ment, you don’t need capital? Fine, we’ll be a manager. If you’re looking for $10 million to put into the building, we can propose some¬thing long-term for capital needs.
“Tim is the greatest I’ve ever seen at see¬ing more opportunity than maybe others do. That’s the positive disruption,” Luukko said.
OVG Facilities also benefits from every¬thing OVG, which is a many-faceted company already, including security and sponsorship divisions. “We have the capital, but also the cre¬ativity and obviously the music angle,” Luukko said. “We have Irving Azoff as an owner. And then, on our professional sports side, even though we don’t own a team, obviously Tim, myself and others have great relationships in all the leagues, so I think we have that covered.”
Higgons has seen that dynamic phenome¬non that is becoming OVG Facilities firsthand since he sold his company and says selling to OVG Facilities is “great. Being part of an organization with Tim and Peter opens doors to opportunities we just didn’t have. We’ve only been part of the organization for two months and there are a lot of irons in the fire.”
Luukko is one of Higgons’ mentors and Higgons says Luukko’s leadership skills are exemplary. “There really isn’t a challenge he hasn’t seen at some point.” Leiweke “brings passion and optimism and vision to the mix,” Higgons added, noting, “we’re getting the band back together in some ways.”
Luukko loves that most of the people in OVG Facilities started from the bottom and worked their way up. They’ve learned from mistakes and know all the ingredients needed to bake a successful deal. People make great companies, Luukko said.
“That’s the reward for people being in this business so long,” Luukko said: relationships and resources.