Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke said the company is "very optimistic" it is "going to generate on average close to a million dollars in new sponsorships per arena" by the end of its first year, according to Jem Aswad of BILLBOARD. Leiweke, the former AEG CEO who launched Oak View Group with Irving Azoff almost a year ago, said the company is operating in 23 arenas while trying to find "one or two more tours a year that might not have come to arenas that will now." Leiweke, on the importance of music content in arenas that have sports tenants, said, "It is the very essence of what the arena alliance stands for. If we can get even 2-3 more nights of music programming in a building then that moves the needle for them on content, the value of suites, the value of sponsorship. So we're going to continue to fight hard for every tour and every piece of content that's out there. Ten years ago you weren't seeing a dozen nights of music (per year) at Fenway Park or Gillette Stadium, and now you do. Music is very important and it continues to grow." Leiweke said another idea he and Azoff are working on includes "talking with the NBA and NHL on how to schedule buildings around playoff dates." Leiweke: "How to wrap tours into regions where we could move a concert date if we have a conflict with a playoff game. It is competitive out there and what we can't afford is to take two of the most important months of touring -- May and June -- and lock everybody out" (BILLBOARD, 11/12 issue).
