Anschutz Entertainment Group

The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) is a sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of The Anschutz Corporation. The company owns or operates several major entertainment/sporting venues, including Staples Center and the Home Depot Center and beginning in fall 2007, the XL Center and Rentschler Field. In England they used to operate the Manchester Evening News Arena until 2006, and currently operate the The O₂ which includes a 20,000 capacity arena and an Entertainment District with 25 bars and restaurants, a live music club for 2200 called IndigO₂, an 11 screen cinema and an exhibition space which will house the King Tut exhibition opening in November 2007. Several other similar entertainment complexes are also being planned worldwide including the O2 World in Berlin and an entertainment complex around the existing Staples Center.

As part of the development of The O₂, Anschutz also purchased the London river service company Thames Clipper, to provide transport links using the river service to and from Central London and the Dome.

The company also owns a number of sports teams, including Los Angeles Galaxy, Houston Dynamo, Los Angeles Kings, Los Angeles Riptide, Manchester Monarchs, Eisbären Berlin, Hamburg Freezers, 49% of Hammarby IF football (soccer) team (Sweden), as well as interests in the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Sparks. The company also purchased the Champions on Ice figure skating tour in 2006. They also owns 12% of Djurgårdens IF in Swedish icehockey.

The company makes a significant amount of its money by leveraging its sports interests, already significant earners, by using the stadia in which these teams play to host various other entertainment events, most notably concerts. Indeed, Philip Anschutz created the company by buying up several small local promoters in Los Angeles in order to fill up the schedule for his new sports venue, STAPLES Center. It is now the second-largest event promoter in the United States.

AEG is the world’s largest owner of sports teams and sports events, the owner of the world’s most profitable sports and entertainment venues, and under AEG Live is the world’s second largest presenter of live music and entertainment events after Live Nation.

In August 2007, AEG announced plans with Harrah's Entertainment to build a privately-financed 20,000-seat arena in Las Vegas on the Strip [ [http://www.aegworldwide.com/news/aeg_news_082207.html AEG PRESS RELEASE - August 22, 2007 ] ] on Harrah's land located directly behind the Bally's Las Vegas and Paris Las Vegas resorts.

See also

*Christopher Palmeri, "Media Wildcatter," "Business Week", April 25, 2005, p. 101.
*http://www.aegworldwide.com/04_future/the_future.html

External links

* [http://www.aegworldwide.com/home.html Anschutz Entertainment Group] Official Website
* [http://aeglive.com Anschutz Entertainment Group Live] Official Website

References