Live Nation, Ticketmaster Want DOJ Antitrust Case Moved to D.C.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc. wants the Justice Department’s antitrust case seeking to undo its merger with ticketing giant Ticketmaster transferred from New York federal court to Washington, D.C.

The DOJ’s lawsuit in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York is a “naked attempt” to impair a 2010 consent decree that allowed Live Nation’s merger with Ticketmaster to go through under certain conditions, they said in a brief submitted late July 19.

That decree, reached in the US District Court for the District of Columbia, designated that court as the forum for any attempts to modify it. As such, the D.C. federal court must be the one to assess that agreement and the DOJ’s new allegations of monopolistic practices from Live Nation and Ticketmaster, they argued.

“There is a clear interconnection between plaintiffs’ allegations that these practices harm competition and the question of whether the decree succeeded or failed to do what DOJ earlier said it would—i.e., protect competition in the live events industry,” they said.

The Justice Department and nearly 30 states in May sued Live Nation and Ticketmaster, alleging they had formed an illegal monopoly that choked off competition in the live events industry and forced consumers to pay more in fees due to a lack of choices.

The DOJ said in its complaint that the original consent decree, which conditioned the merger on divestment of certain ticketing assets, addressed a “claim different from those at issue here.” The department argued the decree “failed to restrain Live Nation and Ticketmaster from violating other antitrust laws in increasingly serious ways.”

Live Nation controls more than 265 concert venues in North America and generates more than $22 billion in global revenue each year from concerts, ticketing, and sponsorship and advertising, according to the Justice Department.

Live Nation and Ticketmaster have called the DOJ’s claims “baseless.” In Friday’s brief, they argued the the DOJ’s complaint is “rife” with claims about alleged harms “the merger (and decree) enabled.”

Live Nation and Ticketmaster are being represented by Latham & Watkins and Cravath Swaine & Moore.

The case is United States v. Live Nation Ent., S.D.N.Y., 1:24-cv-03973, 7/19/24.