Live Nation Threats to Concert Venues Scrutinized at DOJ Trial

Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the owner of Ticketmaster, threatened to withhold concerts from the Barclays Center in New York after the arena switched ticketing services to SeatGeek Inc., according to testimony Wednesday in a US Justice Department antitrust trial.

In a recording of a phone call played in court, Live Nation Chief Executive Officer Michael Rapino told John Abbamondi, the former CEO of the BSE Global, which owns the Barclays Center and the Brooklyn Nets basketball team, that it would be “tough to deliver concerts” if the arena switched from Live Nation’s Ticketmaster to SeatGeek. Live Nation might instead send concerts to the new UBS Arena, Rapino said on the call, which Abbamondi said he took as a “threat.”