OVG eyes two new arenas for London

Image: Co-op Live Arena

Oak View Group (OVG) is looking at building up to two new venues in London at a cost of around £1.5 billion, according to chief executive Tim Leiweke.

City AM said Leiweke told the newspaper that plans for up to two arenas are currently being considered with England’s capital being classed as a “high priority location”.

The venues would be more expensive than the £450 million OVG and City Football Group spent on building Co-op Live in Manchester and would also be larger than that arena – which is currently the largest in the UK.

Leiweke said: “I think we will see in the next 12 months a commitment to spend well over another £1.5 billion in the UK on new arenas.

“We certainly think London will have to be bigger and better and more expensive. It is London, and things cost more down there. We get it.

“We continue to be focused on a long-term vision for London. I would do a fairly aggressive bet that we have another arena or two in us, in the UK in the near future. I think London is still a high priority.”

The possible plans for at least one new major indoor arena for London come after a bid for the landmark MSG Sphere London was withdrawn in January 2024.

Madison Square Garden Company (MSG) initially put forward the development in 2018 but the scheme was rejected by London Mayor Sadiq Khan and the project was halted.

Asked whether he was worried about taking on the planning system in the capital, Leiweke said: “No because It’s not going to light up like an airport runway at night.

“Everyone tried to make the Jim Dolan and MSG people aware you’re going to have to think about the neighbourhood. If you look at the remarkable success of Co-op Live – you don’t hear a negative outcry in this community.

“We’ve honoured and upheld our agreements and so we haven’t experienced any of that. I’m not trying to preach to anybody about how to build things, but you’ve got to understand your neighbourhood when you go into a planning process.

“We understand London. We’re proud that we had a history with the O2 and getting that built. I get how to get arenas built in London.”

When asked about the impact the government’s Autumn Budget has had on Co-op Live and OVG’s appetite to invest in the UK, Leiweke said: “We are well aware that there is an additional cost of doing business in the UK.

“We certainly have experienced the highs and the lows of Brexit and what we had to fight through when we had roughly 15,000 construction workers in and out of this building [Co-op Live] over four years.

“There will always be swings in every country and in every economy everywhere in the world, and we’re used to that.

“What we’ve tried to build here is a model that will withstand the highs and survive the low that ultimately doesn’t put us in a position of knee-jerking every time there is a downturn.

“We’ve never blinked in our commitment to the UK during Covid, during Brexit and during the first month of trying to get the building open.

“We are doubling down, tripling down, we feel very bullish. This is a good place to do business.”

Leiweke founded Oak View Group in 2015 and serves as its chief executive.

In April 2024, Leiweke revealed he was considering building a second glitzy venue in the UK, this time in Hammersmith, arguing the capital is underserved by its current entertainment options.

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