New player enters race to build and operate Brisbane Live arena

A major international entertainment and sports company has entered the race to build one of Brisbane’s main Olympic venues, turning what was a market-led proposal into a competitive tender process.

Brisbane Times can reveal US-based Oak View Group will bid to build and operate the Brisbane Live arena, which has been earmarked for Olympic swimming in 2032, with what it says would be “minimal” investment from taxpayers.

One of the Brisbane Live concepts.

The proposed 17,000-seat Brisbane Live concert and sports arena was the brainchild of Brisbane stadiums supremo Harvey Lister, the chairman and chief executive of ASM Global Asia Pacific.

In 2015 the Queensland government invited proposals in which the private sector sought exclusive commercial deals to deliver needed services or infrastructure.

AEG Ogden, as ASM was then known, entered into an exclusive early operator engagement agreement with the Queensland government in 2018 to develop the project’s business case.

But now Oak View Group, with the backing of music booking behemoth Live Nation, has thrown its hat into the ring after the state government committed to a competitive tender process to build and operate the venue.

OVG executive vice president Brian Kabatznick said Brisbane Live was a “natural fit” for the company, which had more than $5 billion of capital tied up in new development projects.

“[It is] an amazing opportunity to build a cutting-edge venue that will attract international performers and visitors and showcase top-quality events for Queenslanders,” he said.

“With our consortia partners, including Live Nation, the world’s leading live entertainment company, we have the expertise, the experience and, critically, the capital to transform this precinct in Brisbane into Australia’s premier entertainment destination with minimal public funding.”

Harvey Lister.

If Lister was concerned about the competition, he did not show it on Tuesday afternoon.

“I’m not at all surprised that people would be trying to jump on board, years down the track from when we conceived the original concept and delivered the solution to the state government,” he said.

“There’s always Johnny-come-latelies who try to jump on.

“We’ll just continue our co-operative interface with the Queensland state government, as we have been doing for many years.”

ASM’s venue portfolio includes Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium and Entertainment Centre, Sydney’s Accor and CommBank stadiums and Qudos Bank Arena, and the RAC Arena and Optus Stadium in Perth.

The Oak View Group has built or renovated several arenas and stadiums across the US in exchange for management rights.

Oak View Group co-founder Tim Leiweke overseeing construction of the UBS Arena in New York in 2020.Credit: Kathy Willens/AP

Just this week, it announced a $200 million renovation of the Baltimore Arena. In return, the city of Baltimore awarded Oak View Group a 30-year lease.

Its investors include Live Nation and private equity firm Silver Lake, which entered the Australian sporting market last year when it bought a 33 per cent stake in the A-Leagues for $140 million.

Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the Queensland government was investigating investment options for the arena.

“Further development of the design and project documentation is required before a final funding decision is made by the Queensland and Australian governments,” he said.

“A competitive tender process will be the best way to deliver value for money for Queenslanders and to finalise the design, project management and construction delivery phases of the arena’s development.”

Brisbane Live was originally slated to be built above the rail lines between Roma Street station and the CBD, however this masthead revealed in July the government was also considering Queensland Police headquarters as an alternative site.

Miles said that process was ongoing.