The Capital Region Development Authority (CRDA) contacted state auditors and the comptroller’s office in September with concerns about the Oak View Group’s (OVG) possible “illegal, irregular or unsafe handling of funds” collected at the PeoplesBank Arena, formerly the XL Center, in Hartford. CRDA also informed state officials that they were reviewing OVG’s operation of Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field.
Oak View Group has been managing the PeoplesBank Arena since 2022, after they merged with Spectra Venue Management, which formerly managed the arena, in August 2021.
The CRDA’s concerns came a month after OVG chief executive officer Timothy Leiweke was indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) for “orchestrating a conspiracy to rig the bidding process for an arena at a public university in Austin, Texas.”
CRDA currently has a facilities management agreement in place that gives OVG management of day-to-day administration over the arena’s operations, including ticketing services. The agreement was last updated in July 2024.
According to the letter CRDA deputy director and general counsel Anthony Lazzaro, Jr. sent to state officials, OVG began using Ticketmaster as a ticketing service provider for what was then the XL Center in early 2023. Lazzaro, Jr. claims OVG did not obtain at least three bids or proposals or CRDA’s written approval before executing the agreement, in violation of the facilities management agreement.
After they learned of the violation, Lazzaro noted CRDA instructed OVG to issue a new request for proposal (RFP) for a ticketing service. At the same time, CRDA reviewed previously submitted proposals and the agreement between OVG and Ticketmaster.
“CRDA discovered Ticketmaster’s previous “winning proposal” was not consistent with the executed ticketing services agreement ultimately entered between OVG and Ticketmaster. The Ticketmaster proposal included paying CRDA an annual signing bonus of $50,000 for each year of the two-year agreement. The executed agreement did not contain any provisions for an annual signing bonus to CRDA.” Lazzaro wrote.
Over the two-year period, $100,000 was not sent to CRDA to help address the arena’s operating deficit and they were “forced to reallocate $100,000 of funds appropriated from the State of Connecticut to meet the related operating deficit at the Arena during this period.”
After CRDA discovered the missing funds, they contacted Ben Weiss, the manager’s general manager. According to the letter CRDA sent to state officials, Weiss said he believed the signing bonuses were contained in the ticketing services agreement, but found that was not the case after reviewing them. Weiss then directed Lazzaro to Brian Rothenberg, OVG’s executive vice president and general counsel.
“Attorney Rothenberg explained to me that during the 2023 procurement process, Ticketmaster deemed its proposal containing the $50,000 annual signing bonus as “too lean.” In response, Peter Luukko, Co-Chairman of the Oak View Group Arena Alliance, offered to pay the signing bonus with OVG funds it had received from Ticketmaster as part of [the] larger national sponsorship agreement.” Lazzaro wrote to state officials.
The offer was not made to other companies that responded to a request for proposal for the ticketing contract.
“According to Attorney Rothenberg, this arrangement was a handshake deal, “verbalized” and never memorialized. When asked how the funds could be transferred to the Arena’s operating account without a formal agreement, Attorney Rothenberg indicated that the Arena’s management team would understand that they needed to invoice the OVG corporate account directly for payment.” Lazzaro wrote.
As of the date the letter was written in September, OVG hadn’t moved the $100,000 for the signing bonus into the Arena’s operating account. OVG did pay CRDA $112,000 in June to make up for the missing funds.
The letter also alleges that OVG did not notify CRDA of a non-prosecution agreement it entered into with the U.S. DOJ related to its promotion of Ticketmaster in exchange for payments for over two months. CRDA maintains OVG’s failure to immediately notify it of the probe and its involvement with Ticketmaster breached the management agreement for PeoplesBank Arena.
OVG also has an operating agreement for Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field. In the same letter, CRDA notified state officials of several actions they had taken to review OVG’s management of Rentschler Field to determine “whether such actions were a single occurrence or part of a larger pattern of misconduct.”
CRDA wrote that it had contacted the Office of Policy and Management (OPM) “as such action may apply to Pratt & Whitney Stadium at Rentschler Field, which is owned by OPM, managed by CRDA, and operated by OVG.” They wrote they had also contacted the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) as DECD “provides an annual State appropriation to CRDA via a memorandum of understanding.”
CRDA also stated it had begun reviewing all construction contracts for Rentschler Field that were either awarded with OVG’s input or recommendation. Lastly, CRDA stated it had ordered an audit of all OVG sub-agreements and processes for the prior fiscal year and of all agreements and files for ticketing services and concert promotions for the prior two fiscal years.
Lazzaro told Inside Investigator that both OPM and DECD have acknowledged its concerns. CRDA has promised to forward the results of its investigations to both agencies. The investigation is currently ongoing and CRDA is unsure when it will be completed.
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