James Dolan has abruptly nixed a tie-up with the company that manages his sports and entertainment venues after the firm disclosed plans to build a new arena in Las Vegas — a project that Dolan believes could compete directly against the Sphere, The Post has learned.
The billionaire Knicks owner has quietly broken off an unusual 14-month-old partnership with Oak View Group — a rival firm co-founded by Dolan’s longtime friend, the legendary concert promoter Irving Azoff — which had aimed to attract a mega-buck sponsor for the Las Vegas Sphere, sources said.
In interview with The Post in September 2023 — just weeks before the Sphere’s grand opening kicked off with a residency by iconic Irish rock group U2 — Oak View CEO Tim Leiweke said the partnership, dubbed Crown Properties Collection, aimed to sell the naming rights to the Sphere in a $40-million-a-year deal.
“That’s the range for the top arenas in the country like Madison Square Garden,” Leiweke told The Post.
That hasn’t yet materialized, however — with Dolan recently rejecting a $30 million offer from a prospective naming partner, according to two sources close to the situation.
Sphere Entertainment reported Tuesday that the Sphere had a $125 million operating loss in the quarter and $507 million for the year. The shares of Sphere Entertainment fell 7% on the day to close at $40.96 per share.
Meanwhile, Leiweke revealed at a conference in Phoenix last month that Oak View was teaming up with the Rio Casino in Las Vegas to build the new, NBA-size arena on Rio’s parking lot that had roughly the same seating capacity as the high-tech Sphere, sources said.
Adding insult to injury, Leiweke also told the VenuesNow conference on Oct. 16 that he was talking to the owners of the ABBA Experience show at the London Theatre to perform in the yet-to-be-built arena — a production that could be adapted to play at the Sphere, according to insiders.
Oak View hopes it can raise the funds for the project and then lure an NBA team, insiders said. The announcement sparked chatter that Leiweke had proven himself to be an unreliable business partner for Dolan.
“I’ve wondered why Dolan hired Leiweke in the first place,” a source close to the situation told The Post, adding that “Tim is trying to make the Rio a lot of money” and “Dolan fired him because he thought Leiweke was being competitive with him.”
Dolan declined to comment.
Leiweke did not immediately respond for comment.
Still, Dolan’s move to fire Oak View surprised people at Crown Properties, a source close to the situation said. Dolan’s Sphere Entertainment paid $51 million for an 8.3% stake in Crown Properties, according to The Sphere’s public filings.
Last fall, Oak View combined the 200 people in its sponsorship division with the 40 to 50 working at MSG to create Crown Properties. Now some of those MSG workers who were transferred to Crown Properties are being moved back to MSG, sources said.
Leiweke was working on a different 20,000 seat NBA arena Las Vegas project that died over the last few years on land that Oak View owns, causing him to pivot to The Rio partnership, sources said.
Oak View owns or operates more than 300 venues including owning part of the UBS Arena on Long Island where the New York Islanders play.
Leiweke, who formed Oak View with longtime Eagles promoter Azoff in 2015, has a history of run-ins with powerful team owners.
Los Angeles Kings Owner Phil Anschutz in 2013 swiftly forced Leiweke out as CEO and president of his entertainment company AEG after Leiweke painted too rosy a picture of AEG’s finances to prospective AEG buyers, sources said at the time.
Leiweke left as CEO and President of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, owner of the hockey team and the Toronto Raptors, after only one year because Leiweke reportedly wanted a new challenge.
