Industry News

AEG arenas dominate ticket sales in first quarter

Venues operated by the AEG Facilities division of sports and live entertainment company AEG accounted for 65 per cent of ticket sales in the top five arenas, according to a first-quarter rankings list compiled by Pollstar magazine.

The O2 in London (pictured) once again topped the list for tickets sold, with about 575,000 having been bought for events during the first financial quarter of 2017. The venue was No.1 in 2016’s annual rankings, which marked the 10th consecutive year the O2 has held the top spot since opening in 2007.

Glasgow’s SSE Hydro came in second place with almost 390,000 tickets sold, giving the firm the top two spots in the list. Its Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg, Germany was fifth, while Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York was the top US arena at No.7.

Also high in the list were the Manchester Arena in third (328,700) and fifth-placed Lanxess Arena (314,500) in Cologne, Germany. The top 10 was completed by Leeds’ First Direct Arena, Birmingham’s Genting Arena, the Arena Monterrey in Mexico and the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, Texas.

In total, five of the top 10 arenas were in the UK.

“Pollstar’s first quarter rankings showcase AEG Facilities’ strength as the industry leader in attracting the world’s greatest events as the world-class arenas in our portfolio continue to perform at record levels,” said Bob Newman, AEG Facilities president.  “We look forward to an even more successful year.”