Stay Nation has publicly referred to as on the US Division of Justice to settle the federal government’s antitrust lawsuit in opposition to the corporate and its subsidiary Ticketmaster, arguing that the prospect of a court-ordered breakup is successfully useless.
In a press release printed at present (February 19) — the identical day the corporate reported file annual revenues of $25.2 billion — Stay Nation’s EVP of Company and Regulatory Affairs, Dan Wall, stated the corporate is “prepared” to achieve a cope with the DOJ and state attorneys normal.
Wall writes: “Instances on this posture practically all the time settle, and with the prospect of structural reduction off the desk, that’s what ought to occur on this case now.
“Stay Nation is able to make that occur with DOJ and any State Legal professional Basic dedicated to lifelike, commonsense options to the remaining points.”
He provides: “We perceive that any settlement must be significant for our venue prospects, for artists, and naturally for followers. That’s what we would like, too.”
The assertion, titled It’s Time to Transfer On, will be learn in full right here.
Wall’s assertion comes in the future after US District Choose Arun Subramanian issued a ruling that narrowed the scope of the DOJ’s case.
The decide dismissed claims that Stay Nation monopolized the live performance promotion market, whereas permitting claims associated to Ticketmaster’s dominance in venue-facing ticketing and Stay Nation’s follow of tying entry to its amphitheaters to its promotion companies to proceed to trial.
Jury choice is presently scheduled to start on March 2.
Stay Nation’s argument facilities on the dismissal of the live performance promotion claims. Wall writes that this “undermines any severe argument for breaking apart Stay Nation and Ticketmaster“.
He continues: “First, it ends the narrative that live performance promotion and ticketing are ‘mutually reinforcing monopolies.’ There was by no means a lot substance to that rivalry, however the concept a minimum of was that the 2 monopolies propped up each other. Now [the] DOJ has did not show there’s a live performance promotion monopoly.”
Wall additionally argues that separating Stay Nation from Ticketmaster “would not serve any remedial goal, not to mention be a legally permissible treatment”.
He writes: “The case is now about three issues: long-term unique ticketing contracts, a discrete ticketing deal Ticketmaster has with Oakview Group, and Stay Nation’s coverage of not renting its amphitheaters to rival promoters. None of these claims, nor even all three taken collectively, warrants greater than commonplace injunctive reduction.”
Wall factors to current precedent to bolster his argument, citing the DOJ’s antitrust case in opposition to Google.
In that case, Choose Amit Mehta of the US District Courtroom for the District of Columbia rejected the DOJ’s request to pressure Google to spin off its Chrome browser in September 2025, as a substitute choosing extra focused treatments round unique default agreements.
Wall writes that breakups in monopolization instances are vanishingly uncommon: “The final time it occurred was in 1980, when AT&T agreed to be damaged as much as resolve a monopolization case that was within the late phases of trial.”
He additionally notes that the DOJ itself had permitted the Stay Nation-Ticketmaster merger in 2010, and had on the time stated it was “positive to learn concertgoers, artists, and the business as an entire”.
Wall’s assertion instantly targets the origins of the case below the Biden administration. He writes that former DOJ Antitrust Chief Jonathan Kanter “broke from standard DOJ follow and introduced on Day One which ‘it was time to interrupt up Stay Nation and Ticketmaster’”.
Wall continues: “He additionally informed the American public that the merger and its attendant evils have been chargeable for excessive ticket costs and charges. In fact, none of this was true.”
He provides: “On the eve of trial, DOJ has no proof of that, and its argument has develop into that it doesn’t have to show larger costs.”
The DOJ, joined by 39 US states and the District of Columbia, filed the lawsuit in Might 2024, alleging monopolistic conduct throughout the reside leisure business.
Regardless of Stay Nation’s name for a settlement, not all events could also be keen to face down.
Following yesterday’s ruling, New York Legal professional Basic Letitia James stated in a press release: “Stay Nation has used its monopoly to rig the reside occasions business to its profit, driving up prices with larger ticket costs and outrageous charges. Whatever the path that the Division of Justice takes, my workplace will proceed this case and we are going to see Stay Nation in courtroom.”
Wall’s assertion arrives on the identical day that Stay Nation reported annual revenues of $25.2 billion for 2025, up 9% year-over-year, and adjusted working revenue of $2.37 billion, up 10%.
The corporate stated a file 159 million folks attended Stay Nation-promoted reveals in 2025 throughout 55,000 live shows — up by 8 million on the prior 12 months. For the primary time, extra folks attended Stay Nation live shows outdoors the US than inside it.
