UNITED STATES

Live Nation ’ s Ticketmaster ownership threatened by DOJ lawsuit

The US Department of Justice ( DOJ ) and 30 US States have launched an antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment ( LNE ) demanding that its union with Ticketmaster be broken up to readdress the company ’ s alleged market dominance . The DOJ ’ s 128-page filing alleges LNE , which merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 , has violated antitrust laws . US attorney general Merrick Garland said it was time to break up Live Nation-Ticketmaster : “ Live Nation relies on unlawful , anticompetitive conduct to exercise its monopolistic control over the live events industry in the United States at the cost of fans , artists , smaller promoters , and venue operators .” LNE claimed the allegations were baseless : “ We will defend against these baseless allegations , [ and ] use this opportunity to shed light on the industry .”

BRAZIL

Madonna concert attracts recordbreaking1.6m audience

Madonna ended her Celebration Tour with the largest concert ever staged by a single act . Her show at Rio ’ s Copacabana beach on 4 May was attended by 1.6 million fans . It saw 18 sound and video towers built on the beach to enable the huge audience to view the onstage action . The construction of the stage and towers reportedly involved a crew of 4,000 . Rio police ’ s Marco Andrade said 3,200 officers were deployed at the concert , and that facial recognition technology and drones were used to monitor the crowd . The landmark concert was the brainchild of Luiz Guilherme Niemeyer , a partner at Bonus Track Entertainment , who won financial support for the free show from backers including Heineken , Deezer and Live Nation .

UNITED STATES

Temporary 34,000-seat stadium to bring T20 Cricket World Cup to US

Arena Americas has helped create a 34,000-seat temporary stadium , believed to be the first of its kind in international cricket , on Long Island , New York . Designed by Populous , The Nassau County International Cricket Stadium is a temporary facility built for the T20 Men ’ s World Cup that will host eight group stage matches before being removed to leave only the field . TCC Men ’ s T20 World Cup 2024 Ambassador Usain Bolt said , “ The new stadium is going to be a fantastic place to watch from . It ’ s very enclosed and you feel very close to the action .”