Finance

Live Nation Rebounds With Return of Sports, Concerts

Live Nation Entertainment bounced back with a 677% revenue gain year-over-year in Q2 with the return of sports and concerts.
Revenue remained well below pre-pandemic levels.

Aug 05, 2021 | 05:48 am

Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports/Design: Alex Brooks

The return of live fans to sports hasn’t just been a saving grace to teams and leagues — it has also revived the ticketing industry.

Ticketmaster owner Live Nation Entertainment saw revenue climb 677% year-over-year to $575.9 million in the second quarter. Ticketmaster is the official ticket exchange for the NFL, NBA, and NHL.

Ticketing brought in $244 million for Live Nation, compared to an $87 million loss in the same period last year.
Ticketmaster had its fourth-best month in company history in June, by ticket volume.
Live Nation sold 48.6 million tickets in Q2 — 26.3 million of which were fee-bearing.

CEO Michael Rapino made the case that the company is on a strong trajectory, noting that July 12 was its highest resale day in history by gross ticket volume, “driven by the U.S. Open along with strong NBA, NFL, and concert resale volumes.”

While Live Nation’s revenue has climbed each quarter since its dismal Q2 2020, it still has some way to go to return to pre-pandemic levels. In the second quarter of 2019, the company brought in $3.2 billion, 556% above Q2 2021’s showing.