. for the fighting traditions and systems see martial arts . anschutz entertainment group headquarters l.a. live los angeles united states area served worldwide parent the anschutz corporation website aegworldwide.com the anschutz entertainment group aeg is an american worldwide sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of the anschutz corporation . it is the world s largest owner of sports teams and sports events . under the aeg live brand it is the world s second largest presenter of live music and entertainment events after live nation . 1 2 aeg live was started in 2002 . 3 contents 1 overview 1.1 acquisitions 2 arenas 3 sports ventures 3.1 soccer and ice hockey 3.2 golf 3.3 other 3.4 film 4 ticketing 5 controversy 5.1 berlin 5.2 michael jackson 6 see also 7 references 8 external links overview edit aeg owns and operates a variety of venues sport teams and entertainment concerns . for venues aeg owns and operates the staples center and the stubhub center and manages the xl center and rentschler field . in england it owns the manchester arena 4 and currently operates the o2 which includes a 20 000 capacity arena . in turkey aeg operates 13 800 capacity ulker sports arena and galatasaray s.k. s new home ground 52 695 capacity turk telekom arena . 5 as part of the development of the o2 anschutz also purchased the london river service company thames clipper and supported the development of the nearby david beckham academy which also has a branch at the home depot center . the company has its headquarters in downtown los angeles . 6 for sports teams the company owns the los angeles galaxy 50 % of the los angeles kings ontario reign eisb ren berlin with berlin mercedes benz arena 49 % of hammarby if as well as interests in the los angeles lakers and the los angeles sparks . aeg also owned hamburg freezers before ceasing its existence in 2016 . the company also purchased the champions on ice figure skating tour in 2006 and own 12 % of djurg rdens if hockey . the company makes a significant amount of its money by leveraging its sports interests already significant earners by using the stadia in which these teams play to host various other entertainment events most notably concerts . indeed philip anschutz created the company by buying up several small local promoters in los angeles including concertswest and goldenvoice which had been founded by gary tovar and promotes the annual coachella valley music and arts festival in order to fill up the schedule for his new sports venue staples center . it is now the second largest event promoter in the united states . aeg live came to international public attention in 2009 when it acted as the promoter for michael jackson s this is it concerts . jackson died just three weeks before the series of 50 concerts were due to begin . members of jackson s family have said that they would like to see an investigation in general into the role of aeg live in the final weeks of his life and also in particular into the role of the personal advisers and representatives whom they believe the promoters put in place for him . 7 on september 18 2012 the anschutz corporation announced its intent to sell anschutz entertainment group and its holdings . 8 the company has retained financial advisors blackstone advisory partners to assist in aeg s sale process . there has been some concerns about the sale as aeg was instrumental in the development of farmers field that was a planned football stadium in downtown los angeles that was intended to attract an nfl team to the city which has been without an nfl team since the los angeles rams relocated to st. louis missouri and the los angeles raiders relocated to oakland california both respectively in 1995 approval to begin construction of farmers field in 2013 for a 2016 completion was in the process of being finalized at the time that aeg s sale was announced . 9 on march 14 2013 anschutz announced aeg is no longer for sale and that he is changing ceos . tim leiweke ceo since 1996 left the firm john skorjanec vp of national media accounts whose leave of absence left a temporary void has returned in the same capacity with dan beckerman now the person at the top of aeg . 10 acquisitions edit december 2000 concerts west los angeles 11 march 2001 goldenvoice los angeles 12 arenas edit aeg also owns the staples center in los angeles california stubhub center in carson california and the multi purpose arena known as the o2 formerly the millennium dome . aeg operates the sprint center for the city of kansas city missouri and target center in minneapolis minnesota . anschutz s investment in the the o2 through his company anschutz entertainment group previously resulted in his involvement in controversy related to the possible influence of former british deputy prime minister john prescott in the award of the super casino license by the british government . anschutz knows prescott personally having had him as a guest for a two night stay at anschutz s ranch in 2005 and footing the bill for hospitality and gifts . 13 in january 2007 the super casino license was awarded to a group in manchester rather than to blackpool or london . 14 anschutz spent 50m on the manchester arena and the winner of the casino licence is a close ally of anschutz sol kerzner . 15 16 also manages qantascredit union arena aeg is planning to develop similar entertainment complexes to london s o2 arena including the o2 world in berlin and an entertainment complex around the existing staples center . in august 2007 aeg announced plans with harrah s entertainment to build a privately financed 20 000 seat arena in paradise nevada on the las vegas strip 17 on harrah s land located directly behind the bally s las vegas and paris las vegas resorts . the informal partnership was dissolved the following year . 18 in october 2011 it was announced an agreement with palmeiras and wtorre for managing the allianz parque one of the most modern multipurpose spaces in the world located in s o paulo brazil . with construction starting in 2010 was completed in november 2014 . in september 2013 it was announced that aeg facilities a stand alone affiliate of aeg had signed a 15 year contract to operate wembley arena in london uk . 19 in 2014 the partnership of aeg live with mgm resorts international began construction of las vegas arena located west of the las vegas strip between frank sinatra drive and new york new york with a planned opening in spring 2016 . 20 sports ventures edit soccer and ice hockey edit anschutz was one of the co founders and one of the lead investors of major league soccer . in 1996 he became the investor operator of the colorado rapids his first mls franchise . the rapids were then a subsidiary of the anschutz corporation . in subsequent years as anschutz acquired additional sports teams it led to the formation of a new division of the company whose focus was sports and entertainment and thus aeg was born with the rapids and hockey s la kings as its original members . since 1996 aeg has held ownership in the chicago fire san jose earthquakes new york new jersey metrostars d.c. united and houston dynamo . 21 22 currently aeg is the investor operator of the los angeles galaxy . anschutz was inducted into the national soccer hall of fame in 2006 . also in 2006 anschutz received the national soccer medal of honor one of four recipients to ever receive the award . 21 in 2007 anschutz and aeg played a vital role in bringing david beckham to the united states . beckham is now employed by galaxy media and played for los angeles galaxy . 23 in 2009 he joined usa bid committee board of directors who are preparing the us s application and campaign to bring the world cup to the united states . aeg also owns the nhl s los angeles kings ; 23 the ahl s ontario reign ; the echl s cincinnati cyclones co owned with nederlander entertainment ; the swedish soccer team hammarby if part of swedish hockey team djurg rdens if ; and the german ice hockey teams hamburg freezers and eisb ren berlin . aeg also formerly owned the manchester monarchs 24 and an interest in the reading royals both of the echl . aeg also manages the sprint center in kansas city missouri and managed the xl center in hartford connecticut until 2013 . they previously operated rentschler field in hartford from 2007 to 2010 during which they held a stake in the now defunct hartford colonials of the ufl . anschutz entertainment group were in a consortium with tottenham hotspur to demolish the london 2012 olympic stadium in stratford and then to build a new 60 000 seater soccer stadium in its place and to renovate the crystal palace athletics stadium . however this proposal was rejected . golf edit this section contains information of unclear or questionable importance or relevance to the article s subject matter . please help improve this article by clarifying or removing superfluous information . february 2012 in july 2010 it was announced that xanterra parks & resorts inc. had entered into an agreement to purchase the kingsmill resort near williamsburg virginia . 25 in 1968 xanterra became the successor to the fred harvey company initially established by entrepreneur fred harvey beginning in 1875 . 26 one of xanterra s more famous locations is located at the grand canyon in arizona . xanterra owned by anschutz since 2008 has traditionally operated in national and state parks across the united states especially in the western regions . other high profile operations include yellowstone national park in wyoming and crater lake national park in oregon . 27 as of 2010 xanterra was operating about three dozen hotels and lodges with more than 5 000 guest rooms combined with over 8 000 employees . 28 beginning in the early 1970s the kingsmill resort was developed by anheuser busch a b as a portion of the brewing company s development of diversified activities in the williamsburg area which grew to include not only the brewery but the busch gardens williamsburg theme park and large upscale developments of residential and office park properties . the st. louis based brewer invested in the area following negotiations held between august busch ii and winthrop rockefeller a son of colonial williamsburg s initial chief mentor john d. rockefeller jr. . winthrop rockefeller had been serving as both governor of arkansas and chairman of colonial williamsburg in the 1960s and 1970s . water country usa a local water park was acquired by a b in the 1990s and added to the company s theme park activities which include a number of seaworld properties in other states as well . both winthrop rockefeller who died in 1973 and august busch ii who died in 1989 have been credited by some historians with helping develop the greater williamsburg area into one of the top tourism destinations in the world . they apparently felt that augmenting the attractions of the historic triangle of colonial virginia jamestown colonial williamsburg and yorktown with other attractions which would help draw future families to the region as well as help balance out the local economy . since their respective deaths other family members of both the rockefeller and busch families have carried on much of those priorities although as a brewer a b found itself increasingly in tough competition in an increasingly global market . in 2009 after initially resisting an unsolicited stock bid a b announced it had reached an