Ozzy Osbourne Drops AEG Lawsuit After Company Ends Block-Booking Policy

Ozzy Osbourne’s case against AEG has been dismissed, Billboard reports. Earlier this year, Osbourne filed a class action antitrust lawsuit against AEG over their conditional booking tactics. The lawsuit alleged that the powerhouse entertainment promoter was illegally tying the booking of its London and Los Angeles venues with their condition called the Staples Center Commitment. The commitment prohibited artists from playing London’s O2 Arena unless they agreed to play the Staples Center during their Los Angeles tour stop. Osbourne’s lawyers called the tactic an “illegal tying practice.”

Earlier this month, AEG announced that it had ended that block-booking policy. “Promoters for artists that want to play the O2 will no longer be required to commit to playing Staples Center,” AEG Presents executive Jay Marciano said. The change in policy spurred Osbourne’s attorney to file to have the case dismissed. U.S. District Court Judge Dale Fischer dismissed the case with prejudice. “We’re very pleased that there is no longer anything to litigate,” Osbourne’s attorney Dan Wall said in a statement.

Marciano claimed that AEG’s Staples Center Commitment was a reaction to Azoff MSG Entertainment’s block-booking policy between Madison Square Garden in New York and the Forum in L.A. Irving Azoff has denied the claim, saying there wasn’t a block-booking policy between MSG and the Forum.