Attorneys for Tim Leiweke are asking for more time to prepare the defense of the former Oak View Group (OVG) chief executive and arena developer in his federal criminal trial in Austin.
Criminal defense attorney David Gerger filed an 11-page motion on Friday (Oct. 10), requesting that presiding Judge Susan Hightower postpone the December 2025 trial date to at least October 2026. Gerger argues that Leiweke’s legal team needs additional time to review roughly seven million pages of evidence produced by the government.
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The filing also outlines what could be Leiweke’s early strategy to have the Department of Justice’s case dismissed, claiming prosecutors are misapplying the law in what the defense calls a misguided prosecution of an accomplished arena executive.
On July 9, the DOJ’s Antitrust Division unsealed an indictment accusing Leiweke and the leadership of Legends Hospitality of conspiring to rig a bid to develop the Moody Center in Austin for the University of Texas. Prosecutors allege Leiweke colluded with then-Legends CEO Shervin Mirhashemi to prevent Legends — partly owned by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones — from submitting a competing bid for the arena project.
OVG agreed to pay a $15 million penalty under a non-prosecution agreement, while Legends agreed to pay $1.5 million. Leiweke faces a single charge of violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine.
“We say that is not true; that OVG won the contract by competition, not collusion, and provided a world-class arena at excellent terms for the University,” Gerger writes. He argues that OVG “could not itself provide all the services needed to build and operate the arena, so it had to put together a team. Legends was not an arena developer but wanted to provide certain services to the arena such as food and beverage concession stands.”
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That distinction is key, Gerger continues, maintaining that Legends was not a competitor to OVG in 2017. “Even Legends has told DOJ that it was not in the arena development business during the relevant time,” he writes, noting that Mirhashemi testified before a grand jury that “Legends would support the development-led bid for this project by OVG in lieu of supporting and providing services for another developer’s bid.”
“According to the government, an arena developer may not agree that its ‘teammates’ or subcontractors will support its team and not join another ‘team’ to bid against it: that is an unlawful ‘restraint,’” Gerger writes. “Our research shows that theory is wrong on the law, and courts have rejected such ‘literal’ readings of the Sherman Act as ‘overly simplistic.’”
Gerger also points to a 2024 DOJ review of AEG’s sale of ASM Global to Legends, during which a Legends attorney reportedly described the University of Texas deal as “lawful” and “an appropriate business practice.”
Regarding the requested trial postponement, Gerger said he’s unsurprised the government is “ready for trial,” writing, “It should be — it investigated this case for over two years and then decided when to bring an indictment.”
“In sum, discovery is voluminous and ongoing, and the defense needs more time to review it — and time to follow leads,” Gerger continued. “There is no way to accomplish this — and file motions and prepare for trial — on the schedule proposed by the government.”
A DOJ representative did not respond to Billboard’s request for comment by press time.
