AEG announced it’s won the contract for the new 20,000-seat arena in the city’s “Galactica Park” development, which is expected to open in 2018.

AEG secured the contract in July to run the city’s new VTB Arena, which is expected to be completed in 2016. AEG European vice president of facilities Brian Kabatznick told Pollstar the company was eyeing the Russian capital.

The VTB will be a 45,000-seat soccer stadium home to Dynamo Moscow Football Club and a 2018 FIFA World Cup venue. It also has 12,000-seat arena for hockey and basketball.

The old Dynamo Stadium was closed for demolition in 2008.

The new building on the Galactica site, in the south section of Moscow, is part of a redevelopment project that will also have an indoor theme park, indoor water park, two hotels, a 120,000-square-meter shopping complex and four levels of underground parking.

It will also be serviced by metro and bus stations.

AEG’s long-term, multi-year exclusive agreement is with ZAO Rusinkom, which is developing the Galactica site.

Kabatznick says AEG has targeted Moscow as the most significant market in Europe to develop new facilities and increase entertainment events.

Meanwhile, LN’s approach to Moscow appears content-driven. It’s set up a new company called Live Nation Russia and The Baltics, which is registered in Helsinki and headed by former LN Finland chief Risto Juvonen.

The first step is expected to be the acquisition of Peeter Rebane’s Baltic Development Group, which for more than a decade has been LN’s local partner in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.