LiveNation Deal, Yahoo! The Talk of Sun Valley

Dan Cox, on special assignment for FishbowlLA, covering the 2008 Sun Valley Media Conference.

All’s quiet on the Western Front for Sun Valley. The conference doesn’t officially start until tomorrow, but hundreds of executives, moguls and their families are dribbling in today. A conference shuttle driver said they’re expecting 395 people on the hotel grounds, which is nearly double the number from years past.

Already the few execs at the conference are buzzing about the LiveNation $70 million deal with Canadian rock band Nickelback, which was announced today.

One Allen & Company employee said he was eager to see an interview by Tom Brokaw, who, in between stints on “Meet the Press,” has been invited back again this year. And Gordon Crawford of Capital Research and Management is reportedly thinking about backing Carl Icahn‘s bid for a Yahoo! deal with Microsoft. Crawford’s company owns 16.3% of Yahoo! Crawford is a regular the Sun Valley soiree.

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