INTERVIEW—The Sporting Life

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Tim J. Leiweke


Title:

President


Organization:

Anschutz Entertainment Group


Born:

St. Louis, 1957


Education:

High school degree


Career Turning Point:

“I don’t think I’ve hit it yet.”


Hobbies:

Golf, Skiing, Running


Most Admired Person:

Bill Daniels, president of the Screen Actors Guild


Personal:

Married, one child


As president of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, Tim Leiweke is at the hub of L.A.’s sporting, real estate and entertainment worlds, consolidating 36 businesses into a force for downtown development

As the Los Angeles point man for reclusive Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz, Tim Leiweke has very quietly merged more than 36 divisions and companies in fashioning a global entertainment conglomerate called Anschutz Entertainment Group.

The company’s holdings include Staples Center, the Los Angeles Kings pro hockey team and Major League Soccer’s Los Angeles Galaxy. In his role as president, Leiweke also oversees several other professional sports franchises controlled by AEG.

Leiweke, 43, is also managing the development of the Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment District adjacent to Staples Center. The $1 billion project is designed to feature a 1,200-room hotel along with housing, parking, retail and office space.

In addition, Anschutz Entertainment is developing a $100 million national training academy on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson.

Leiweke began his career in 1979 as assistant manager for the Major Indoor Soccer League’s St. Louis Steamers. A year later, at 24, he became the youngest general manager in professional sports by assuming that same position with the MISL’s Baltimore Blast.


Question:

Because of his extensive holdings in Los Angeles and his low profile, Philip Anschutz seems to be a subject of considerable interest in local business circles. How would you describe your relationship with him?

Answer: I’ve either worked with or for Phil for the last 10 years. In Denver, he was our partner in getting the Pepsi Center (arena) built. He sold us the land and kept telling us that we got such a great deal, so we asked him to be our partner. He also was our partner in bringing hockey to Denver. We brought the Quebec Nordiques to the city, which then became the Colorado Avalanche. So I’ve had an involvement with him through that process and that extended out here when I came to work for this organization.

Q: Why is he known as such a recluse?

A: People believe he’s reclusive because he doesn’t grant media interviews. But I can assure you that he doesn’t have nine-inch nails, he doesn’t have really long hair (like Howard Hughes). He gets out there and walks the concourse at Staples, buying hot dogs and beer. He’s a normal human being as far as I know, and he’s in Los Angeles quite a bit.

Q: The scope of your responsibilities with Anschutz Enter-tainment Group has continued to grow, yet you seem particularly passionate about the Kings. Why is that?

A: I have 36 companies that I have to pay some attention to. But I never will forget that what got us here in the first place and what we have built this company around is the Los Angeles Kings. So I’m very passionate about the team. People who say the Kings were nothing but a real estate play for us obviously haven’t been around me after a loss or during a win. So for me, the Kings are the essence of what we do. We are in the entertainment business. We are here to give people the opportunity for three hours in their lives to have a release from the day-to-day stress and tension that we all face. Our job is that during those three hours we give them the best form of entertainment, the most exciting brand of entertainment and the most passionate emotional experience we possibly can for their dollar spent.

Q: Your group was involved in the unsuccessful bid to bring an NFL team back to Los Angeles. What does L.A. need to do differently to attract an NFL team?

A: We’ve got to come together with one vision and one team. We have to get the best and the brightest to ultimately come together to solve this problem. This is not an easy problem to solve. If the NFL is a priority for us as a community, then the community has to come together, has to come up with a viable business plan that will address our particular needs. It can not be dictated to us by the courts. It can not be dictated to us by New York and by the league office. And it can not be dictated to us solely by politicians. This has to be something that, at the end of the day, is in the best interest of the community.

Q: What role would James Hahn or Antonio Villaraigosa play as the city’s next mayor in addressing the needs of your business and of the city at large?

A: There are a lot of issues. Whether we like it or not, we are probably the biggest new company that has been created in downtown Los Angeles in quite a while. So we have gotten involved in the leadership of the city. What we want out of the next mayor is a visionary. Either candidate, once he’s in office, has to be able to build a consensus with the business community, the unions, politicians and community leaders. And they’ve got to tackle a lot of very difficult issues. The National Football League is not the most pressing issue that this new mayor is going to have to deal with. The No. 1 priority has to be the gap between the rich and poor. I think we need a mayor who addresses that problem and eliminates it. I think its priority No. 1.

Q: What is the status of the proposal to build a $1 billion hotel/housing/retail complex surrounding Staples Center?

A: Beginning in July, we will begin the process of announcing additional details concerning the redevelopment surrounding Staples Center. With that in mind, there will be an owner/operator for the hotel, and we will play a role in choosing that company. (The hotel) is absolutely the single most important piece of the economic puzzle for our downtown plan. The billions and billions invested in this area will have a meaningful economic impact throughout Los Angeles.

Q: What has the approval process been like?

A: It’s an interesting process. The process we went through to get Staples Center built was, at times, divisive. The process we are going through with the entertainment district hasn’t been divisive. Ironically, the only issue that has come out after a year of an environmental process is that we have applied for several liquor licenses. We don’t have labor issues. We don’t have community issues and traffic issues. We don’t have noise issues. We don’t have litigation issues. The reality is that, for the last year, we have quietly worked with the community to identify all the issues and rectify any potential problems. And out of all that, one issue (controversy over the large number of liquor licenses being applied for) has come out.

Q: How has it been dealing with the City Council this time around? Smoother than with Staples Center?

A: If you go ask the council, what they will tell you is that they had as much to do with the problems (getting Staples Center approved) as we did. I think we came in and maybe we weren’t the best at that process. We share some of the blame there. This time, the reason there has been no issue with the council is because, whether it’s the community we live in or the community leaders we deal with and the political leaders we deal with, we have taken a much different attitude. I love this city and I know to do good things in this city you need a consensus. You don’t push things through the council.

Q: How important is the development of the $100 million sports complex at Cal State Dominguez Hills to the region?

A: It’s important. We have some of the greatest athletes that participate in the Olympics and other world-class competitions that emanate from this area. Yet very few of the amateur federations are based here. They have all moved elsewhere. Quite frankly, Indianapolis is more of a headquarters for amateur sports than Los Angeles. Why? I have no idea. Because if you look at track and field, for example, 25 percent of the world-class athletes we have in the United States come from California. Why don’t we have world-class facilities here? Why don’t we have the best soccer stadium here in L.A.? We should, because I think it’s the most important soccer market in the United States. That’s what the national training center is about. It’s not just about the Galaxy. This is about building a world-class facility that will be the best for tennis, track and field, cycling in this country. We need to build world-class facilities and bring the major sporting events in this country back to Los Angeles.

Q: With Major League Soccer sustaining estimated losses of more than $50 million over the past five years, how long will Anschutz and the other investors hang in there?

A: There are two answers to that question. If losing money were something that scared people away from business, we wouldn’t have motion pictures. In Phil’s particular case, we could probably go another 300 years before we changed our mind. It’s not a matter of, “Do we have the wherewithal or the passion?” It’s about, “Is this a business we ultimately want to be in?” And as of today, it’s a business that we want to be in.

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