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Tim Leiweke, who helped build the Anschutz Entertainment Group brands in LA — Staples Center, the Kings and Galaxy, plus more — was named president and chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. That's the company that owns the Toronto Maple Leafs NHL team, its arena, the NBA's Raptors and FC Toronto of Major League Soccer. So he goes from the team that hockey's Stanley Cup last year to the NHL team with the biggest and most fervent fan base in Canada, if not anywhere. Leiweke, you will remember, left AEG in March under unannounced circumstances at the same time his boss, Phil Anschutz, stepped in to personally take over the effort to lure an NFL team and build a football stadium at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles. Leiweke had been in charge of the NFL initiative.
"I'm very excited because it's about a platform that's even larger than what we started with at AEG," Leiweke told Helene Elliott at the Los Angeles Times. "They have hockey where it's a religion, the NBA, MLS, the Marlies, AHL, and they own buildings and entertainment districts and have distribution channels, so it's really a unique platform. And again, it's far greater than what we started with at AEG and one that I'm enthused by because of the marketplace. It's a very dynamic, exciting, vibrant marketplace."
"My family and I eagerly look forward to becoming part of the community in Toronto, one of the great cities of the world, and to joining the passionate and dedicated fans of the Maple Leafs, the Raptors, Toronto FC and the Marlies," Leiweke said in the flackage in Canada.
