Kings’ Leiweke Looks for New Attitude, Arena

Tim Leiweke began his term as president of the Kings on Tuesday by pledging to end the turbulence of the recent past and within two years turn the Kings into “a role-model franchise” whose state-of-the-art arena will be near reality.

“This is by far the greatest challenge I’ve taken on, and I’m not taking it lightly,” said Leiweke, whose three-year deal to run the club’s business operations and spearhead plans for a new building could be as much as $450,000 annually.

“I’m confident we can put together a team that can do this. What brought me out here is the vision and the commitment these owners [Philip Anschutz and Edward Roski] have for the L.A. Kings and a new facility in L.A.

“I appreciate the fact this organization has had a lot of chaos during the past three years and that a positive environment has been lacking. I know the No. 1 task I must bring back to this organization is a positive environment with a vision that’s consistent, so that we do not have the chaos that the staff and the organization and players had to deal with over the past three years.”

Leiweke, who will report to team Governor Bob Sanderman, succeeds Rogie Vachon as president. Vachon was given the newly created title of chief hockey operations officer, by his count his ninth job with the club. Leiweke will join Vachon as an alternate governor.

“It’s been at least six months since I got a new title,” joked Vachon, who joined the Kings in 1971 as a player. “I think we can make enough changes on the ice to improve our team in two years. It goes hand in hand. If you put a good product on the ice, it’s easier to get people to come and see you.”

Through Leiweke’s marketing efforts, Sanderman said the Kings hope to reach new audiences, such as young people and “minority groups in this region that ice hockey is not a normal sport to them.”

Sanderman also identified a fourth possible site for the arena as downtown at Union Station, land currently owned by the Catellus Development Company. He had said the finalists were sites at the Convention Center, in Chinatown south of Dodger Stadium and at Hollywood Park in Inglewood.

Leiweke, who has also been president of the NBA’s Denver Nuggets, spent the previous eight months as president and chief executive officer of U.S. Skiing.