Leiweke holds keys to the kingdom, if not the Kings

TIM LEIWEKE is sitting in his AEG third-floor office atop the Palm Restaurant, looking across at the pre-Grammy excitement that fits so well with L.A. Live, passionately talking about dying sports like hockey, boxing, soccer and a lost NFL opportunity.

It’s such a contradiction, Leiweke and the Anschutz Empire now acknowledged as worldwide entertainment experts, but klutzes when it comes to making the Kings worth watching.

Leiweke is the Energizer bunny for Denver-based billionaire Philip Anschutz, who owns the Galaxy, Kings, Staples Center, the Home Depot Center and a piece of the Lakers, and that’s just locally.

The Sports Business Journal just named Leiweke the eighth most influential person in sports business, obviously overlooking the AEG president’s preposterous contention that soccer will become the second or third most popular sport in this country.

Is that what he was thinking when he spent so much money on David Beckham only to get so little in return? He might have influence with the editors of the Sports Business Journal, but does he keep Oscar De La Hoya’s next fight here?

AEG is working on facilities in Las Vegas, Berlin and Beijing, but how come no football stadium in L.A.? And what’s with the kind words about the Dodgers’ owners?

No, never dull, Leiweke took a whack at everything tossed his way the other day, and as a result, the debate was on.

ON THE NFL: “It’s easier for me to get an arena built in Shanghai than it is to get a football stadium done in L.A.,” he said, and then added with a laugh, “I think I might get a football team in Shanghai before L.A.”

Six years ago Leiweke had a $400-million master plan for a football stadium near Staples Center. AEG abandoned it after running into political roadblocks and competition from the Coliseum.

“We’d be playing football this year right next door,” said Leiweke, whose brother, Tod, is the Seattle Seahawks’ CEO. “I regret now I didn’t fight a little harder. That was the right vision.

“Now I don’t see the NFL happening here in the next 10 years. With the economy the way it is, this football stadium is going to have to be 100% privatized, and we’re talking $1 billion.”

No one here seems to care about the return of the NFL -- that is, with the exception of Leiweke.

“This is embarrassing,” he said. “You look at the Super Bowl, and wouldn’t it be nice to feel the exuberance New York felt?

“I think the Lakers make a difference in this city. I laugh at people who say sports teams don’t make a difference. Doc Buss is my hero, because when the Lakers won those three championships, it cemented [L.A. Live]. Football would matter here; it’d be huge.”

Ed Roski wants a stadium in the City of Industry, but Leiweke said Frank McCourt might ultimately succeed.

“Ed had a better idea the first time around [at the Coliseum], and it’s sad no one listened to him,” Leiweke said. “Last I checked, Ed has a pretty good vision. Look across the street at Staples -- Ed deserves as much credit as anyone for that.

“If anyone is going to pull it off now -- it can be Frank. People have different opinions about Frank, but give him credit. He’s done a good job in putting the Dodgers back on the map.”

For the next hour or so, we argued.

“Frank and I are not good friends, but I am very impressed with Frank,” he said. “I think he’s fallen madly in love with this city and would love to bring a football team here.”

I know this, if I was going to pick anyone to follow in the footsteps of Georgia and Al, it would be Frank.

ON BECKHAM: The most noteworthy thing Beckham did last year in L.A. was get off the plane without tripping. He played in eight games, scored one goal, and the Los Angeles Sports Council named him sportsman of the year.

Is Leiweke president of the Sports Council? Primary donor? Beckham did nothing to sell soccer locally, and seemed more intent on playing for England. L.A. sportsman of the year?

“David has done everything we asked of him,” Leiweke said. “We wish he’d have been more healthy on the pitch, but some things are out of control. Has it worked out for us financially? Absolutely. We’ve sold more season tickets, suites, sponsors and ratings are up. He sold more jerseys than any other athlete in the world.”

Just think how big he’ll be this year if he scores two goals.

ON DE LA HOYA: “I want him to fight May 5, and he can tell us whether he wants it to be Staples or the Home Depot, and we’ll put up the guarantee,” Leiweke said.

De La Hoya would like to fight Steve Forbes -- because he’s run out of guys he can still beat -- before meeting Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September, which would get Las Vegas’ attention.

“We can’t compete with gaming,” Leiweke said.

ON THE disaster that is the Kings: “I’ll be really blunt,” he said. “I’m worried about hockey. I’m not a fool, I understand this league and sport has challenges.”

For starters, the NHL needs a better team in L.A. For his part, Leiweke stepped aside, and hired experts at finding young talent. In the meantime, hockey fans suffer here, still paying top dollar to watch the team with the fewest points in the league.

“Until we get this team consistently into the playoffs, there are going to be a lot of people out there who don’t respect this organization and it bothers me immensely,” Leiweke said. “This organization has done a lot of great things for the city and industry, but we have not done a good job so far with the Kings.

“I’m going to change that, and I’m telling you, in two years we’re going to have a very good team.”

LOST IN the Leiweke bluster sometimes is a quieter effort to make a difference here. When the fires hit Southern California, Leiweke sat down with Garth Brooks, who was performing in an AEG-built arena in Kansas City, and the two shook hands on a deal.

Brooks put on five performances rent-free in Staples, the proceeds from tickets, concessions, suites, everything, going to families in need and to buy more firefighting equipment.

“What does it say for a guy from Oklahoma to come in here, raise more than $8 million and help solve our problems?” Leiweke said, downplaying his own role. “I think the Garth Brooks dates are the best thing I’ve ever been a part of here.”

ALMOST 12 years ago I sat in a car across from the North Hall of the Convention Center -- which would be leveled to make way for a new arena -- drawing pictures to show editors what AEG had in mind for downtown L.A. The area was lifeless.

There was also talk of a new arena being built at Hollywood Park in Inglewood, but as Steve Soboroff, a negotiator on behalf of L.A., put it in a Aug. 9, 1996 Times story, “I have gone through the archives of 50 years of development in downtown Los Angeles, and nothing with the potential to improve the area comes close to this project.”

Now, in addition to Staples and the Nokia Theater, nine new restaurants will join L.A. Live later this year. There will also be a 54-story tower housing two hotels and 224 condos -- 140 condos already sold.

Leiweke might be off his rocker when it comes to soccer, and, well, no, he is off his rocker. He’s no hockey genius, and who cares if De La Hoya fights some stiff here? And we haven’t even discussed the dying sport of tennis, and how Leiweke tried to embrace it in Staples.

But it’s hard to argue with the picture he’s helped paint outside his office window.

T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers