Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke
Air Date: Aug 28, 2013
In the seventh episode of “Big Shots With Giselle Fernandez,” our video series featuring business leaders and culture shapers from around the globe, Fernandez sits down for an exclusive and candid interview with Tim Leiweke, the current president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment in Toronto, Canada and the former president and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group, the Los Angeles-based sports and entertainment and real estate juggernaut better known to Angelenos simply as AEG. (The company has ownership interests in the Staples Center, the Los Angeles Galaxy, and the Los Angeles Kings in addition to other holdings.)
Five months after abruptly leaving AEG, Leiweke, who lost an estimated 50 pounds during that time, says he wants to set the record straight, and he reflects openly—and publicly for the first time—with Fernandez about the end of his nearly 20-year relationship with Philip Anschutz, what he sees as L.A.’s strengths and weaknesses, why he’s still rooting for an NFL team to move here, his devotion (past and present) to the Los Angeles Kings, what he sees as Mayor Eric Garcetti’s most important opportunity, and how his surprising move to Canada has changed his outlook on business and life.