Leader of Kings.

The goals of L.A. hockey team president Tim Leiweke are simple: move into a new arena and win the Stanley Cup 

Tim Leiweke has been president of the Los Angeles Kings hockey team for less than three months, but already he is involved in a major story - the development of a new indoor sports arena for the Kings and the L.A. Lakers basketball team.

Before being hired by Kings owners Ed Roski and Philip Anschutz, Leiweke was president of the U.S. Ski Team. Before that he was president of the Denver Nuggets basketball team, where he worked on the construction of a new arena in Denver.

Leiweke, who did not go to college, began working after high school at a restaurant/bar owned by a brother in Austin, Texas.

He then sold insurance in his native St. Louis, Mo., before beginning his career in sports management in 1979 as assistant general manager of the St. Louis Steamers of the Major Indoor Soccer League. Now, as president of the Kings, he heads a National Hockey League franchise.

Last week the Business Journal talked with Leiweke at the Kings office at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood.

Q: What is your job here at the Kings? What have you been brought in to do?

A: Win the Stanley Cup.

Q: How are you going to do that?

A: There have been a lot of changes here, both on the team and in the front office. In the office, we have 16 new people. There is a whole new organization here. There are new players, new coaches. We're a young team. It's going to take time. We're not going to do this in the next year.

But we're going to do it. What we have to do is show our fans that we're serious. That's going to be our theme, "Serious Hockey." You're going to be seeing that in our advertising.

We're hoping our fans will see that we're hard workers - that we're trying, but we're also going to ask them to be patient. We will win the Stanley Cup, though.

Q: How are things different since you came here?

A: What I've told people is I expect them to work hard. If they don't, they'll be gone. Ultimately, I think that will result in us winning and people coming to our games. I want our fans to see that we have a strong work ethic. That's the kind of team we're going to be, and that's the kind of organization we're going to be.

Q: You are coming from Denver, where there are just three big-time sports teams. Here in Los Angeles, there is a lot of competition for discretionary spending. How are you going to compete?

A: You're right; this is a big market. It's a huge market. There is a lot of competition, but what we have to do, again, is work hard, get involved in the community, create some excitement - show people what we are and (that) we're serious about winning. If we can get that across, we'll be successful.

Q: In the past, there has been a connection between the Kings and the Hollywood crowd. Are you going to go after that crowd? To try to get a lot of movie stars and such to come to the games?

A: No way. We're not going to be that way at all. We're not going to be image and glamour and movie stars. We're going to be about serious hockey. I think if we're like that, they will want to come, and if they do, we'll treat them very well. But no, we're not going after the Hollywood crowd. We're a hockey team.

Q: You keep mentioning hard work. Where does that come from?

A: My mother. I watched her fight cancer for five years. She worked so hard to beat that. Right up until the end, everyday she did something - she got up, she tried to walk. She fought it all the way. That's where I learned about work.

Q: You didn't go to college. Do you regret that?

A: No. (But) I don't advise it. I tell people they should go to college, but for me, I just never felt it was really necessary. In my family, everything went toward my mother's fight with cancer. After that, I just started working, and the more I worked, the less necessary college became. Someday, I think I would like to go college because there's a big world out there that college opens up for you, but right now I don't think for me it's necessary.

Q: We have to talk about the new arena. Is it going to happen?

A: Yes, there is no question about that. The only question is where it's going.

Q: Do you know where it's going?

A: No. That's up to the owners.

Q: Does it matter to you where it's going, Inglewood or downtown Los Angeles?

A: No.

Q: What is your role in this process. Are you involved?

A: I'm involved to the extent that I am the one who will be operating the arena. I am not involved in the direct negotiations. Ed Roski has primarily been doing that. He knows the community. He knows the players. He has been here for many years and has been involved in many projects.

Q: Do you mean that you will he the general manager of the arena? Will you book events, that sort of thing?

A: Yes. I will be responsible for booking events, for corporate sponsorships, selling luxury boxes.

Q: What's the arena going to be called? Will it have a corporate name, or will it be something like the Los Angeles Center?

A: It will have a corporate name. Naming rights deals are the way all sports arenas are going these days. Look at all the new arenas and they have a corporate name. This arena is going to be entirely financed through private funds, which means there will be no municipal bonds, no taxpayer money.

Snapshot

Tim Leiweke

Company: Los Angeles Kings

Position: President

Born: St. Louis, Mo., 1957

Education: Parkway West High School, St. Louis, Mo.

Career turning point: When Leiweke became assistant general manager of the St. Louis Steamers soccer team and 19,000 fans showed up for the first game.

Most admired people: his mother; President John F. Kennedy, for his style and charisma; and Denver businessman Bill Daniels, for his intelligence and generosity.

Hobbies: running and golf.

Personal: wife, Bernadette; one daughter