Timothy J. Leiweke (born April 21, 1957) is an American businessman who is the chief executive officer of

Oak View Group Oak View Group, LLC (OVG) is an American professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Denver. It manages several sports venues, including Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, which was constructed under the company's supervision. ...

. He was the former president and CEO of

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) is a professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With assets that include franchises in four of the six major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(MLSE) and the former president and CEO of

Anschutz Entertainment Group Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc. (AEG), also known as AEG Worldwide, is an American global sporting and music entertainment presenter and a subsidiary of the Anschutz Corporation. It is the world's largest owner of sports teams and sports ...

(AEG). He held roughly a 4% stake in AEG as of 2012, and is well known for his relationship with notoriously reclusive AEG founder and

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

-based billionaire

Philip Anschutz Philip Frederick Anschutz ( ; born December 28, 1939) is an American billionaire businessman who owns or controls companies in a variety of industries, including energy, railroads, real estate, sports, newspapers, travel, movies, theaters, arena ...

, whom he has known since the early 1990s. Since November 2015, Leiweke has been the CEO of Oak View Group, "a global advisory, development, and investment company for the sports and live entertainment industries".

Anschutz Entertainment Group

Leiweke was president and CEO of

(AEG), which owns the

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The Kings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. ...

, the

Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

, part of the

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division (NBA), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

, and the L.A. Live entertainment complex. AEG also owns multiple sporting and entertainment venues around the world such as the

Dignity Health Sports Park Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills, in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignit ...

in Los Angeles and the O2 Arena in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, which it manages. In September 2012 it was announced that AEG would be put up for sale. A deal for the privately owned group, reportedly worth up to billion, was expected to be announced sometime in the first half of 2013. On March 14, 2013 Anschutz announced that AEG was no longer for sale. In an interview, Anschutz said that he had recently become "reengaged" in the business and also suggested the company had failed to receive bids close to the $8 to $10 billion asking price. On the same day that it was announced the sale had been called off, it was announced Leiweke would be replaced as President and CEO by AEG executive Dan Beckerman, who previously was the chief operating officer and chief financial officer. The change in leadership was attributed by some analysts as a reaction to the failure AEG experienced in attracting serious bidders during the sale process and its inability to securing a

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) occupant (team) for Farmers Field, a proposed stadium next to L.A. Live.

Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment

Leiweke became the president and CEO of Maple Leafs Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) on April 26, 2013. MLSE is 75% owned by

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

and

Bell Canada Bell Canada (commonly referred to as Bell) is a Canadian telecommunications company headquartered at 1 Carrefour Alexander-Graham-Bell in the borough of Verdun, Quebec, in Canada. It is an ILEC (incumbent local exchange carrier) in the province ...

. MLSE's properties are the

Toronto Maple Leafs The Toronto Maple Leafs (officially the Toronto Maple Leaf Hockey Club and often referred to as the Leafs) are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. The Maple Leafs compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the A ...

of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL), the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA) and the

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

team

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

, as well as multiple sport and residential properties including

Scotiabank Arena Scotiabank Arena (SBA), formerly known as Air Canada Centre (ACC), is a multi-purposed arena located on Bay Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the home of the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and t ...

, Ricoh Coliseum, and Maple Leaf Square. During his tenure, Leiweke lived in Toronto. He was integral in the signings of Toronto FC designated players Michael Bradley, Jermain Defoe, and Sebastian Giovinco as well as the hiring of Maple Leafs president Brendan Shanahan and Raptors president

Masai Ujiri Michael Masai Ujiri (born July 7, 1970) is a professional basketball executive and former player who is the President (corporate title), president of the Toronto Raptors in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Ujiri was born in the Unite ...

. On August 21, 2014, Leiweke announced that he would be leaving MLSE and would remain in his role until June 30, 2015 or until MLSE had named his successor. He left MLSE on October 29, 2015 after the appointment of Michael Friisdahl as his successor.

Oak View Group

On November 16, 2015, Leiweke and his business partner,

Irving Azoff Irving Azoff (; born December 12, 1947) is an American businessman, who is chairman of Full Stop Management, a company that represents recording artists. During the course of his career, he has worked as an agent, personal manager, concert pr ...

, founded

(OVG), a "global advisory, development and investment company for the sports and live entertainment industries". Leiweke is OVG's CEO. As of 2024, its global corporate headquarters is headquartered in

with regional offices based in Los Angeles, New York City,

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, London, and Toronto. On December 4, 2017, the

Seattle City Council The Seattle City Council is the legislative body of the city of Seattle, Washington. The Council consists of nine members serving four-year terms, seven of which are elected by electoral districts and two of which are elected in citywide at-larg ...

voted 7–1 to approve a memorandum of understanding with the OVG for the renovation of KeyArena. Renovations for the arena began in 2018 and were completed in 2021. On December 7, the NHL's board of governors agreed to consider an application for an expansion team from Seattle, the

Seattle Kraken The Seattle Kraken are a professional ice hockey team based in Seattle. The Kraken compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The t ...

, with an expansion fee set at $650 million. The Seattle ownership group is represented by David Bonderman and Jerry Bruckheimer. On February 20, Mayor Jenny Durkan launched an NHL campaign during her State of the City and announced that Oak View Group would be initiating a season ticket drive on March 1, 2018. On December 4, 2018, the National Hockey League announced that the league would expand to Seattle in 2021 with the approval of the group's bid.

Personal life

Leiweke is married to Bernadette. They have one daughter, Francesca, who is married to Troy Bodie, both a pro hockey scout and a former player with the Toronto Maple Leafs. As of 2024, Francesca is the

chief operating officer A chief operating officer (COO), also called chief operations officer, is an executive in charge of the daily operations of an organization (i.e. personnel, resources, and logistics). COOs are usually second-in-command immediately after the C ...

for her father's company, Oak View Group. Tim's younger brother,

Tod Leiweke Tod Leiweke (born January 12, 1960, in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American sports executive who is currently part-owner, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Seattle Kraken. Career In the early 1980s, Leiweke was vice president of t ...

, is the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

and president of the Seattle Kraken of the NHL; Tod was the chief operating officer of the NFL from 2015 to 2018.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leiweke, Tim 1957 births Living people American chief executives of professional sports organizations American expatriates in Canada Los Angeles Kings executives Major League Soccer executives Businesspeople from Los Angeles Businesspeople from St. Louis Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Toronto Maple Leafs executives Toronto Raptors executives