Aeg

Ticketmaster, long the dominant player in the concert ticket space, now has major company. Los Angeles-based AEG, the sports and entertainment empire that owns Staples Center, Nokia Theatre, L.A. Live, the Kings and a minority stake in the Lakers, is angling to reinvent the ticketing business. It's counting on Staples Center, the busiest concert venue in the United States, to get there. AEG is now selling concert tickets at its trio of L.A. Live venues via its 18-month-old AXS ticketing platform.

Lawmakers in Sacramento have a responsibility to legislate for the public, not for donors or the politically connected; they have a duty to write laws that apply to everyone, and not to allow certain interests to benefit from carve-outs and exemptions. And yet, sometimes the state's broken legislative system forces Californians to choose between that kind of bad lawmaking and worse consequences. Such is the case with SB 292, the bill to expedite judicial review of AEG's proposed football stadium in downtown Los Angeles in return for AEG's commitment to exceed the state's environmental requirements for the facility.

For more than two years, Los Angeles city officials have been negotiating with Anschutz Entertainment Group to build a downtown stadium and bring a pro football team, or perhaps two, to the city. Now, with less than two weeks to go before the city is poised to give the project final environmental approval, the owner of AEG, Denver billionaire Phil Anschutz, has decided to unload the company. That's an unsettling turn of events, and before the City Council moves forward, it should demand a full explanation of the timing and ramifications of the sale, as well as assurances that the city's interests will be protected.

When AEG executives signed the final documents to take over the Millennium Dome in London, giggles could be heard in the adjacent room. The 860,000-square-foot entertainment dome was regarded as something of a national joke that had soaked up $1 billion in British taxpayers' money and was mothballed before the Los Angeles-based venue operator showed up with an offer. "It was like they couldn't believe these silly Americans were dumb enough to do this," Anschutz Entertainment Group chief Tim Leiweke recalled.

Philip Anschutz, who announced Thursday that he was terminating the sale of sports and entertainment giant AEG, said that the company is still interested in working out a deal to bring the NFL back to Los Angeles and that he was “optimistic” that would happen. But he also said, in a rare, wide-ranging interview with The Times, that while AEG, the city and state have all done what was needed to build a new stadium on the LA Live campus downtown,  the NFL now needs to be an active fourth party.

Based on the abysmal failures that the Kings and Galaxy have become under AEG's ownership, might I suggest Mssrs. Anschutz and Leiweke try running a residential janitorial service instead. For while they have repeatedly proven that they lack the necessary acumen to be successful in the world of pro sports, cleaning house they seem to have down to a science. Andrea Warren Rolling Hills Estates

In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, AEG founder Philip Anschutz discussed his decision to pull his sports and entertainment conglomerate off the market, as well as Tim Leiweke's impending departure from the company. This is an edited transcript: Question: Tim Leiweke was the public face of AEG in Los Angeles. It's a surprise to see him leaving so abruptly. What happened? Answer: I think he made his decision based on the fact that I had terminated the process for the sale, combined with the opportunities that he's looking at elsewhere as well.

After seeking a buyer for months, the billionaire owner of entertainment giant AEG abruptly took the company off the market, leaving a parade of high-profile suitors empty-handed and damaging the prospect that professional football will return to Los Angeles any time soon. Philip Anschutz announced Thursday that he is retaining ownership of Anschutz Entertainment Group and parting ways with Chief Executive Tim Leiweke, the company's public face and force behind the development of L.A. Live and the plan to build an NFL stadium downtown.

I am a current Kings season-ticket holder, and I am writing this letter in response to the recent letters regarding the Kings and AEG. Personally, I am excited for the first time in a long time now, as I have seen a strong commitment from AEG to stick to a structured plan to help build a team that is exciting and competitive to watch, both now and heading into the future. It's always exciting watching a team grow, and feeling like you are a part of that process, almost as if it is partly "your team."

Billionaire Philip Anschutz will be taking a more active role at his sports and entertainment powerhouse AEG without his longtime chief executive, Tim Leiweke. Anschutz announced Thursday that he was halting the planned sale of AEG and that Leiweke will be leaving by “mutual agreement.” AEG: A look back “We appreciate the role Tim has played in the development of AEG, and thank him for the many contributions he has made to the company,” Anschutz said in a statement.