Anschutz Entertainment Group Aeg

Another move toward development of a tennis television package and a unified summer series of tournaments leading to the U.S. Open was taken Sunday when it was announced that the U.S. Tennis Assn. and the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) signed an agreement toward that effort. The new partnership will explore the development of high-profile U.S. summer events--with a preference of combined tournaments.

The big party in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday was meant to unveil the proposed Farmers Field football stadium, which its developer hopes will link Staples Center and a refurbished convention facility into an entertainment destination spectacular enough to draw tourists from everywhere. An airship idled overhead, expensive champagne flowed, politicians and titans posed with footballs -- their presence aiding developer AEG's efforts to frame the proposal as a foregone conclusion, a train easing out of the station.

The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), which operates four Major League Soccer teams, including the Galaxy, is negotiating to buy the United States English-language television rights to the 2002 and 2006 World Cup soccer tournaments, either in partnership with the league's other investors or, failing that, perhaps on its own.

It's not every day that Los Angeles welcomes a new addition to its skyline. And this week, the city did it in style with a gala for the 54-story Ritz-Carlton hotel-condo tower that is the centerpiece of L.A. Live and opens for business next month. The guest of honor was Tim Leiweke, president and chief executive of AEG, which built the $2.5-billion L.A. Live and has been at the center of the effort to develop the area around Staples Center into a sports and entertainment hub. The blue-hued tower is a big part of the plan.

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich allegedly threatened to prosecute city building officials last week if they issued permits for six wall signs at the L.A. Live entertainment complex downtown, and a city councilwoman said he threatened her with jail time if she intervened. The actions generated more heat in L.A.'s contentious fight over billboards and intensified a feud between Trutanich and one of downtown's most politically connected corporations, Anschutz Entertainment Group.

It's not every day that Los Angeles welcomes a new addition to its skyline. And this week, the city did it in style with a gala for the 54-story Ritz-Carlton hotel-condo tower that is the centerpiece of L.A. Live and opens for business next month. The guest of honor was Tim Leiweke, president and chief executive of AEG, which built the $2.5-billion L.A. Live and has been at the center of the effort to develop the area around Staples Center into a sports and entertainment hub. The blue-hued tower is a big part of the plan.

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich tried to pressure the owner of Staples Center to pay $6 million for city services provided during the Michael Jackson memorial, saying he would "go after you guys" if the money was not paid, the company's top executive alleged Wednesday. "I wouldn't say it was extortion. I would say it's a bully tactic. That's the way I would put it. He's trying to bully us. And he's done it on three different occasions," AEG President and Chief Executive Tim Leiweke told The Times' editorial board Wednesday.

Hollywood is moving closer to downtown Los Angeles. Phil Anschutz's sports and entertainment conglomerate AEG on Tuesday will unveil a 14-screen Regal Cinemas multiplex adjacent to Staples Center that seats 3,772 customers, making it one of the largest movie theaters in Los Angeles. The theater will debut with typical showbiz flair: The Michael Jackson movie "This Is It" will play simultaneously on all screens. At a cost of nearly $100 million, Regal Cinemas L.A. Live Stadium 14, with its three-story Art Deco-style atrium, is also one of the most expensive new movie theater complexes in the country.

The lights are turned down low in Alexi Lalas' office, making it easy to overlook the figurative wrecks inhabiting the room's darker corners. Moving from the playing field to the front office was going to be a crash course in management for Lalas. It has proved to be a demolition derby. Destruction everywhere. In only three years as a president and general manager in Major League Soccer, the free-spirited former U.S.

Staples Center has made a guaranteed $20-million offer to host the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. mega-fight that has been tentatively agreed on by the boxers to be fought March 13. "This is the biggest boxing event ever, and we're prepared to step up in a big way," said Dan Beckerman, chief financial officer for AEG, which runs Staples Center. Pacquiao and Mayweather have not officially agreed to the fight, but their promoters are already looking to secure a site for the lucrative bout that is the talk of the boxing community.

Staples Center has made a guaranteed $20-million offer to host the Manny Pacquiao-Floyd Mayweather Jr. mega-fight that has been tentatively agreed on by the boxers to be fought March 13. "This is the biggest boxing event ever, and we're prepared to step up in a big way," said Dan Beckerman, chief financial officer for AEG, which runs Staples Center. Pacquiao and Mayweather have not officially agreed to the fight, but their promoters are already looking to secure a site for the lucrative bout that is the talk of the boxing community.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry said Monday that entertainment company AEG probably will not help defray the $3.2-million cost of police and other city services for the Michael Jackson memorial until the city attorney resolves his "criminal investigation" into the spending. "Threats are not conductive to asking people to make a donation," Perry said, referring to the inquiry ordered by City Atty. Carmen Trutanich. Later, she added, "We're faced with the sword hanging over AEG's head.

Los Angeles-based entertainment titan AEG has found a sponsor for its new $280-million arena in Shanghai -- Mercedes-Benz. The German auto manufacturer is expected to announce today that it would lend its name to the basketball and entertainment venue under construction on the Huangpu River in one of China's most cosmopolitan cities. The facility is being developed by AEG, the National Basketball Assn. and Oriental Pearl Group, a division of Shanghai Media Entertainment Group.

After nearly six months of study, the Los Angeles City Council is poised to decide this week whether Anschutz Entertainment Group should help taxpayers cover the public cost of Michael Jackson's downtown memorial ceremony at Staples Center. And if AEG steps forward with a check, it will be the latest move by the Jackson promoter to help the city's elected officials out of a jam. When the council sought voter approval of a $1-billion affordable-housing bond in 2006, AEG and its affiliates contributed $75,000.

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday issued a stinging rebuke of City Atty. Carmen Trutanich, voting unanimously to reject his legal advice and back six controversial sign permits at the L.A. Live entertainment district downtown. Trutanich two weeks ago warned building officials, Councilwoman Jan Perry and representatives of L.A. Live's owner, Anschutz Entertainment Group, that they could face prosecution if sign permits for the company's new movie theater were issued, according to Perry and AEG. Trutanich said the large wall signs violated the city's new ban on outdoor ads. During a two-hour council hearing, five members scolded the city attorney for making the threats, although he did not attend the meeting.

Hollywood is moving closer to downtown Los Angeles. Phil Anschutz's sports and entertainment conglomerate AEG on Tuesday will unveil a 14-screen Regal Cinemas multiplex adjacent to Staples Center that seats 3,772 customers, making it one of the largest movie theaters in Los Angeles. The theater will debut with typical showbiz flair: The Michael Jackson movie "This Is It" will play simultaneously on all screens. At a cost of nearly $100 million, Regal Cinemas L.A. Live Stadium 14, with its three-story Art Deco-style atrium, is also one of the most expensive new movie theater complexes in the country.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came back Tuesday from a one-week vacation in Iceland, just as a private fundraiser for his signature antigang initiative took place at L.A. Live, the entertainment complex owned by Anschutz Entertainment Group. The event was held at L.A. Live's Grammy Museum, and AEG was credited as one of the sponsors of the bash, which raised money for the mayor's Summer Night Lights, a program to provide activities for youths.

KB Home and billionaire Philip Anschutz have agreed to take over development and ownership of a planned $600-million hotel and condominium project across from Staples Center, officials announced Thursday. The partnership all but ensures completion of what is seen as the linchpin in downtown Los Angeles' transformation into a viable entertainment and residential district.

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich on Thursday defended his efforts to recoup city dollars spent on the Michael Jackson memorial, but denied asking the top executive of the company that owns Staples Center to pay $6 million during a meeting in July. A day after AEG President and Chief Executive Tim Leiweke told The Times editorial board that Trutanich tried to "bully" the company into paying for various city services provided during the memorial, Trutanich justified his actions during a speech to members of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce.

Los Angeles City Atty. Carmen Trutanich tried to pressure the owner of Staples Center to pay $6 million for city services provided during the Michael Jackson memorial, saying he would "go after you guys" if the money was not paid, the company's top executive alleged Wednesday. "I wouldn't say it was extortion. I would say it's a bully tactic. That's the way I would put it. He's trying to bully us. And he's done it on three different occasions," AEG President and Chief Executive Tim Leiweke told The Times' editorial board Wednesday.