Philip Anschutz

Philip Anschutz, who bought the Kings out of bankruptcy in 1995 and built Staples Center, hasn't gotten enough credit for stabilizing the franchise, NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said Wednesday before the Kings faced the Vancouver Canucks at Staples Center in Game 4 of their playoff series. Anschutz, a Denver-based billionaire who regularly shuns interviews, has been vilified by fans who contend he ignores the team and bought it only to get a foothold in downtown real estate. Not so, Bettman said during an interview with The Times, adding that he had seen Anschutz's distaste for losing.

Billionaire developer Philip Anschutz is committed to the idea of an NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles and is willing to buy a team himself in order to make the deal work, his top executive said Monday. Speaking to Times reporters and editors, Anschutz Entertainment Group President Tim Leiweke downplayed recent reports that NFL executives are dissatisfied with the terms of AEG's proposal for a team, as well as talk of possible competition from a Chavez Ravine football stadium now that ownership of the Dodgers has changed hands.

AEG billionaire Philip Anschutz is committed to the idea of an NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles and is willing to buy an entire team -- as opposed to just a part of one -- in order to make the deal work, his top executive said Monday. "Phil is now completely engaged in this process," said Tim Leiweke, AEG's president and chief executive. "And the only thing he won't do is get leveraged to the point of doing a stupid deal on a team. But if this is about finding a win-win for the NFL and Phil Anschutz, he is prepared to write that check now, subject to getting done with the [environmental impact report]

AEG billionaire Philip Anschutz is committed to the idea of an NFL stadium in downtown Los Angeles and is willing to buy an entire team -- as opposed to just a part of one -- in order to make the deal work, his top executive said Monday. "Phil is now completely engaged in this process," said Tim Leiweke, AEG's president and chief executive. "And the only thing he won't do is get leveraged to the point of doing a stupid deal on a team. But if this is about finding a win-win for the NFL and Phil Anschutz, he is prepared to write that check now, subject to getting done with the [environmental impact report]

I was surprised to walk out of Tuesday's standing-room-only pep rally to find Farmers Field, L.A.'s new downtown football stadium, has yet to be built. From what everyone was saying inside the West Hall of the Convention Center, it's a done deal. I kept waiting for the San Diego Chargers to make a grand entrance, since they will be playing in the new joint. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was so pumped up he was already angling for tickets to Super Bowl 50. He reminded everyone he won't be mayor in 2016, but really wants to go to the game.

On a warm summer evening in 2004, Philip Anschutz greeted British Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at the $150-million soccer palace Anschutz had created in Carson. After settling into a luxury suite to watch the Los Angeles Galaxy battle the San Jose Earthquakes, Prescott asked Anschutz which side he was rooting for. "He said it didn't matter because he owned the two teams," Prescott recalled in an interview in London.

Since Philip Anschutz became one of the nation's youngest billionaires at 42, he has enjoyed a low profile. The publicity-shy tycoon routinely refuses to talk to reporters, even though he owns daily newspapers in San Francisco, Washington and Baltimore. The last time he sat down for an on-the-record interview was in 1974. Anschutz also prefers to stay out of courthouses, despite spending a small fortune on litigation and attorney fees.

The stadium renderings are impressive. The sightlines are cool. And it's fun to imagine how an NFL game in the heart of Los Angeles might look. But we've seen dazzling L.A. stadium designs before. We've seen dozens of them over the last 15 years, in fact, and the nation's second-largest market still doesn't have an NFL team. What really matters this time is where Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz stands on all of this, and whether he's ready to invest the kind of money necessary to build the elaborate events center that his top executive, AEG's Tim Leiweke, envisions.

The film company of Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz has agreed to work on five movies, including four based on award-winning children's books, in a deal with 20th Century Fox. Walden Media of the Anschutz Film Group would produce and develop the films with Fox, while Fox would distribute them. Financial details of the agreement were not disclosed.

* Apple Inc. was ordered to pay more than $750,000 to lawyers who defended online journalists against the company's failed attempt to force them to reveal sources of confidential information used in news stories. * Manchester was picked as the site for Britain's first Las Vegas-style casino over favorites Blackpool and London's Millennium Dome, where billionaire Philip Anschutz has been hoping to locate one. * DirecTV Group Inc. agreed to buy Darlene Investments' 14.

What a farce, and so right away you know I'm referring to the NFL and its chances of returning to L.A. Developments, as reported by our NFL expert Sam Farmer the past few days, are laughable, but a reminder once again of the NFL's arrogance. Yes, we're back to the old days when the NFL maintained L.A. needed it more than the NFL needed L.A., and 17 years later it sounds more ridiculous than when first mentioned. The NFL never has understood the L.A. market. Folks here are willing to spend big money to be seen in a new stadium as long as the team inside is winning and they don't have to read about all the nonsense leading up to stadium construction and the acquisition of a team.

From Houston — Dear Los Angeles, an NFL team won't come cheap. That was the message Tuesday of Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay when asked to compare the competing stadium proposals for the L.A. area. The downtown stadium proposal calls for AEG's Philip Anschutz to acquire a minority share of a team at a discount. Ed Roski, pushing for a venue in City of Industry, has dropped his bid to trade stadium land for a no-cash piece of a team and now is offering to pay full price for a minority share.

The big headlines and media noise swirling around the proposed downtown stadium have given new life to the nearly forgotten concept that the NFL might have a team in Los Angeles again. One thing is certain. Tim Leiweke and his Anschutz Entertainment Group have won the battle of perception. The only way Leiweke could have made a bigger splash would have been to don a Paul Revere hat and ride through the streets of Los Angeles, yelling: "The NFL is coming! The NFL is coming!" The implication of his proposed site, next to Staples Center, is that it would make L.A. Live even livelier.

Tim Leiweke is losing me. Now in the grand scheme of things, that's a gnat on the back of L.A.'s big elephant. But he had me. I covered the departure of the Rams and Raiders in 1994, and every plan suggested since then to bring an NFL team here. Leiweke's sounded the best of them all. But in the last few weeks, the elephant has come off sounding as arrogant as the NFL, and nobody does arrogance better than the NFL. In part, that's why the NFL has turned off so many in Los Angeles and places where they already have teams.

Last week, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa got a new job: Head cheerleader for the NFL. "It is very clear football is coming back to Los Angeles," the mayor gushed at a pep rally for the proposed downtown stadium, and ESPN.com later quoted him saying he has "never seen the city so united" about getting a pro team. Really? I decided to put that claim to the test, and what better day to report the results than Super Bowl Sunday? At Jim's fast-food joint in Boyle Heights, at Philippe's downtown and at Tolliver's barbershop in southwest Los Angeles, everyone I spoke to was well aware of efforts by Anschutz Entertainment Group to build a downtown stadium and lure a team to play in it. And for the most part, people were thrilled at the prospect ?

I was surprised to walk out of Tuesday's standing-room-only pep rally to find Farmers Field, L.A.'s new downtown football stadium, has yet to be built. From what everyone was saying inside the West Hall of the Convention Center, it's a done deal. I kept waiting for the San Diego Chargers to make a grand entrance, since they will be playing in the new joint. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa was so pumped up he was already angling for tickets to Super Bowl 50. He reminded everyone he won't be mayor in 2016, but really wants to go to the game.

Clippers owner Donald Sterling is admittedly not a genius when it comes to his team, but at least he makes himself available to reporters, attends games and seems to have a vested interest in the outcome. On the other hand, Kings owner Philip Anschutz hides behind a corporate wall of silence and gives the impression that he does not know or care about the team or its fans. I suspect Anschutz would not attend a game were it to take place in his Denver backyard. Elizabeth Watt Torrance

Congressional investigators plan to interview Qwest Communications International Inc. founder and director Philip Anschutz a second time about his role in the company's day-to-day affairs, a congressional spokesman said. The renewed interest in Anschutz arose from public testimony last week from former Qwest Chairman and Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio, who said he talked to Anschutz about all major decisions, said Ken Johnson, spokesman for the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

The stadium renderings are impressive. The sightlines are cool. And it's fun to imagine how an NFL game in the heart of Los Angeles might look. But we've seen dazzling L.A. stadium designs before. We've seen dozens of them over the last 15 years, in fact, and the nation's second-largest market still doesn't have an NFL team. What really matters this time is where Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz stands on all of this, and whether he's ready to invest the kind of money necessary to build the elaborate events center that his top executive, AEG's Tim Leiweke, envisions.

San Diego is going nuts. Minnesota is going bonkers. Los Angeles is holding its breath. Everyone is waiting for the next wingtip to fall. Less than 48 hours after two big victories by the Chargers and Vikings, stories surface that indicate those franchises could be relocating to the nation's second-largest market, one that has been without an NFL team since the Raiders and Rams left in early 1995. A radio station in Toronto reported AEG's Philip Anschutz, who is exploring the possibility of building an NFL stadium next to Staples Center, either has bought or will buy one-third of the Chargers.