Sprint Center Parent, AEG, Is No Longer For Sale, Leiweke Is Out As CEO

Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz announced Thursday he's terminating sale plans for his Los Angeles-based Anschutz Entertainment Group.
Anschutz, who put his holdings of sports teams and entertainment venues up for sale last year, now says he intends to take a more active role in the company. Anschutz is chairman of AEG.
“From the very beginning of the sales process, we have made it clear to our employees and partners throughout the world that unless the right buyer came forward with a transaction on acceptable terms we would not sell the company,” Anschutz said in a statement.
AEG owns a collection of sports teams and arenas, including the Los Angeles Kings and Los Angeles Galaxy, as well as Staples Center and L.A. Live.
Anschutz was expected to get at least $7 billion from the sale of AEG. Sports Illustrated this month ranked Anschutz as the third-most powerful person in sports, because the magazine considered the sale of the company "will be the blockbuster sports transaction of 2013."
Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of AEG since 1996, will be leaving the company. That decision was a mutual one, according to the statement from Anschutz.
“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. We wish him well in his new endeavors,” Anschutz said.
Dan Beckerman will take over as president and CEO. He joined AEG in 1997 as CFO of the Kings and as CFO and COO of AEG.
Ted Fikre, who also joined as AEG in 1997, will become vice chairman and continue in his current role as chief legal and development officer. Jay Marciano, currently president and CEO of AEG Europe, will move to Los Angeles from London to become COO of AEG.

Lead Bidder Emerges For Sprint Center Parent AEG

The owner of Michael Jackson's former estate has emerged as the lead bidder for Anschutz Entertainment Group, Bloomberg reports.
Colony Capital LLC, which has teamed with Qatar's sovereign wealth fund in its pursuit of Denver billionaire Philip Anschutz's concert and arenas business, are bidding below the $8 billion asking price, Bloomberg reported, citing unnamed people. A spokesman for Anschutz declined to comment on who's bidding.
Negotiations to sell Anschutz Entertainment Group have been put on hold as Anschutz recovers from back surgery. Bloomberg estimates Anschutz is worth $10 billion.

Kemper Arena's End Getting Closer

Kansas City is moving toward taking over management of Kemper Arena, a signal that the aging West Bottoms facility may be approaching the end of its useful life.
The Kansas City Finance, Governance and Ethics Committee approved an ordinance Wednesday to terminate its management agreement with Anschutz Entertainment Group on June 30, six months ahead of schedule. The measure will go before the full Kansas City Council on Thursday.
If it passes, Kansas City would self-manage Kemper Arena and the American Royal Complex, saving an estimated $500,000.
Kansas City’s five-year management contract with AEG is set to expire Dec. 31.
Kemper Arena was supposed to become the preferred locale for livestock and other so-called dirt events, such as truck rallies, when plans for the Sprint Center arena were announced.
But Kemper Arena has struggled to fill its calendar, with most promoters preferring to stage their events at Sprint Center.
It has made the arena a budgetary black hole for Kansas City, with the city spending between $1 million and $2 million a year because of Kemper’s failure to generate a profit since Sprint Center opened.
Kansas City issued bonds in 1997 to renovate and spruce up Kemper Arena in an economic development play that has fallen flat.
In voting to recommend the termination of AEG’s management agreement, Kansas City Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Circo said that the city didn’t address reality with Kemper Arena’s past and that the current council is doing that now.
“This is all positive,” Circo said. “We can look back and point fingers ... but that’s not constructive.”
Kansas City Councilman John Sharp was critical of the city’s past decisions regarding Kemper Arena at Wednesday’s committee meeting.
“I disagree with the mayor pro tem (Circo) that it’s not constructive to look back,” Sharp said.
A backdrop to the Kemper Arena discussion is that the facility’s namesake family is looking to tear it down in favor of an upgraded American Royal Complex that would include a new livestock events center.
Mariner Kemper, chairman and CEO of UMB Financial Corp., said in May that a study found the proposal would generate a $75 million annual economic benefit.
So far, the Kansas City Council hasn’t weighed in on the $60 million proposal.