L.A.’s New : Power Players : Future of NHL -- and NFL --Is Downtown for King Owners

King owners Philip Anschutz and Edward Roski Jr. shun interviews and prefer the spotlight to be focused on the athletes who play on their teams. But Anschutz and Roski themselves have become major players on the Los Angeles sports scene, not only because they have spearheaded the movement for a new downtown arena for the Kings and Lakers--for which they will provide the bulk of the financing--but because of their recently acknowledged interest in building a new Coliseum in anticipation of the NFL returning to the city.

Their vision of a downtown arena-entertainment complex could come closer to reality May 20, when the City Council is scheduled to vote on the project. The pair’s interest in helping revitalize downtown Los Angeles--and their financial resources--have helped bring near fruition a deal that would build a new football stadium in Exposition Park and form what their spokesman, John Semcken, called “the Figueroa Corridor.”

Anschutz, a Denver-based billionaire, and Roski, a Los Angeles real estate developer, will spend more than $200 million on the arena complex and would invest more than twice that in a new Coliseum, and they are negotiating with investors who would share the financial burden on both undertakings. However, they will not commit to the Coliseum project without a commitment from the NFL that a team would come here.

Skilled negotiators and seasoned businessmen known for making long-term investments, rather than seeking a quick kill, they have quickly learned the art of deal-making in sports. They pitted officials in the cities of Inglewood and Los Angeles against each other in bidding for a new arena in order to get the most favorable terms for municipal contributions to the package, such as land and infrastructure. But while they know the ins and outs of the business world, their knowledge of the ins and outs of hockey is still growing.

King Coach Larry Robinson recalled a meeting of club executives early in Anschutz’s tenure, before Anschutz was familiar with the rules governing player movement in the NHL. After listening to suggestions on how to improve the team, Anschutz came up with what seemed a logical solution.

“What about that [Jaromir] Jagr guy?” Anschutz asked, referring to the Pittsburgh Penguin standout winger. “Can we just go out and buy him?”

If only rebuilding the Kings were that easy. And if only building a new arena and entertainment complex were equally simple.

Both projects will take longer than Anschutz and Roski had anticipated when they paid $113.25 million to rescue the Kings from Chapter 11 bankruptcy nearly two years ago.

The Kings missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season and had the NHL’s third-worst record, leading to the dismissal of general manager Sam McMaster. And the arena plans, enmeshed in bureaucratic red tape, are only now gathering momentum with the hiring of the Los Angeles architectural firm NBBJ and talks on naming rights in final stages.

Despite the delays--and despite losing approximately $10 million on the Kings last season--Anschutz and Roski haven’t wavered in their commitment to build a lavish, modern arena with an entertainment industry theme, the centerpiece of a complex they hope will revitalize downtown Los Angeles when it opens in September, 1999. They say they are also committed to building a dynamic team that will annually contend for the Stanley Cup, but they are content to stay in the background while their hockey experts oversee the daily operations.

“Hockey’s an exciting sport, and it’s the best spectator sport there is today,” Anschutz said in a rare interview. “Furthermore, the demographics are changing in this country and more and more people are of a particular age group, roughly 20 to 32, the younger generation, and they’re becoming more and more attracted to hockey.

“And lastly, it definitely has the potential to be an international sport. I think the numbers favor hockey. It’s the best game to watch. Wouldn’t you rather watch hockey than anything else?”

Anschutz began watching hockey because his children played the game in the Denver area, where he still resides. He is the Kings’ majority owner, holding a stake of about 70%, to Roski’s 30%.

A native of Russell, Kan.--the same town as former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, whom he served as deputy finance chairman in the 1996 campaign--Anschutz bought his father’s contract drilling business in the early 1960s and came to prominence in the 1970s, when a huge oil and gas field was discovered on his family’s Wyoming ranch. He sold half the rights in 1982 for $500 million and invested that money in real estate, stocks and railroads.

His chief assets have included the Southern Pacific Railroad, which he sold last year, getting stock and a vice chairmanship of the Union Pacific Corporation in the deal; extensive real estate holdings in downtown Denver; minerals, stocks and the Major League Soccer team in Denver. He recently exercised an option to operate another MLS team in Chicago beginning in 1998. His empire last year was estimated by Forbes magazine to be worth $2.2 billion.

Anschutz, who has run marathons and plays squash and tennis, rarely misses a televised King game but visits the Forum only occasionally. “I enjoy L.A., particularly when it’s snowing in Denver,” he joked. He maintains regular contact with Roski, whom he knew from various real estate ventures before they bought the Kings; and with King President Tim Leiweke, his top lieutenant.

Anschutz, who insists he and Roski are co-owners, holds the final say in major decisions. He expanded Leiweke’s duties over the last year to give him a greater voice in hockey operations, and he backed Leiweke’s decision to fire McMaster last month and promote Dave Taylor to general manager, a move designed to raise the Kings’ profile around the NHL and centralize authority that was spread among Taylor, McMaster and Robinson. Taylor, in turn, persuaded Robinson not to invoke an escape clause in his contract and rescind his request for another escape clause, which management saw as lack of commitment.

“We’re used to hiring good talent and supporting them,” Anschutz said. “We’re actually hoping they’ll let Ed and I play.”

No chance. But Robinson appreciates the concern and restraint Anschutz has shown.

“He’s soft-spoken but direct and to the point, which is nice,” said Robinson, who met with Anschutz several times last season when the Kings were in Denver. “He’s committed and he’s patient. He has to be. Ninety-five percent of the oil business is failure. But all you need is that one big success.”

Anschutz acknowledged the real estate possibilities of the deal were the main attraction in buying the Kings. Since then, he and Roski have also made an emotional investment, which distinguishes this deal from other assets in either man’s portfolio.

“As we got more involved in hockey, the interest in hockey took over,” he said. “It’s very much our intent to build the best arena in the country, be involved with the best facility, one that is state of the art. Ed and the rest of the people in the Kings’ organization have been traveling and have seen every new arena. We want to do something of importance in the city of LA.”

Unlike some owners who forget the business acumen that made them successful and throw money at problems or treat the team like a toy, Anschutz and Roski are taking a measured, businesslike approach.

Under the direction of Leiweke, known as a marketing expert, the Kings intensified their marketing and advertising efforts and instituted family discounts to draw fans. Anschutz and Roski have endorsed the philosophy of rebuilding the team through good drafting rather than by trading kids for established stars, even though that will result in more lean years and empty seats, no matter how catchy Leiweke’s advertising slogans may be.

“Short of setting his hair on fire and taking off his clothes in public, Tim has done everything one can do,” Anschutz said. “Both Ed and I are not only used to making patient investments, but we have a history of making them. We’d just as soon see fans in the seats [now], but we’re convinced fans will be in the seats tomorrow if we do several things and we do them right.

“First of all, that means having a solid long-term perspective of what this franchise should be. And secondly, building a state-of-the-art facility. And to that building we bring good players and build this franchise right, with good, young players. I don’t think any of this is rocket science. I think it is people with knowledge and a long-term perspective and patient investment.”

Roski, a 1962 graduate of USC, is a fan and an athlete. Cycling and mountain climbing are his special interests, and he has scaled ice formations in the Himalayas and climbed mountains all over the world.

Roski inherited Majestic Realty Co. from his father, and he built the Industry City-based firm into one of the top real estate development companies in Southern California with an admittedly conservative approach to owning and developing mostly commercial properties. Majestic is known for controlling every aspect of the process: buying the land, designing projects, building them, leasing them and managing them. Roski has been more involved in the day-to-day arena details than Anschutz because he lives here, and because real estate is Roski’s area of expertise.

Roski is a regular at King games, and spent many games last season sitting in the press box beside Taylor. Roski said Taylor has latitude to sign free agents this summer or trade for high-priced, high-caliber talent, as long as the deals aren’t born of quick-fix desperation.

“I think we’ll be looking at free agents. We’ve been very supportive of them continuing to look at players as they do become available,” Roski said.

While the Kings’ recent past has been bleak, Roski hopes they will soon be seen in a different light. Asked how he would like them to be viewed in five years, he replied, “As winners. I think that, hopefully even sooner than that, we’re going to be able to put on the ice a real winning team with a winning attitude.”

Anschutz, asked the same question, had a similar response. “I would say [as] winners and [for] building a long-term hockey tradition with the focus certainly not on the owners,” he said. “We want the focus on the team and the professional management of the team.

“You look at some of the better teams, and you can’t necessarily correlate high payrolls to the best teams. If you looked at the [defending Stanley Cup champion Colorado] Avalanche three years ago, you wouldn’t have been too impressed. They’ve got a good young team, and their payroll is in the lower half or smack in the middle. So we believe that fans understand what we’re doing and we know they’d love to see a winning team today, but I think they understand what it takes to build a winning team for the long term and a winning franchise.”