NFL COO Tod Leiweke stepped down Tuesday and reports indicate that the former Seahawks CEO will team up with his brother and help lead Seattle’s potential new NHL franchise. Both the Seattle Times and KIRO Radio report that Leiweke will return to Seattle and join his brother, Tim Leiweke, who heads up Oak View Group, the ownership firm trying to bring an NHL expansion team to the Emerald City. Leiweke spent the past three years as a top NFL executive and led the Seahawks from 2003 to 2010. He spoke at our GeekWire Sports Tech Summit this past summer and… Read More
This week marked a big milestone for the future of pro sports and live entertainment in Seattle as the City Council approved a new $660 million deal to renovate Key Arena, signed by Mayor Jenny Durkan today. It’s the latest chapter in a decade-long saga that started after Seattle’s NBA franchise departed to Oklahoma City in 2008. Numerous high-powered groups and individuals have been involved in the process of building a potential new stadium in Seattle, including former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who was part of a ownership group that nearly brought the NBA back to Seattle in 2013. But… Read More
Tim Leiweke is a name Seattleites should be familiar with if they care about potential new sports franchises coming to town or the future of Key Arena. The sports executive is CEO of Oak View Group, which will lead a $564 million renovation of Seattle’s Key Arena and try to lure the NBA and NHL to Seattle. Leiweke, who has more than three decades of leadership experience in the sports industry, will join us at our second annual GeekWire Sports Tech Summit on June 21-22 in Seattle to talk about how technology will impact the future of sports stadiums and… Read More
Updated 4:15 p.m. Wednesday: Promising to build a world-class arena, and with it potentially lure an NBA or NHL team to Seattle, Mayor Ed Murray announced Wednesday that he has selected Oak View Group to renovate the 55-year-old KeyArena. “If the Space Needle is the front door of this beautiful place, KeyArena is the action-packed rec room,” Murray said during a news conference (watch in full in the video above) from the venue at Seattle Center. The mayor was joined by a host of dignitaries, including Oak View founders Tim Leiweke and Irving Azoff, former Seattle Supersonics head coach Lenny Wilkens, and owners… Read More
Seattle Partners, one of two groups aiming to renovate Key Arena, dropped out of the city’s bid process on Sunday. AEG and Hudson Pacific Properties, representing the Seattle Partners group, pulled their proposal and cited concerns with how the city is conducting the bid process. “We remain firm in the belief that our proposal best serves the people of Seattle, but, unfortunately, significant factors through the bidding process have eroded our confidence in the ultimate execution of this project, no matter which group is selected,” the group wrote in a letter to the mayor and city council. Oak View Group… Read More
