Golden Knights/Foley Vs. LA Kings/Anschutz Begins This Week At Arena Partly-Owned By Both Team Owners

By ALAN SNEL

LVSportsBiz.com

 

Vegas Golden Knights and Bill Foley vs. the Los Angeles Kings and Phil Anschutz.

 

It’s hard to find two NHL team owners with more different approaches to making public comments about their hockey teams — and just being seen in public, too.

 

In Las Vegas, you have the 73-year-old Foley, the former West Pointer who is routinely seen in the Golden Knights locker room after home ice wins to congratulate players and give interviews to the media. Foley made his money in the real estate title insurance industry and owns wineries and restaurant brands. Foley is seen regularly at the Golden Knights’ training center and headquarters in Summerlin and is a Golden Knights founding partner with the Maloof family.

 

 

In Los Angeles, you have  the 78-year-old Anschutz, a reclusive Colorado resident who is media-shy and doesn’t interact with reporters unless you bump into him at an arena like I did in early June 2014 when I was strolling in a back corridor at Staples Center at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles. He was polite and introduced himself. Anschutz made his money in the oil and real estate business. And his Anschutz Entertainment Group owns everything from the Tour of California pro bicycle race and the LA Live entertainment development to its vast music division (with a presence in Las Vegas) and worldwide arenas such as The O2 in London, England. Anschutz has amassed a fortune of more than $10 billion.

 

And here’s the quirky business connection between these 70-something billionaires.

 

Foley and Anschutz’s AEG — along with MGM Resorts International — collectively own the privately-funded T-Mobile Arena behind New York-New York on the Strip.

 

That’s right — the LA Kings’ owner is a part-owner of the Golden Knights’ home arena and benefits financially when the VGK’s arena is financially strong. AEG and MGM Resorts originally built the $375 million arena and opened it two years ago this past Friday. They share a mortgage on the venue.

 

Then, Foley — always the financial dealer with hundreds of business deals in his long career — bought a 15 percent share of the arena that was built with hosting hockey in mind and wowed NHL executives from Commissioners Gary Bettman on down.

 

So, Foley’s ownership share of T-Mobile Arena has set up an odd business dynamic.

 

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AEG roots for the financial success of the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena because the company wants the arena to generate revenues.

 

But Anschutz’s entertainment business empire, based at LA Live, obviously roots for its LA Kings on the ice to beat the expansion NHL franchise that has captured the sports industry’s imagination and the love of its host market after the Oct. 1 mass shooting slaughter on the Strip just hours after a VGK preseason game at T-Mobile Arena.

 

LVSportsBiz.com first reported this unusual business arrangement in late December. This story includes a video interview with AEG Chief Executive Dan Beckerman.

 

“We’re competitors on the ice and partners off the ice,” Beckerman told LVSportsBiz.com a few months ago.

 

That competition on the ice starts in earnest Wednesday at 7 p.m. at T-Mobile Arena where the Golden Knights host the LA Kings in the first games of a Best-of-7 first round game.

 

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