Leiweke Out

There's only one owner here.

That's what Rupert Murdoch told Barry Diller after Barry did the impossible, create a fourth television network. Barry believed he earned ownership. But Rupert felt otherwise.

You think you want a job, you think you want to sell out, but if you're not in charge of your life someone else is.

I really don't care if Phil Anschutz sells AEG or not. Hell, from the beginning it appeared he was asking too much, begging the question of whether he was seeking valuation or...

But one thing I'm categorically against is football in downtown L.A.

As my football fanatic friend Jeff says, we've now got it good, without a local team we get the best games on television. As opposed to being subjected to our local outfit on TV every Sunday, assuming they sell out and the game is not blacked-out.

Then again, true fans have the DirectTV package wherein they get every game.

As for going to the game... It's better on television. You can feel it at the stadium, but you just can't see it. Which is why attendance is faltering.

But this is kind of like the movie credit game. And the automobile factory game. Cities and states fall over themselves to give incentives to draw these enterprises, but the payback is minimal, the only people benefiting are the teams/companies themselves.

But ain't that America, where we rob from our brethren, argue amongst the hoi polloi, and the rich walk straight to the bank.

Tim Leiweke will say he too did the impossible. Revitalized downtown L.A., brought a hockey championship to the city. And I don't want to minimize his efforts, but Phil wasn't always on board with them, and Tim never realized he didn't own AEG. He acted like he did, but he didn't.

As for Farmers Field, you can't drive in L.A. to begin with. You're gonna make it worse?

Leiweke strong-armed the government.

But no one reads the newspaper and if they watch TV news, it's for the robberies and pet rescues.

It's good we've got AEG as a concert promoter. They counterbalance Live Nation.

And Staples Center is far better than the decrepit Forum, at least for now.

Then again, Staples is evidence of our country today. It's gigantic. There are three levels of skyboxes. The upper deck is so high and so far removed that almost no one can sell it out. Staples makes money, but it's a lousy place for events.

Whereas the Forum was intimate. After Dolan gets through revitalizing it, will it become the concert destination?

We'll see.

But know that billionaires rule the earth, and we're just pawns in their game.


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