This is the story of the two Leiweke brothers, Tim and Tod, who respectively played a big part in getting the expansion Timberwolves and Wild started and now have two of the biggest jobs in professional sports.
Tim, one of the original employees of the Wolves, was vice president for four seasons; Tod was president of the Wild.
Tod is now chief executive officer of the Seattle Seahawks, who will play the Vikings on Saturday night. He also is involved in management of the Portland Trail Blazers; both teams are owned by billionaire Paul Allen.
Tim is president of Anschutz Entertainment Group that manages Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Kings hockey team, the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team and other entertainment companies owned by Philip Anschutz.
With Tod as CEO of the Seahawks, season ticket sales jumped from 32,000 when he took over in 2003 after leaving the Wild to 62,000, with 10,000 on the waiting list.
"It's worked out great," Tod said. "The Wild was and is such a great organization and so I felt like I had some wind in my sails, and we had some challenges here -- some on the football side, certainly plenty on the business side."
Tod credits Seahawks president of football operations Tim Ruskell and coach Mike Holmgren for the great surge in season ticket sales.
"All you've got to do is give people something to believe in, and right now they believe in the Hawks," Tod said. "It was a heck of a lot of work, there was a little bit of stress early on, but it's turned, [using] many of the principles [we] used for the Wild. ... I was on a great team there, and I learned a lot."
How does Tod feel about working for a rich, powerful man like Allen?
"He is a very empowering guy," Tod said, "and he knew there were challenges here. He's been pretty great to work for. [Allen's orders are]: 'Get it fixed.'"
Tod is looking forward to the game with the Vikings.
"It will be fun," he said. "I feel a strong connection to Minnesota; so does my brother Tim. We both had some very important years in our life there, and so it's always fun."
After the Packers scored 48 points against Seattle last week, Tod looks for the Seahawks to be a tough opponent for the Vikings.
Ex-Gophers run well
During the 2004 season, Marion Barber III, Gary Russell and Laurence Maroney were running backs on the Gophers football team.
Now Barber is a top running back for the Dallas Cowboys after scoring 16 touchdowns (14 rushing), running for 654 yards and catching 23 passes for 196 yards last season. Maroney is with the New England Patriots, and he scored seven touchdowns (six rushing), ran for 745 yards and caught 22 passes for 194 yards last season. He missed the first two exhibition games this year while recovering from shoulder surgery, but he is healthy now.
And Russell, who flunked out of school and signed as a free agent with Pittsburgh, has been one of the surprises of Steelers training camp. Russell leads the NFL in preseason rushing yards with 121 in three games.
"I'm just amazed that I've still got it a little bit," Russell told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
sports
resize text 
Newspaper Subscriptions
eEdition
RSS
Newsletters
