A prominent sports executive has been criminally charged with organising a conspiracy to ensure his own company won the bid to build a $388m sports arena in
Texas.
Timothy Leiweke, the former president of the Denver Nuggets basketball team and former CEO of MLSE, which owns Toronto’s major sports franchises including the Leafs and Raptors was
charged on Wednesday by a federal grand jury. He resigned as chief executive of the company at the center of the case, Oak View Group (OVG), after the announcement.
Spokespeople for Leiweke, 68, issued a statement maintaining he had “done nothing wrong and will vigorously defend himself and his well-deserved reputation for fairness and integrity”.
Investigators allege that Leiweke spent a period from February 2018 to at least June 2024 conspiring with a competitor’s CEO to “rig the bidding for the development, management and use” of the Moody Center, at the University of
Texas at Austin.
Leiweke allegedly struck a deal that the rival firm would agreed to avoid bidding on the Moody Center in exchange for OVG providing it with the project’s subcontracts.
OVG went on to construct the building after submitting the sole bid and the Moody Center opened in 2022. The company “continues to receive significant revenues from the project to date”, the US justice department said in a statement.
Leiweke could face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of $1m or more if convicted.
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