When the Kings play the Florida Panthers in the home opener of their 60th anniversary Tuesday, Alan Rothenberg expects to be watching from home.
“I’ve gotten to the point where I hate going to games. I guess I’m showing my age,” said Rothenberg, who, at 87, is more spry and active than many people who have had half as many birthdays.
What matters is that Rothenberg was at the Kings’ first home opener, a 4-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers before 7,023 people — and 4,000 empty seats — at the Long Beach Convention Center in 1967. As vice president and general counsel for Jack Kent Cooke, the visionary owner who brought hockey to L.A., Rothenberg was responsible for selling his boss’s vision to a wary public.
Alan Rothenberg speaks during an event in Miami on Nov. 12, 2025.
(Eva Marie Uzcategui / Getty Images)
Cooke, a Canadian, thought hockey would be an easy sell in Southern California. Instead he was surprised by the early apathy.
“I was told there were a quarter-million ex-Canadians in L.A.,” he said at the time. “Now I know why they left Canada. They hate hockey.”
Rothenberg, a Detroit native who grew up watching the great Red Wings teams of Gordie Howe and Alex Delvecchio that led Detroit to multiple Stanley Cup Final appearances, had no doubt the sport would catch on eventually. So he’s not surprised it’s thriving in L.A. six decades later.
“I guess maybe I was biased having come from ‘Hockeytown,’” he said. “I knew the popularity of the sport. People were skeptical because it was considered not to be a hot-weather sport.
“But no, it’s just a great sport. It took a little bit to get it going.”
He was right. The Kings, who had trouble giving away tickets at first, sold out 297 consecutive games at Staples Center during a span when they won Stanley Cups in 2012 and 2014. The franchise has played a central role in changing the geography of the NHL.
Jack Kent Cooke’s wife, Barbara Jean Carnegie, with an assist from actor Lorne Greene, takes part in a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Forum on Dec. 31, 1967.
(George Brich / Associated Press)
This season — one the Kings opened with road losses to Colorado and San José — more than a third of the league’s franchises will play in warm, sunny climates such as Anaheim, Las Vegas, Nashville and Dallas, where snow is something you see on Christmas cards, not your driveway. Six of the last seven Stanley Cup champions and 10 of the 14 finalists are based in the Sun Belt or the desert while a Canadian team hasn’t won in 33 years.
The roots of that revolution were first planted in that warm soil by Cooke, who died in 1997, and Rothenberg six decades ago.
“After two or three years it was catching on,” Rothenberg remembered. “The thing that I did know about hockey — and it’s still the case, historically — they did not have as broad of an audience as other sports. But much deeper. Hockey fans are just so passionate about it.”
In addition to the Long Beach Arena, the Kings played home games at the Sports Arena and the Forum that first season, averaging more than 8,000 fans a game. They made the playoffs but lost in the first round to the Minnesota North Stars, a team that would eventually follow the sun to Dallas, where it relocated in 1993.
Cooke sold the Kings to Jerry Buss after 12 seasons and eight trips to the postseason, then Bruce McNall bought out Buss in 1988. Six months later, he traded for Wayne Gretzky. The Kings never looked back and Sportico values the team, owned by global sports and entertainment producer AEG, at $3.33 billion, fourth-highest in the 32-team league. The Kings are the only team in the top six that isn’t an “Original Six” franchise and the only team in the top 11 from a warm-weather city.
Dustin Brown celebrates following the Kings’ first Stanley Cup win in June 2012.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Rothenberg would go on to become one of the most consequential sports executives in U.S. history, helping the Lakers acquire Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and negotiating the trade that would eventually bring Magic Johnson to L.A., setting the foundation for the Showtime era.
He was also instrumental in helping organize the 1984 Olympics, 1994 World Cup and 1999 Women’s World Cup — three of the most successful international sporting events ever — and was president of U.S. Soccer when MLS was established. The league, with 30 teams, has since grown into the largest first-tier league in the world.
Each of those accomplishments changed the face of sports in this country. But for an old Red Wings supporter from Hockeytown, getting the Kings on the ice for the first time may still be his favorite achievement.
“In terms of fandom, that was it,” he said. “It was great.”
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