RENTON — One hockey guy will replace another as the CEO of the Seattle Seahawks and Sounders FC.
As outgoing Vulcan Sports CEO Tod Leiweke prepares to leave for the NHL, the Seahawks and Sounders have apparently turned to hockey once again to find his replacement.
Peter McLoughlin, the CEO of St. Louis Blues Enterprises, is joining the front office of the Seahawks. McLoughlin is expected to replace Leiweke, who is leaving to be become the CEO and part owner of the NHL’s Tampa Bay Lightning. The news was first reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
The team did not announce the hiring Wednesday, but the Seahawks and Sounders sent out a release announcing a press conference scheduled for today, presumably to announce McLoughlin’s hiring.
Leiweke, who has stayed in Seattle while helping to find his replacement, grew up an avid Blues fan in St. Louis and said his decision to leave the Seahawks was based largely on his desire to return to his favorite sport. Prior to joining Vulcan, which oversees Paul Allen’s holding in the NBA, NFL and MLS, Leiweke worked for both the Minnesota Wild and the Vancouver Canucks.
Leiweke was at Wednesday’s practice, but did not comment on McLoughlin’s reported hiring.
Exactly what title and role McLoughlin will have will not be known until Thursday. With Larry Miller already established as the president of the Portland Trail Blazers, it’s possible that McLoughlin will only oversee the Seahawks and Sounders, not all of Vulcan Sports.
McLoughlin oversaw the business side of the Blues and their arena, the Scottrade Center for four years, and prior to that was an executive at Anheuser-Busch for 21 years. A Harvard graduate, McLoughlin spent more than six years at NBS Sports prior to joining Anheuser-Busch.
Hill has “significant injury”
Linebacker Leroy Hill, who left Sunday’s game with what was described as a calf strain, won’t be back anytime soon. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said the injury is in the “Achilles-tendon area” and that Hill is in a walking boot.
“He had a significant injury that occurred really early in the game last week, and he’s going to be out for a while,” Carroll said. “I don’t know all the details of how long that’s going to be, but he’s going to be down for a while now.”
A tough week for Thomas
Rookie safety Earl Thomas played with a heavy heart Sunday, and is still trying to cope with the devastating news he received late last week.
During a game Friday night, Reggie Garrett, the quarterback for Thomas’ alma mater, West Orange-Stark (Texas) High School, collapsed on the sideline after throwing a touchdown pass and was pronounced dead after being rushed to the hospital.
Thomas, 21, was a senior when Garrett was a freshman. The two were briefly teammates, but Thomas also worked with Garrett and other West Orange-Stark players when he would return home in the summer during college.
“Back home in Orange, everybody knows each other,” Thomas said. “I look at anybody that went to West Orange as brothers. We have a close bond down there. In the summertime, we all get together. I take time with the young DBs coming up and he always used to throw to us.”
“It was just a shocking experience when you hear something like that. Something like that never happens. It just took me off guard. It was on my mind a lot. I try not to talk about it much, so this will probably be one of my last times talking about it.”
Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com. For more Seahawks coverage, check out the Seahawks blog at heraldnet.com/seahawksblog
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