Weight shift and very surprising in the world of golf. One of the main players in recent years on the big circuits leaves the scene. This is Keith Pelley. The CEO of the DP World Tour leaves his position to return to his native Canada. Specifically, as announced by The Sports Network, one of the most influential North American media, Pelley has been hired as president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports Entertainment, parent company of four sports franchises based in Toronto: Maple Leafs of the NHL, Raptors of the NBA, Toronto FC of the MLS and Argonauts of the CFL.
According to sources of the operation, the agreement should be announced this very Thursday, the day on which Keith Pelley will curiously turn 60 years old. Canadian by birth, he has been the executive director of the DP World Tour since August 2015. Among the owners of Maple Leaf are Bell Media, Rogers and Toronto sports executive Larry Tanenbaum. The position of CEO of this company is considered one of the most coveted in North American sports, as it oversees a significant collection of sports and real estate assets valued in billions of dollars. Only the NBA Raptors are worth $4.110 billion, according to the sports business website Sportico, which calculates that the Maple Leafs are worth another $2.650 billion.
Pelley, during his tenure on the European Circuit, has undertaken major changes, not exempt in some cases from discussion and controversy. He was the promoter of the Rolex Series and oversaw the alliance with the PGA Tour announced in June 2022. The agreement was signed until 2035 and included, among other things, the creation of hybrid tournaments such as the Genesis Scottish Open, the Barbasol Championship and the Barracuda Championship. In addition, he managed to get the Race to Dubai to distribute ten PGA Tour cards each year to the best in the ranking. Obviously, he was also fully involved in the discussions to create a new for-profit society with the PGA Tour, for which negotiations are underway with a group of American investors and the Saudi Arabian government.
Before landing on the DP World Tour, Pelley was president of Rogers Media, so he has deep connections with the sports business industry in Canada and extensive experience in acquiring media broadcasting rights, sponsorship negotiations, television production, brand development and event management. Maple Leaf has been looking for the right person for this job for a year and finally the chosen one has been Pelley.
Among the innovations implemented by Pelley on the DP World Tour are also the GolfSixes, a team event of two players to six holes and with the participation of 16 different countries. It was launched in 2017. A year later, he gave life to the Shot Clock Masters in Austria, where a clock was introduced that counted each shot to improve the pace of play.
Similarly, Pelley advocated for professional players to wear shorts during practice rounds, for there to be music on the golf courses and a huge promotion on social networks. Pelley maintains that these changes have modernized the sport and have contributed to increasing revenues, tournament attendance, television ratings and player salaries.
Pelley began his career in sports media with TSN, where he started as an editorial assistant in 1986 and rose to become an event producer for the CFL, curling, tennis and baseball. After a three-year period at FOX, Pelley returned to TSN in 1997 and became president in 2001.
He also worked as president of the Toronto Argonauts from 2003 to 2007 before joining Rogers. In 2007, Pelley was hired as president of a television consortium created to produce the Canadian broadcast of the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. Those Olympic Games marked a before and after in television ratings.
Working at MLSE will also allow Pelley to be closer to his son Jason, who has a scholarship to play golf at the University of the Sacred Heart in Connecticut.
Let’s remember that this Wednesday it was also known the resignation of Martin Slumbers as president of the Royal and Ancient.
