Report: DP World Tour chief Keith Pelley is taking job with Toronto sports group

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[PHOTO: Glyn Kirk]

The dominoes are falling quickly in the upper echelons of golf in the British Isles and Europe.

On the same day that Martin Slumbers made a surprise announcement that he is stepping down as chief executive of the Royal & Ancient, Canada’s The Sports Network (TSN) reported that DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley has been hired as president and chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. MLSE is the parent company of four Toronto-based sports franchises – the NHL’s Maple Leafs, NBA’s Raptors, MLS’s Toronto FC and CFL’s Argonauts.

TSN noted that the job “is considered one of the most coveted positions in North American sports, overseeing a collection of prized sports and real estate assets that are worth billions of dollars”.

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TSN said the deal could be announced as early as Thursday, which happens to be Pelley’s 60th birthday. A Canadian, Pelley has been the chief executive of the DP World Tour (formerly the European Tour) since August 2015. He has overseen enormous changes in the golf landscape, including the strengthening of the alliance, announced in June 2022, between the DP World Tour and PGA Tour.

The tours unveiled a 13-year operational joint partnership through 2035 that included the co-sanctioning of the DPWT’s Genesis Scottish Open and the PGA Tour’s Barbasol Championship and Barracuda Championship.

Also among the significant changes in the new agreement was that the leading 10 players in the Race to Dubai rankings at the end of the season, who are not already exempt, earn PGA Tour cards for the following season and are guaranteed stipend of $US500,000.

Of course, the most pressing issues of the past year have involved the two tours and their negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in an effort to create a for-profit entity that would oversee the operation of events for PGA Tour and DP World Tour events. The ongoing talks also now involve the Fenway Sports Group as another prospective business partner.

Pelley told Golf Digest in November, “The conversations we are having will be in the best interests of global golf and the best interests of the DP World Tour. I won’t comment on specific formats or seasons as all those conversations are confidential. But, as I’ve said internally, things have heated up since the Ryder Cup. Discussions have intensified.”