Keith W. Pelley (born January 11, 1964) is a sports executive who is the

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd. (MLSE) is a professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. With assets that include franchises in four of the six major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(MLSE). He has previously served as & president of the

PGA European Tour The European Tour, currently titled as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons, and legally the PGA European Tour or the European Tour Group, is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European ...

, the CEO of

Rogers Media Rogers Media Inc., operating as Rogers Sports & Media, is a Canadian subsidiary of Rogers Communications that owns the company's mass media and sports properties. Operations Current television brands owned by Rogers include two television sys ...

, team president of the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

, the president of

The Sports Network The Sports Network (TSN) is a Canadian English language discretionary sports specialty channel owned by the Sports Network Inc., a subsidiary of CTV Specialty Television, which is also a joint venture of Bell Media (70%), also owned by BCE ...

(TSN).

Biography

Early life

Pelley grew up in

Etobicoke Etobicoke (, ) is an administrative district and former city within Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Comprising the city's west end, Etobicoke is bordered on the south by Lake Ontario, on the east by the Humber River (Ontario), Humber River, on the ...

, a suburb of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. He was a student at

Martingrove Collegiate Institute Martingrove Collegiate Institute is a semestered public secondary school in the Etobicoke district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It opened in 1966 and is currently overseen by the Toronto District School Board. Academics Gifted Program Marting ...

, where he also played as a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

in the Etobicoke Minor Football League. After graduation, he first went on to study at

Trinity College London Trinity College London (TCL) is an examination board based in London, United Kingdom which offers graded and diploma qualifications across a range of disciplines in the performing arts and English language learning and teaching. Trinity Colleg ...

. He then returned to Canada, attending the Radio and Television Arts Program (RTA) at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now

Toronto Metropolitan University Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU, or Toronto Met), formerly Ryerson University, is a Public university, public research university located in Toronto, Canada. The university's core campus is situated within the Garden District, Toronto, Gar ...

). During his Ryerson studies, he did television reporting for the station that eventually became

Omni Television Omni Television (stylized as OMNI Television) is a Canadian television system and group of specialty channels owned by Rogers Sports & Media, a subsidiary of Rogers Communications. It currently consists of all six of Canada's conventional multi ...

, worked for the City TV network with sportscaster Peter Gross, and worked as an assistant editor for

SportsCentre ''SportsCentre'' (SC) is a Canadian daily sports news television program sports news television program, and the flagship program on TSN. The program airs several times daily TSN feeds, and on weekends on CTV. History The program was launc ...

with TSN.EtobicokeSports.ca
retrieved 17 April 2014

Sports executive

After graduating from Ryerson, Pelley worked in several different positions at TSN, beginning with his assistant editor post (which he started while completing his schooling at Ryerson), eventually becoming the president of the company. In the early 2000s, he was asked by the then-owners of the

Howard Sokolowski Howard Sokolowski, is a property developer, philanthropist and sport business owner from Toronto. He is the husband of Linda Frum and was the former co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts with David Cynamon from 2003 to 2010.David Cynamon David Cynamon (born October 19, 1963) is a Canadian company executive and was the former co-owner of the Toronto Argonauts from 2003 to 2010 with Howard Sokolowski. David is a co-chair at Mount Sinai Hospital In Toronto. Biography Raised in Edmon ...

, to become the team president and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

team (succeeding

Dan Ferrone Dan Ferrone (born April 3, 1958) is a former professional Canadian football player. He played with the Toronto Argonauts for eight seasons, interrupted by one season with the Calgary Stampeders, in the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was an o ...

). He accepted the position in 2003, and was made CEO in 2004. During his time as team president, the Argonauts won the

92nd Grey Cup The 92nd Grey Cup game took place on November 21, 2004, at Frank Clair Stadium in Ottawa, Ontario. The game decided the championship of the 2004 Canadian Football League season. The Toronto Argonauts defeated the BC Lions 27–19. This is the f ...

, their first CFL championship in seven years. Pelley left the Argonauts in 2007, and was replaced by joint team presidents

Pinball Clemons Michael Lutrell "Pinball" Clemons (born January 15, 1965) is an American-Canadian sports executive and former running back and return specialist who serves as general manager for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He ...

and Brad Watters. From 2007 to 2010, he was the president of Canada’s Olympic broadcast media consortium for the

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

while employed as the executive vice president of strategic planning at the

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned List of Canadian ...

.Executive Profile
from ''

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

'' retrieved 17 April 2014 On September 7, 2010, he became the president of

, a subsidiary of

Rogers Communications Rogers Communications Inc. is a Canadian communications and media company operating primarily in the fields of wireless communications, cable television, telephony and Internet, with significant additional telecommunications and mass media ass ...

.CTV executive Keith Pelley named president of Rogers Media
from ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'' retrieved 17 April 2014 During his tenure with Rogers, he successfully negotiated a $5.232 billion contract with the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(on 25 February 2014) giving Rogers the Canadian broadcast rights for all NHL games (including playoffs) until 2026.NHL and Rogers Communications Reach Lucrative 12-Year, $5.232 Billion Media Rights Deal
from ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

'' retrieved 17 April 2014

PGA European Tour

On April 17, 2015, he resigned as the president of Rogers Media to become the commissioner and chief executive officer of the

.Rogers Media president Pelley resigns to take reins of European golf tour
from ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'' retrieved 15 April 2015

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment

On January 11, 2024, it was announced that he was hired as president and CEO of MLSE. Pelley began his tenure with MLSE on April 2, 2024.

References

External links

Leaders at MLSE
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pelley, Keith 1964 births Living people Businesspeople from Toronto Sportspeople from Etobicoke Canadian sports businesspeople Toronto Argonauts team presidents Toronto Metropolitan University alumni Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment