DP World Tour CEO Keith Pelley set to exit role for high-profile job in Canada

According to TSN, Pelley will become the top executive at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), the professional sports and commercial real estate company based in Toronto, Ontario, which owns the biggest sports franchises in Canada, including the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs, the NBA's Toronto Raptors, and Toronto FC of the MLS.

TSN reports that the move could be officially announced before the end of the week, as Pelley takes over a job considered to be "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."

He is set to succeed Michael Friisdahl, who was MLSE's president and CEO from 2015 to 2022. 

Pelley, who hails from Canada, has served as the CEO of the DP World Tour since September 2015, when it was still known as the European Tour.

He helped oversee some major changes to the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe, including a significant strengthening of the alliance between the DP World Tour and PGA Tour in 2022, the same year the European circuit adopted its new moniker. 

The news of Pelley's impending exit came just hours after it was announced that Martin Slumbers would be stepping down as CEO of the R&A at the end of the season. 

He is set to exit his role at a sensitive time when negotiations between golf's traditional powers and the upstart Saudi-backed LIV Golf tour are still ongoing.

Pelley spoke to Golf Digest about the ongoing negotiations back 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."

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