Richard A. Peddie | |
---|---|
CEO and President of MLSE | |
In office October 1998 [1] –December 31, 2011 [2] | |
Preceded by | new post |
Succeeded by | Tom Anselmi - as President |
Personal details | |
Born | January 1947 Windsor,Ontario |
Nationality | Canadian |
Residence | Toronto |
Alma mater | University of Windsor |
Richard A. Peddie (born January 1947 [3] ) is a Canadian businessman. He is the former president and CEO of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment.
Peddie was president and CEO of SkyDome from August 1989 to 1994. [1] [4] [5] [6] In 1993,he took a leave of absence for six months to join Larry Tanenbaum's Palestra Group,which included Labatt,in their pursuit of an expansion National Basketball Association team for Toronto, [1] [4] [6] [7] which was ultimately awarded to a competing group and became the Toronto Raptors. While employed by the SkyDome,he was twice offered the head job of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League,who played at the SkyDome. [4]
Peddie was named the president and COO of Labatt Communications in 1994,a subsidiary of Labatt Brewing Company whose assets included The Sports Network and Discovery Channel Canada. [1] [5] [6] During his time with Labatt's,which also owned the Argonauts and Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball,he was involved with attempts by the company to purchasing a National Football League team and relocate it to Toronto's SkyDome. [8] [9]
Richard Peddie was named president and CEO of the Toronto Raptors in November 1996. [5] [6] [10] After Maple Leaf Gardens Ltd. (owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs) purchased the Toronto Raptors and the arena the team was building,Air Canada Centre,on February 12,1998, [11] Peddie took control of the renamed Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment in October 1998, [1] serving as president and CEO for fourteen years until his retirement effective December 31,2011. [2] [7] He oversaw all business and team operations related to the Toronto Maple Leafs,the Toronto Raptors,Toronto FC,the Toronto Marlies,the operations of the Air Canada Centre,BMO Field,Ricoh Coliseum,the organization's three television channels (Leafs TV,NBA TV Canada,GolTV Canada) and Maple Leaf Square.
In his first nine years in charge of MLSE,its value tripled to $1.5 billion. [12] On December 9,2011,shortly before Peddie retired,the Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan announced the sale of its 79.53% majority stake in MLSE to Bell Canada and Rogers Communications,in a deal valued at $1.32 billion. [13] [14]
Richard Peddie now owns and operates an independent book store called "River Bookshop" in the town of Amherstburg,Ontario,Canada. [15]
Born in Windsor,Ontario,Peddie graduated from the University of Windsor in 1970 and received an honorary doctorate from the institution in 2001. Peddie lives in Amherstburg with his wife.
The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division in the Eastern Conference. The club is owned by Maple Leaf Sports &Entertainment,a company that owns several professional sports teams in the city. The Maple Leafs' broadcasting rights are split between BCE Inc. and Rogers Communications. For their first 14 seasons,the club played their home games at the Mutual Street Arena,before moving to Maple Leaf Gardens in 1931. The Maple Leafs moved to their present home,Scotiabank Arena,in February 1999.
Rogers Centre is a multi-purpose retractable roof stadium in Downtown Toronto,Ontario,Canada,situated at the base of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands,it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Previously,the stadium was also home to the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL) played an annual game at the stadium as part of the Bills Toronto Series from 2008 to 2013. While it is primarily a sports venue,it also hosts other large events such as conventions,trade fairs,concerts,travelling carnivals,circuses and monster truck shows.
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Maple Leaf Gardens is a historic building located at the northwest corner of Carlton Street and Church Street in Toronto,Ontario,Canada. The building was initially constructed in 1931 as an arena to host ice hockey games,though it has since been reconstructed for other uses.
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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 States and Canada,it is the largest sports and entertainment company in Canada,and one of the largest in North America.
Lawrence M. Tanenbaum is a Canadian businessman and chairman of Maple Leaf Sports &Entertainment (MLSE). He owns a 25% stake in MLSE through his holding company Kilmer Sports Inc.
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Robert "Rob" Babcock was an American basketball executive. He served as a Vice President of Basketball Operations with the Minnesota Timberwolves of the NBA,and also as general manager of the Toronto Raptors from 2004 to 2006.
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Maple Leaf Square is a multi-use complex and public square located in the South Core neighbourhood of Toronto,Ontario,Canada. It is located to the west of the Scotiabank Arena on the former Railway Lands. The $500 million development was jointly developed by Cadillac Fairview,Lanterra and Maple Leaf Sports &Entertainment (MLSE),who own the nearby Scotiabank Arena. The complex has 1,800,000 square feet (170,000 m2) of usable space covering 2.1 acres (0.85 ha) on one city block.
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The National Football League (NFL) has been playing games in Toronto,Ontario,Canada,since 1959 when an interleague game between the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL and the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League (CFL) took place at Exhibition Stadium. Subsequently,a number of neutral site preseason and regular season games between NFL teams have been staged in the city. Toronto is one of three cities outside the United States,along with London and Mexico City,which have hosted regular season NFL games.
George A. Cope is a Canadian businessman,and the former CEO of Bell Canada.
Timothy J. Leiweke is an American sports executive who is the chief executive officer of the Oak View Group. Leiweke was the former president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports &Entertainment (MLSE) and former President and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG). Leiweke held roughly a 4% stake in AEG as of 2012,and is well known for his relationship with notoriously reclusive AEG founder and Denver-based billionaire Philip Anschutz,whom he has known since the early 1990s. Since November 2015,Leiweke has served as the CEO of the Oak View Group,"a global advisory,development and investment company for the sports and live entertainment industries".
Tom Anselmi is a Canadian sports executive. He is currently employed by the OEG serving as the President of Business Operations &Chief Operating Officer. He had previously served as a Business Manager with the Ottawa Senators and as the President and Chief operating officer for Maple Leaf Sports &Entertainment from 2011 to 2013. Anselmi is an alumnus of Ryerson University and University of Saskatchewan.
The OVO Athletic Centre,formerly the BioSteel Centre and the Toronto Raptors Training Centre,is a basketball practice facility in Toronto,Ontario,Canada. Opened on February 10,2016,the facility is home to the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association (NBA),and owned by the team's owner,Maple Leaf Sports &Entertainment (MLSE). It is located on leased public land in Exhibition Place,near Dufferin Street and the Gardiner Expressway,west of downtown. It is named for OVO Sound,a Canadian subsidiary of Warner Records.
Michael Friisdahl is the president and chief executive officer of Maple Leaf Sports &Entertainment,a sports and entertainment company. Friisdahl was appointed in October 2015,and is responsible for overseeing MLSE's sports properties which includes ownership of the Toronto Maple Leafs,Toronto Raptors,Toronto FC,Toronto Argonauts,Toronto Marlies,Raptors 905 and Toronto FC II. It also owns and operates Scotiabank Arena,a multi-purpose indoor sporting arena in Toronto that has hosted more than 36 million fans over 2,500 events since its opening in 1999,and has invested in five other Toronto's sports facilities —Coca-Cola Coliseum,home of the Marlies;BMO Field,home of Toronto FC;Lamport Stadium;the Ford Performance Centre,the practice facility for the Maple Leafs and Marlies and the OVO Athletic Centre,the practice facility of the Raptors. MLSE operates and manages events at Coca-Cola Coliseum,BMO Field and OVO Athletic Centre.