DP World Tour Boss Keith Pelley Leaving to Become CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment

The Canadian negotiated with Saudi officials before deciding to enter the DP World Tour into a strategic alliance with the PGA Tour in 2020.

Keith Pelley, the CEO of the DP World Tour, is leaving his position to take a job in Canada with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment.

The Tour made it official Thursday with a story on its website, also announcing that Guy Kinnings, currently the Tour's chief commercial officer and executive director, will take over as CEO on April 2.

Keith Pelley is leaving the DP World Tour for a job in his native Canada :: Richard Washbrooke/Imago

Pelley, 60, a Canadian who was previously the president of Rogers Media, leaves the DP World Tour (formerly European Tour) as it is in the midst of negotiations with the PGA Tour to form an alliance with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which funds LIV Golf.

Prior to taking over the European Tour in 2015, Pelley had several big roles in Canadian companies, including serving as president of Canada’s Olympic broadcast media consortium, president and CEO of the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts, and president of TSN.

Pelley would be president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports, which owns the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and CFL’s Argonauts as well as a Major League Soccer team and an AHL hockey team.

His tenure in golf will undoubtedly get mixed reviews. He managed the circuit through the COVID-19 pandemic which saw numerous events lost and a launch with minimal purses.

Prior to that, he negotiated with the Saudis to form a partnership before deciding against it and entering into a "strategic alliance" with the PGA Tour in 2020 that has often been criticized because it allows for the circuit’s best players to move on to the PGA Tour.

But that alliance also infused the DP World Tour with much-needed cash in the form of purse minimums and the PGA Tour’s investment in European Tour Productions. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan was given a seat on the DP World Tour’s board. The 13-year agreement has seen co-sanctioning of events in both sides of the Atlantic.