Watters Runs Dry: MLSE Pulls Ads Of Controversial Radio Host

MLSE Pulls Ads For Former Maple Leafs Exec's Radio Show Due To Repeated Criticism Of Team

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) has “expunged from the Air Canada Centre all references” to CFMJ-AM host Bill Watters after his repeated criticism of the team, according to William Houston of the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL. Ads promoting Watters’ afternoon show “have been removed from the arena’s electronic display panel” and publicity posters “have disappeared.” MLSE Senior VP/Communications & Community Development John Lashway said that the signs were pulled “because [MLSE] felt Watters’s criticisms were excessive and ‘deeply personal.’” Lashway: “We made the decision really based on Bill’s personal attacks on us that we felt went beyond the standards of journalism.” Houston noted Watters has been a “harsh critic” of MLSE Chair Larry Tanenbaum and President & CEO Richard Peddie, citing “weak leadership, poor decisions and inadequate knowledge of hockey.” Watters was fired as Maple Leafs Assistant GM in ’03. CFMJ is the Maple Leafs radio rights holder and is in the third year of a seven-year deal paying MLSE $1.5-2M per year (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 3/1). Watters: “There’s no vendetta. What I do is strictly an analysis of the Leafs’ situation and the people I think are responsible.” He added: “They’ve sent messages that I’m being hard on their people. Well, I was hard on them when a lot of others should have been hard on them.” In Toronto, Chris Zelkovich reports CFMJ is “standing behind [Watters], although it values its position as rights holder enough that it provided MLSE with Watters-free posters on request Friday” (TORONTO STAR, 3/3).