Former MLSE President & CEO RICHARD PEDDIE's book "DREAM JOB" was released on Tuesday, and it is an "easy read, detailing his career in the corporate and sports world before ending with a dollop of his business beliefs," according to Neil Davidson of the CP. In the book, co-written with LAWRENCE SCANLAN, Peddie writes hiring JOHN FERGUSON JR. as Maple Leafs GM was "a mistake," as was giving former Raptors G VINCE CARTER's mother "a prized parking space under the Air Canada Centre." MLSE's lease with the city of Toronto for the Ricoh Centre, home of the AHL Marlies, was "a poor deal although it [helped] pave the way for better agreements on BMO Field and the Leafs' practice facility." Peddie also "details past tangles with the media." While he writes that it is "not the sports media's job to cover business," he also "makes the point that not many sports scribes understand a balance sheet," and the business section has "plenty of other stories to cover" (CP, 10/22). In Toronto, Morgan Campbell noted Peddie in the book "discusses MLSE’s aborted plans to establish its own sports network, and how the rising tide of rights' fees boosted MLSE’s value anyway." Peddie writes, "If we had launched Real Sports TV, in four to five years it would have been worth $1 billion. Rogers and Bell bought (MLSE) because they wanted the content themselves. They were worried about losing it, but they made sure they got the Raptors and Toronto FC and the Leafs. They guaranteed their future" (TORONTO STAR, 10/23).
