Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Chair LARRY TANENBAUM yesterday promoted Exec VP & COO TOM ANSELMI to President & COO. In his new role, Anselmi oversees all MLSE operations, and will report to the MLSE BOD through Tanenbaum (MLSE). The NATIONAL POST's Eric Koreen notes MLSE had hired executive recruiting firm Korn/Ferry "to expand the scope of the search" for a replacement to former President & CEO RICHARD PEDDIE, who retired in January. However, it is "believed that Anselmi was always the preferred internal choice" (NATIONAL POST, 9/5). In Toronto, Kevin McGran notes MLSE owners Bell Media and Rogers Communications "thought enough of the organization's historic profitability to hire from within." Anselmi started with the Maple Leafs in '96. MLSE owns the Maple Leafs, Raptors, MLS Toronto FC and AHL Marlies, and Anselmi said, "We all feel the pressure to win. It's all about team success. That is our priority. This town, when we start winning, it's going to be amazing." Univ. of Toronto Rotman School of Business Assistant Dean RICHARD POWERS "thought it was surprising that Anselmi did not get the CEO title." Powers said of MLS, "They may think at some point they will put a CEO in above him. Or it's a bit of an incentive for him. It's his to lose" (TORONTO STAR, 9/5).
ALL FOR ONE: The GLOBE & MAIL's Jeff Blair notes in an interview on Toronto's Sportsnet Radio The Fan 590, Anselmi "hit all the right notes about winning and working with" Maple Leafs President & GM BRIAN BURKE and Raptors President & GM BRYAN COLANGELO. But his "most interesting comment was his suggestion that it was time to 'simplify our lives a bit' -- in other words, to temper the public perception of MLSE as a corporate octopus with its hands in real estate and broadcasting as well as sports, even at a time when a new ownership structure has taken hold" (GLOBE & MAIL, 9/5).
