Hearing MLSE president/CEO Tim Leiweke will be leaving the company soon. (1/2)
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 19, 2014
Not sure of where he’s going, but hearing the reason is he is looking for a new challenge.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) August 19, 2014
Leiweke, 57, became the president and CEO of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment in June of last year, after serving in the same position of the Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), which owns the Los Angeles Kings.
Leiweke talked a big game upon taking the MLSE gig and rubbed some people the wrong way. After saying he wanted to be a “hero” in Toronto (adding he already had a Stanley Cup parade route planned), the Toronto Star called his comments “laughable,” adding that “in the cultivation of executive arrogance, the new guy in town is intent on scaling new heights.”
A month later, Leiweke caused more controversy when he ordered the removal of pictures of the Leafs’ Stanley Cup team from the dressing room hallway.
“I don’t want the players walking in the hallways of the Air Canada Centre and seeing pictures from 1962,” Leiweke told Bloomberg. “Get rid of those pictures and tell them, this is your legacy.”
He later apologized, saying the decision wasn’t directed at Leafs alumni but rather a challenge to the current squad.
Most recently, Leiweke was in the spotlight for his role in hiring Brendan Shanahan as Leafs’ president, a move he said would correct two things he felt Toronto didn’t have.
“I definitely sense that we lack an identity,” Lieweke said, per the Globe and Mail. “Right now we’re a team that lacks a direction. And we want to change that.”
UPDATE: Leiweke has shot down rumors of his move, per the Globe...
Leiweke knocked down rumours on Tuesday that he is about to leave the country’s largest sports concern.
“It’s not true. One-hundred per cent not true. I’m fully committed to the season at hand,” Leiweke said.
He’s got two seasons on hand. He was referring to the Toronto Raptors basketball season, as he was in the midst of working on a new $30-million training facility for the club.