"Failed to live up to expectations with MLSE": Tom Anselmi resigns

Anselmi’s last day at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment will be Friday, Sept. 13.

Anselmi first joined the organization in December of 1996 and was responsible for the overall development of the Air Canada Centre. He was appointed chief operating officer in 2004.

In 1989, Richard Peddie was the president and chief executive officer of SkyDome. That is when he first met Tom Anselmi.

During the course of their careers, Peddie would hire and promote Anselmi again. Upon his retirement, Peddie recommended that Anselmi replace him. On Friday, MLSE announced Anselmi’s resignation as chief operating officer of the company. He had been in that role since 2004, with a brief cameo as president of the company. After nine months on the job, he lost that title to the incoming Tim Leiweke, who also took over as chief executive officer.

“He was kind of a real rough diamond,” Peddie, the former president and chief executive officer of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, said. “But he was smart as hell and made a lot of sense. Within months I hired him to run the operations side, and he did a heck of a job.”

“Who works anywhere for 17 years?” Anselmi said. “Certainly not senior executives.”