Tim Leiweke is the new president of MLSE.
This is a story that really has little to do with TFC, although that won’t stop fans from speculating. It especially won’t stop them from wondering if it might mean that Kevin Payne might be on a shorter leash than he was before.
Certainly, Leiweke is far more informed about football than Tom Anselmi was/is and he does have a history of being involved with the most successful club in the league, the LA Galaxy. Having Leiweke on TFC’s side at MLS board meetings can’t be a bad thing.
And, this is the guy that brought Beckham to LA – by meddling all over the football operations side of the Galaxy. Will that affect how TFC approaches future DP signings?
Let’s just say Matías Laba isn’t his typical DP signing.
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Still, as much of a mess TFC has been, the Reds are far from Leiweke’s biggest concern right now.
For instance, the Raptors make TFC look like Bayern Munich. And, Leiweke is known to have deep connections in the basketball world. Could (another) Raptors savior (*cough* Phil Jackson *cough*) be on the way?
What about a NFL team? There remains a lot of people in Toronto that want to bring the NFL to town and Leiweke might be seen as the man to do that (although MLSE’s love of the sizzle over the substance might bite them in the ass if they are thinking that way).
And, no one wants to talk about the real reason Toronto might be hosting the 2015 Pan Am Games (*cough* 2024 *cough*). You’ll need a big stadium for that (that could, you know, host the NFL after) and Leiweke is good at stadium building.
There is also talk that the hiring of Leiweke is really just the first step is MLSE buying his former company, AEG, outright. That wouldn’t win any trophies, but it sure would make a lot of money.
Actually, that might make the most sense of all.