Jay Hicks of that great Track website PreraceJitters.com Shared this great article today.Here are the high points. To read the entire article go to Preracejitters.com
The USA Track & Field Board of Directors on Thursday approved top sports executive Doug Logan, the former Commissioner, President and CEO of Major League Soccer, as its next CEO.The news of Logan’s hiring comes as a relief to many who were concerned about going into the Olympic Games without new leadership in place.
After three months of an executive search and much consternation from the track and field community, a decision has finally been made. Craig Masback abruptly left USA Track and Field in January for new endeavors with Nike as Director of Global Sports Marketing Division, leaving the organization in a lurch just eight months before the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Who is Doug Logan, you ask, the man charged with saving the sport from the brink of irrelevance?
For the last twenty years, Logan has been highly respected in sports circles as a very capable leader with extensive experience in the sports management game. He is considered the country’s highest-ranking Hispanic American in sports management. By selecting Logan, the USATF Board gets an executive who is well known-a key factor in the relationship-driven world of sports marketing.
“We have said since we started the process of hiring a new CEO that it was more important to do it right than to do it quickly,” USATF President Bill Roe said. “In Doug Logan, we know we have found the right CEO to take us into the next phase of growth. We are so pleased to get a person of his caliber to lead our organization, and we are excited to welcome him to the USATF family.”
The MLS under Logan’s leadership generated $120 million in multiple-year sponsorship commitments from Nike, AT&T, adidas, Puma, Umbro, Honda, MasterCard, PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch and Bic.
In its 29-year history, USA Track and Field has not had a CEO with such an extensive background in developing sponsorships, partnerships, and television deals. At first glance, Logan appears to be an ideal fit for the organization. He may be just what the doctor ordered for the sport.
The first hurdle he will face as the new CEO is the pressing matter of dealing with the USOC’s demands to restructure of the USATF Board of Directors.
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