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Thursday, July 17, 2008
Doug Logan named USATF CEO
INDIANAPOLIS - 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. A bilingual
sports and entertainment leader with a proven track record of
generating long-term sponsor partnerships, television outreach and
high fan attendance, Logan and MLS in 1996 were named Sports
Industrialist of the Year by Sports Business Daily.
Logan led MLS during its enormously successful 1995 start-up through
1999. He orchestrated the launch of the league's inaugural season,
averaging attendances of over 17,000 per game, highlighted by two
single-game attendance figures over 85,000. With an annual budget of
$90 million, 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.
Considered the country's highest-ranking Hispanic-American in sports
management, Logan transformed MLS television contracts from a time-buy
to co-ventures, negotiating five-year broadcasting agreements with
ABC, ESPN and Univision that more than doubled the number of national
MLS games on the air. He also directed the expansion of the league in
1998, increasing the asset value of the league from $5 million per
team to $20 million per team.
"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."
"I was honored to have stewardship of another major sport, soccer, for
four years," Logan said. "The opportunity to play a meaningful role in
a second one was irresistible. The strength of the sport is based on
the ubiquity of athletics and the fact that everyone has 'played' at
one time or another. Everyone has raced their brother or sister. To a
large degree, it is a marketer's dream."
Logan was selected unanimously by USATF's CEO Selection Committee
after a three-month search that narrowed a potential candidate list of
100 down to a semi-final list of 23. Through interviews and a
winnowing process, Logan emerged as the clear choice to lead USATF as
it undergoes a restructuring of its board and seeks to expand on the
tremendous growth and television programming expansion of the last
decade.
Kicking off his tenure on Monday, Logan will initially devote his time
soliciting feedback from people in all areas of the sport, including
athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, professional staff, the
media and fans, developing an action plan for his first months as CEO.
"I believe the sport is poised for a major leap of growth," he said.
"It may seem presumptuous for me to express goals at this early
juncture. However, I will devote my energies to maintaining and
improving the U.S. position at the top of the medal charts in World
Championships and Olympic Games, and I will be a passionate messenger
in our battle against Performance Enhancing Drugs. I will act as a
fair but firm agent for change as the organization goes through a
stressful restructuring, and I believe we can improve on our
impressive grass-roots membership numbers.
"With my experience in international business and sports, I hope to
foster better relations with the IAAF and IOC. I believe there is a
vast potential for growth in sponsorship sales, event creation and
television outreach. Finally, I will institute a 'customer service
culture' in the National Office in its relations with volunteer
leadership and membership."
Since leaving MLS, Logan has run Empresario, LLC of New York, a sports
consulting and entrepreneurial firm that in 2001 was a consultant in
the creation of the National Rugby League.
From 1993 until 1995 Logan served as Director General of OCESA, SA,
the largest concert promotion company in Mexico, and he was Senior
Vice President of Ogden Entertainment Services from 1985 to 1993.
Logan served as the General Manager of the Rockford (Ill.) MetroCentre
from 1979 to 1985, where he was the promoter of the first commercial
Arena Football League game in 1985. He was a founder, regent and
lecturer at the Public Assembly Facility Management School in Oglebay,
W.V.
Logan also has been a member of U.S. delegations to many international
sporting events, including the 1996 Olympic Games, 1998 FIFA World Cup
and the FIFA Copa Confederaciones in Mexico in 1999.
Logan grew up in Cuba, and Spanish is his native language. He has been
a lifelong competitive road runner at distances from 10 km to the
marathon, where he has clocked a personal best under 4 hours. A
Vietnam veteran twice decorated with the bronze star, he replaces
Craig Masback at USATF, who resigned in January after 10 years as CEO.
Cathy Griffin of The Griffin Network administered USATF's CEO search
in conjunction with the Selection Committee, comprised of former VISA
Chief Marketing Officer John Bennett, two-time Olympic medalist Adam
Nelson, four-time Olympian Joetta Clark Diggs, 1996 Olympic head coach
Deanne Vochatzer and former USATF Board member Cynthia Doyle.
"I was impressed with Mr. Doug Logan's experience as a leader, his
vision and desire to make an immediate impactfor Team USA and USA
Track & Field as a whole," Clark Diggs said. "As a four-time Olympian
and a businesswoman in the sports and entertainment industry, I am
confident that Doug' s character, commitment, compassion and
competence will help to direct and invigorate our sport."
Bennett echoed those sentiments. "After an extensive search,the Search
Committeeunanimously and enthusiasticallysentDoug Logan's name forward
to the Board of Directors," Bennett said. "Doug's experience and
qualifications are unique among all the possible candidates we saw and
interviewed. He has an entertainment and sports background,
negotiating, booking, promoting,andmanaging events both in the US and
in Central and South America, and he restructured the governance of
MLS and handled controversial issues with aplomb. USATF will be proud
of their new CEO."
"It was an honor to work with the USATF Search Committee members, and
was I most impressed with their dedication and performance in the
process," Griffin said. "Although they live in disparate areas of the
country and have busy lives apart from their service to the Committee,
they came together countless times to interview candidates and discuss
the process. They did an outstanding job for USATF."
USATF is the national governing body for track and field,
long-distance running and race walking. For more information on USATF,
visit www.usatf.org
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