Before and after the October expose on Sigel, many have questioned the way he conducts USATF business with lavish spending and questionable self-dealing and there was hope Lananna was going to look into this. However, Lananna said, "I really don’t have enough information to really have an opinion on it ... Right now, my position [with Siegel] is I’m comfortable with what I’ve seen. If it comes to the point where I’m not comfortable, I will speak up."
Wright rips USATF for the distribution of income which hardly any athletes see and explains that "the middle class doesn't exist" in US track and field.
Her first thought after reading the recent WP story was, "How much shit are we going to put up with before we, the athletes, do something about it?"
The article gives some background on Siegel who had a tough upbringing in a broken/abusive home and turns to what he's done with USATF, including the controversial 23-year deal with Nike.
Six months ago, USATF staff received a slew of pretty terrible emails. Police were called to investigate, but so far there have been no arrests or major leads.
Max Siegel, USATF officials and the Athletes Advisory Committee (AAC) met over the weekend and agreed on a distribution plan that will deliver an additional $9 million in cash to US athletes over the next 5-years, seeing them paid more for qualifying for and medalling at global championships. The plan got backing from both Will Leer and Nick Symmonds.
*USATF Press Release Lays out the details of the new four tier funding system.
*Symmonds: "This is a HUGE step in the right direction. Thank you @usatf for compensating #TeamUSA for their hard work!"
*AP: USATF Will Clarify Issue Leading To Nick Symmonds' Boycott Max Siegel said, "I commend Nick for building a platform, creating a dialogue. After the annual meeting, it will be absolutely clear what the requirements are."
*MB: Make a World Champs or Olympic Team - USATF pays you $10K
“Some thought if we did an eight-year deal, there may be a better deal or sponsor out there in eight years. We ran every single analysis on this possible. We looked at increases in cost of living, inflation, how the money would be invested, market changes and more. With this, we’re locked into a very healthy long-term deal.”
Last week USATF got their video taken down off YouTube saying it was copyright infringement. Max Siegel put out a statement recognizing clubs should be encouraged (not prevented) from promoting the sport.
We respect Abrahamson a great deal. If you are anti-USATF, you owe it to yourself to challenge your viewpoint and read this.
Leer had questions about the Jesse Owens award and whether athletes with past doping suspensions (in this instance LaShawn Merritt) should be eligible to receive it. Apparently he was mostly ignored and eventually reprimanded by Max Siegel.
*Full House Of Run Podcast With Leer
USATF and Nike announced a "groundbreaking" 23 year sponsorship deal today (USATF release here), that Alan Abrahamson, one of the top Olympics journalists in the world, said is apparently worth $500 million (or roughly double per year what Nike pays now). Financial stability for a long time for USATF, skeptics are wondering at what cost?
Discuss: *USATF extends NIKE partnership to 2040
*So I guess the April Fool's Day story wasnt far off The poster is refering to this article. Our full April Fools homepage is here.