USATF and Max Siegel agree to 5-year contract extension through end of 2028 / Update: Rojo's Siegel video will debut at 7 pm ET

Rojo are you feeling okay?

Rojo. Max Siegel gets more money than the other CEOs? And??? That in itself is not a story.

This extravagant salary is coming from Nike, correct? And can affect Max Siegel’s decision making? Why are you not talking about this at all???

What's been going on over at USATF for the last 10 plus years has been a frigg'in crime.

No offense, but making up an acronym just to poke fun at someone’s speech impediment is kind of pathetic.

So you agree that Rojo has an impediment?

It pretty bad.
Swiming for example

Rojo,

Your presentation has been quite revealing; it lends empirical weight to a suspicion I've harbored about Max's compensation. It seems disproportionately high, considering USATF's revenue. Allocating approximately 10% of our revenues to one executive, especially when his contributions to business growth are, at best, nebulous, strikes me as an egregious misallocation of resources.

I do, however, think we missed an opportunity to discuss Max's apparent part-time commitment to his role. His oversight has coincided with a string of missteps, and his extracurricular activities, like his auto racing team, seem to command much of his attention. This was patently obvious in the lead-up to the USA Nationals, where his promotional efforts were visibly elsewhere.

Furthermore, I must express my disappointment with Will Leer. His actions do not seem to align with the interests of the athletes he's meant to represent. His ambition appears to be driving him towards larger roles within USATF or beyond, with little regard for the sport that afforded him his platform.

Lastly, the USATF Board's decision is confounding. The rationale for such a decision seems indefensible, given the circumstances

Let's play a different game, it's called: Guess who won't be getting a credential for the 2024 Olympic Trials.

Macs Seagull is a leech

The details matter here. If he took a base pay cut and all upside is based on hard metrics tied to *increased* revenue generation, then maybe it’s a reasonable correction. But the fact is, other than static Nike revenue and derivative revenue from USOPC deals like Toyota, Prevagen and other things like that where USATF had no business development role, revenue has been static and not traceable to Max’s or any other USATF effort. To date he has been grossly overpaid and that pay has not been tied to growing the business.

So, the deal terms matter but the membership will never see them and I question whether the board even saw them. 990s in 2027 will be the first glimpse.

Would be important to know if the Board approval vote on was unanimous or if there was any dissent.

The new Board composition has greatly increased Athlete representation in the years in which Max’s pay became scandalous. Did they dissent? If not, the complaint that Max’s pay is an injustice to the athletes falls flat. They ratified the waste to the detriment of their constituents.

In the past many member of this current board shifted blame to former boards and chairs when scandal over Max’s pay boiled over. They can’t do that anymore.

I stopped being a member many years ago because of the waste and the sportocrat lethargy of the organization - killing anything resembling competition in the way of meet promotion or innovation, or taking credit for other’s work. The priority looked like private and first class travel for Max and Renee (and Conley and Miller before) languishing behind red velvet rope and claiming achievement that was illusory- hand me downs from USOPC, and worthless in kind gimmicks that don’t move the needle.

The delegates vote for the Board, and the Board calls the tune. The membership dances to it and gives away its rights, or consents for the board to take them away through ludicrous bylaws that members ratify. Max is a lazy, uncreative dullard, but board after board rehires and pays him.

I have little sympathy for the members - they accept this . I hope the new deal requires him to drive hard and aggressive revenue metrics to actually get paid. We’ll never know. 15 years is too long of a shelf life.

Congrats Max. You earned every dollar!

This is bull. Nike pays a lot of money to USATF, but there is no evidence that the company requires a percentage of it to go to executive comp. The Board and its Comp Committee approve the economics of Siegel's comp. If you don't like it, blame them.

Nike doesn't need to dictate pay terms to influence the organization. That would still be the case if USATF paid its executives 50% of what they get. In fact, Nike could demand rational pay AND fealty to their interests, given that they are by far the biggest revenue source.

Lost in this focus on Siegel by the way, is the bloated unjustifiable compensation of the whole executive lineup. Washington, Wain, Mahoney, others - across that small headcount another $1.5m-$2.5m gets spent. Does Nike mandate those compensation arrangements? Ludicrous.

Nobody has to be a defender of Nike to debunk the fallacy that Nike requires these mediocre professionals to get paid far above non-profit market, and without tether to revenue growth.

On a related note, is anyone here bothered that Will Leer is actively touting the USATF party line and his wife sits on the World Athletics athlete committee? It may be coincidence but, are the Leers functioning as mouthpieces for the status quo within our sport? If Seb and Max want it, they're going to help sell it?

Not defending Siegel's pay (too high for a a nonprofit CEO!), nor some of his questionable actions (USA Olympic Trials in Orlando at Noon, WTF?), but I suppose it could be worse.

UK Athletics is a dumpster fire and on the verge of administration (which is British for bankruptcy, but a LOT worse!).

So, while Max Siegel does suck objectively in many ways, I do think it is important to be mindful of the financial health of USATF as compared to some other country's federations.

Still, I can't help to think that it would be nice if there was more focus on building up the various state associations, which vary WIDELY in competence and quality and support provided to the sport.

Need a strong foundation for continued growth, including developing future fans by developing young athletes in the sport.

All very sad and true. No major British indoor fixture this year for the first time in ages.

But the bit with Siegel in America is laughable. Since Bolt’s retirement, literally no one in the world makes more money in the sport of athletics than Max Siegel. For perspective, Richard Scudamore, in his capacity as executive chairman of the Premier League, earned in his final year: a salary of £500,000, television rights bonuses of £4.8m and a farewell bonus of £5m. This for a league with revenue in the billions.

I wonder if their is an alternate reality where this is accurate?

A source who has FBI contacts told me the higher ups told them, "Drop all investigations that might bring any bad PR to LA 2028."

What happened to the FBI investigation from a few years ago? is it dead or just buried?