Max Siegel powermongering exposed

Frauds wrote:

As opposed to Max paying his dues? Give me a break.

Joking, right? When will running nerds figure out that they have failed the sport on a professional level? Drop the 'only an insider should lead' us ego problem and let a successful sports executive come in and do their thing. Max has been successful in the entertainment world. I think his bio is proof he's already paid his dues. Everyone wants track to get better but they don't want to think outside the box and do things differently. To the running nerds the most important issues are still check-in procedures, warm-up times and qualifying standards. It's time to let the man do his job. If he fails then hold him accountable. But right now he can't do what he was hired to do because running nerds won't let go of their egos.

Maximum Exposure wrote:

Frauds wrote:

As opposed to Max paying his dues? Give me a break.

Joking, right? When will running nerds figure out that they have failed the sport on a professional level? Drop the 'only an insider should lead' us ego problem and let a successful sports executive come in and do their thing. Max has been successful in the entertainment world. I think his bio is proof he's already paid his dues. Everyone wants track to get better but they don't want to think outside the box and do things differently. To the running nerds the most important issues are still check-in procedures, warm-up times and qualifying standards. It's time to let the man do his job. If he fails then hold him accountable. But right now he can't do what he was hired to do because running nerds won't let go of their egos.

Excuse me? Who isn't "letting him do his job" (whatever that means)? He's the CEO and you are completely delusional if you think anonymous people posting on the internet are stymying him. Seriously?

He is coming up on 2 years and what has he done? Where are all of these sponsorships he was supposed to bring to T&F? He did a fine job losing the Visa sponsorship. Two years is plenty of time to have made some major changes in a corrupt/dysfunctional organization and I haven't seen much of anything.

Have you ever talked to him? The guy is all about himself and couldn't care at all about how T&F does. I bet he couldn't name 10 professional distance runners. Who instructs speakers to say good things about himself (not the organization) at an annual meeting???

Max has been successful in the entertainment world. I think his bio is proof he's already paid his dues.

While I fundamentally agree that you don't have to be a track insider to lead and be successful - in fact the inverse can be true (look at what our esteemed Board President has delivered), please do not refer to a self-promoting bio as proof of previous success. The guy has bounced from job to job, cherry picking achievements, without any proof he improved the company for its stakeholders. Did he sell sponsorships at nascar a decade ago - boy, that was hard. Did he form a consulting firm (that USATF continues to pay)? That's original. Has he increased sponsorship dollars in a meaningful way at USATF? I doubt it, the loss of Visa is at best neutralized by BMW (thanks USOC). Did he develop new business properties at USATF to generate cash for athlete and member programs? Only if count losing a couple of hundred thou on a road race with less than a thousand finishers. Who wins, his favored employees, key board members, his old consulting firm, office furniture salespeople and lawyers that have to craft severance payouts to dozens of staff that have run off that sinking ship.

Catch the news. Max Siegal is managing the ongoing effects of a retro Yucatan Asteroid impact (which 65 million years ago killed off the dinosaurs).

The Great Recession is over for our sport, if you haven't noticed. Miraculously in the past few years Southern California cities, taxpayers, and promoters are anxiously preparing bids for the 2016 Olympic Marathon Trials in Hollywood, 2019 IAAF Worlds at UCLA Drake Stadium, 2020 USOC Olympic Team T&F Trials at Mt Sac JC, and 2024 Summer Olympic Games at USC.

Max Siegal has to capitalize on this for USATF High Performance and USATF Long Distance Running. 'Small Town' thinking volunteers have to heed way, and stand down for the good of our elite athletes, 95% of whom rely on parents and working spouses to make ends meets. You should give Max Siegal the flexibility to do his job and get for us what we deserve.

He didn't work for NASCAR selling sponsorships. He worked for NASCAR's Diversity Initiative after losing his position at Dale Earnhardt Racing when Dale Earnhardt left.

Yucatan Asteroid redux wrote:

'Small Town' thinking volunteers have to heed way, and stand down for the good of our elite athletes, 95% of whom rely on parents and working spouses to make ends meets. You should give Max Siegal the flexibility to do his job and get for us what we deserve.

I hope you realize if Max gets his way over the "small town volunteers" as you call them, it's going to cost more for the athletes to have it in LA (hotels, travel, 3 hour time zone change for East coasters). Furthermore, what large-scale elite athlete management has LA done? All they have every year is a few international elites. Houston has hosted many National Championships (and past Olympic Trials), so they are proven. There's a lot more that goes into the thought process that overrides Max's love affair with "LA".

You missed the point. It's not Max Siegal or the volunteers we're focused on. It's the money USATF (and other nation's) athletes will gain from being center stage in the biggest media city on the planet. The new mayor of Los Angeles and the Chamber of Commerce has come out of the recession brash with ideas and gobs of money to spend.

Also, the Southern California tourist industry wants to promote So Cal as a world destination for "Spring Training" in the winter months of January/February coordinating dozens of meet and race directors, tracks and fields, and colleges in the Southland.

No, this is all theoretical at this point, and until LA puts something in writing that's larger than Houston's offer, it's all talk.

Yucatan Asteroid redux wrote:

You missed the point. It's not Max Siegal or the volunteers we're focused on. It's the money USATF (and other nation's) athletes will gain from being center stage in the biggest media city on the planet. The new mayor of Los Angeles and the Chamber of Commerce has come out of the recession brash with ideas and gobs of money to spend.

Also, the Southern California tourist industry wants to promote So Cal as a world destination for "Spring Training" in the winter months of January/February coordinating dozens of meet and race directors, tracks and fields, and colleges in the Southland.

You lose all credibility when you proclaim LA as the biggest media city on the planet. Even if it were, who cares? The city can't even get people to show up to Dodger and NFL games (there's a reason why the most successful sports league in the world hasn't had a team in LA for years). If you think that a city that can't get 70,000 people to show up to an NFL game 8 times a year in nice weather is going to have a groundswell of support for a niche sport like running, please do tell all what you are smoking. Regardless, it is comforting to know that word slowly is starting to spread that Max is nothing more than an incompetent BS artist who has zero chance of improving T&F in any significant manner.

What other hope do we have? Houston isn't the promised land, only the same subsistence wage for our elites. The volunteers have day jobs trading stock on Wall St or coaching high school building a pension. Only a few elites make a living, those with great marathon times, Outdoor Worlds and Olympic team members. The rest get an honorarium from an apparel firm, but must live off of Mom and Dad. Max Siegal is taking a chance going down the best route offered. It may work, it may fail. But at least give Max Siegal a chance to get us to the promised land. Don't cut Max Siegal off before he even has had a chance to fail.

road rashed wrote:

Phil Stewart wrote a great piece about the Olympic Trials Marathon selection here:

http://www.rrm.com/Newsarchives/Archive14/USATFarticle.pdf

Noteworthy:

-LDR committee unanimously selected Houston

-Siegel wants LA

What comes next? Who knows.

Siegel is a show business wannabe type.

I guarantee you he wants events in LA because he wants to try and get Hollywood celebes involved to rub shoulders with.

Check out the guys twitter follows, last time I checked he followed more Beyonce and Beyonce wannabe's than he did female members of the USA TF scene, or even the USA Olympic team.

USATF needs to be disbanded, split up into several orgs. We really need another Congressional committee, or whatever, to disband it, and reform that organization.

And in that process, we need some sort of armistice agreement where Nike athletes stop boycotting NB meets and vice versa.

And while we're at it, get all the shoe companies to allow athletes to wear different singlets so we don't have ten runners all in Nike's color of the year, or Brooks current color etc., AND allow athletes to have 3 other logos on their singlet other than the shoe company.

What is TFAA doing? Sitting on their complacent butts with their nice list of athletes, or are they actually, quietly planning some sort of general strike or boycott in order to force the IAAF to allow them to have more sponsors.

Something has got to happen -- if there is going to be change (specifically allowing athletes multiple sponsors on their uniforms) and it won't happen without self sacrifice from the current athletes -- or a 900lb Gorilla like Usain Bolt saying he won't show up for any more IAAF races unless they change that rule.

That alone would do it over night. If the guy who makes the most money out of track and field alone, were to stand up for all the "little guys," well he would cement a legacy far beyond running fast. He'd be a hero, on top of the legend he already is.

It's borderline hilarious seeing what people here don't get. LA hosting the Olympic Marathon Trials is the initial stage of Los Angeles' campaign to host the 2024 Olympics, and become the only city other than London to host the games three times. When an American city hosts the Summer Games, USOC makes a lot of money, and USATF also gets a lot of money, more attention, and more sponsorship opportunities. And Los Angeles is the American city most likely to pull this off, especially given the disaster of Chicago. It would be the safe choice for both the USOC and IOC. So Max has a VERY strong financial incentive in supporting LA, and with Bolt retiring by then (and taking away attention for track and field with him) track and field in the USA NEEDS an American hosted Summer Games.

The media issue might be big if the Marathon Trials was something sports fans might want to watch. But I'm very sure the USATF Board is thinking about the big picture and big money here.

It's not even a guarantee that LA will get the Olympics. They need to prove they can handle even hosting a major event, before getting something as big as the Olympic Marathon Trials, only 2+ yrs away. Houston has done it over and over again and has the infrastructure already in place-- all they need to do is tweak whatever to make it an already great event.

"biggest media city on the planet...." has New York even put in a bid????

inside out wrote:

It's not even a guarantee that LA will get the Olympics. They need to prove they can handle even hosting a major event, before getting something as big as the Olympic Marathon Trials, only 2+ yrs away. Houston has done it over and over again and has the infrastructure already in place-- all they need to do is tweak whatever to make it an already great event.

Boston, of course, and NY have the infrastructure in place and a much longer history of reputation.

While Boston does not pop to mind when we say media center like NYC does, if we say media exposure The BAA Marathon gets a lot. Plus the all too real but ghoulish thought the bombing has broadened The patriots Day Race's reach into the general population.

As a number of folks have said there is a business side to being League HQs that has to be fed.

In all trickle down organizations someone has to work at milking the cash cow and someone will cry about being too far away from the teat..

th

It's not even a guarantee that LA will get the Olympics. They need to prove they can handle even hosting a major event, before getting something as big as the Olympic Marathon Trials, only 2+ yrs away. Houston has done it over and over again and has the infrastructure already in place-- all they need to do is tweak whatever to make it an already great event.

I see. So you think Houston has more experience than Los Angeles with hosting events and constructing infrastructure.

Boston, of course, and NY have the infrastructure in place and a much longer history of reputation.

While Boston does not pop to mind when we say media center like NYC does, if we say media exposure The BAA Marathon gets a lot. Plus the all too real but ghoulish thought the bombing has broadened The patriots Day Race's reach into the general population.

As a number of folks have said there is a business side to being League HQs that has to be fed.

In all trickle down organizations someone has to work at milking the cash cow and someone will cry about being too far away from the teat..

th

I see. So you think Boston and New York have more experience than Los Angeles with constructing infrastructure and a better history and reputation.

Max the Man is going for the big TV markets. That's what we want.

Max is an actor.