Real loser energy here. If you're so comfortable that you're doing an amazing job and your salary is justified, then just enjoy your awesome, successful life with a giant pile of money. Easy.
He gets everything he wants *except* for people telling him that he's cool and good on the internet. Seems like a reasonable trade off to me.
I think the criticism is being directed not just at him, but also the USATF board for hiring him and paying him a nonsensical salary. he is grossly overpaid compared to his counterparts in more profitable sports. smells corrupt. this money should be used to further the sport rather than pay Siegel and other USATF execs ridiculous salaries.
Among sports NGBs (national governing bodies), Siegel’s pay is an outlier.
USA Basketball, with $26.7 million in 2020 revenues, paid CEO Jim Tooley $467,714. USA Gymnastics, with $23.6 million in 2020 revenues, paid CEO Li Li Leung $410,967. USA Hockey, with $42.7 million in 2020 revenues, paid executive director Patrick Kelleher $415,386. USA Soccer, with $64.9 million in 2021 revenues, paid Sporting Director Earnie Stewart $825,720 (but also paid head coach Gregg Berhalter — now in Qatar for the FIFA World Cup — $1.32 million). USA Swimming, with $4 million in 2021 revenues, paid CEO Tim Hinchey $1.04 million. And USA Volleyball, with $37.1 million in 2019 revenues, paid CEO Jamie Davis $488,951.
How could VB have almost 10x the revenue of swimming? Not possible. Covid issues in '21 maybe?
LRC note: I didn't realize someone had already started a thread on this great article so I started my own thread on it. I have merged the two threads but kept my thread title as I'd already linked to it from the front page. The other thread was titled, "USATF CEO Max Siegel speaks — first public comments on his $3.8M pay."
Ken Stone of the Times of San Diego has published a must-read piece in which Siegel tries to defend his exorbitant salary.
“This frankly is the worst week of my life. It should be the best. We should be going down [to Florida] to celebrate, have reunions and brainstorm.”
Siegel said the criticism of him is "not professional criticism" and Stone wrote that Siegel implied it's racially motivated.
"When my daughter … who’s now 19 sends me crap that people tweet and send her about her dad, you know, or my family, I take it personally because it’s not professional criticism."....
Siegel (who is biracial with paternal grandparents being Russian Jews) hinted a racial aspect at play in the social media criticism, noting that Fleshman and Beach, both white, are among “the same people” who find fault with USATF.
He asked: “Have you seen one gold medalist in there that’s been critical of me?”
What? What do you have to do with gold medallists? I'm pretty damn sure Sydney McLaughlin would win gold whether you or a third grader were running USATF. Sorry, Max, the criticism is professional. Even if I thought you were doing an amazing job (I don't. We don't even have a site or qualifying standards for 2023 USA Indoorw which takes place in 3 months), I think you are grossly overpaid for a non-profit of USATF's size. Part of a CEO's job is to keep expenses down. That's professional criticism.
Siegel's main defense is that revenues have gone way up under his watch. “The eight years before I got here, the organization’s actual revenue was about $129 million,” he said. “Since I’ve been here [it’s been] $359 million. Those are just facts. That’s not my hyperbole, right?..” “I hate the fact that somehow or another, this organization figures out how to create drama. Good lord. Can we just have one annual meeting where everybody goes home happy?”
Max, we aren't creating drama. You and the board are. It's hard to comment on the revenue without seeing all of the individual contracts (I've always believed revenues have gone up almost exclusively due to the Nike deal), but again we don't care that revenue went up 3 times. Your compensation has gone up way more than that and it's way too high when most pro runners are struggling to get by.
As Ken Stone points out, the USA Tennis brings in ten times the money that track does (Does anyone think Tennis is ten times more popular than track) and paid their CEO roughly 1/3rd of what you earn.
There is some good news near the end of the article.
Siegel says at he has been recruited to leave USATF “for a bigger job.”
Great. Please take it and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Its worth noting again that almost nobody is blaming the people who put him there AND decide on his salary AND still defend it? If y'all are fired up, direct 60% of that toward Mike Conley. Fire the Board. They clearly have indicated they would pay anybody the same if they like. Siegel seems slimy for sure (which is so rare for a lawyer/agent), but man you guys are mad at the wrong people.
Exactly right. Siegel hasn't done anything wrong, that we know of. He hasn't embezzled or defrauded or directly harmed others. He hasn't led Team USA away from success, either. He stated his terms in negotiation and we see the outcome of what has been accepted and approved by the powers that be. I wonder just how many LRCers would be willing to join USATF and form a voting bloc that shows up to annual conventions to put some teeth into their hypercritical whines. I can't even see the site's co-founders putting any weight behind that. This does prove to be good clickbait every few years, though, probably gets a handful of retweets.
Pros making money won’t criticize you because they are making a living that doesn’t depend on USATF. Most members take umbrage with the fact that EVERYTHING else about the organization is a complete sh1tshow!
Most associations are run by clueless elderly track coaches that haven’t been active in the sport for years. Their only concern is to hold their positions of power. Junior Olympics are allowed to languish with minimal attention. Masters track is nearing extinction for lack of meets. Championships are barely held in any discipline. High school and college meets can barely find officials but there is little urgency to train a new generation. I guess we will all be blessed to watch an 80 year man meet his end measuring a jump on a sweltering day or just cancel events because there is no one available.
Max-your problem is that you only give a rip about elite athletes, your self-importance, your expense account, your salary, and the ego boost of running “the world’s greatest track and field team”. You will bail before the future arrives. One with a dearth of young talent, no one to stage or officiate meets, and a dwindling membership that no longer sees any value in belonging to USATF.
Enjoy your rubber stamp fest and inane political drama in Orlando!
Pros making money won’t criticize you because they are making a living that doesn’t depend on USATF. Most members take umbrage with the fact that EVERYTHING else about the organization is a complete sh1tshow!
Most associations are run by clueless elderly track coaches that haven’t been active in the sport for years. Their only concern is to hold their positions of power. Junior Olympics are allowed to languish with minimal attention. Masters track is nearing extinction for lack of meets. Championships are barely held in any discipline. High school and college meets can barely find officials but there is little urgency to train a new generation. I guess we will all be blessed to watch an 80 year man meet his end measuring a jump on a sweltering day or just cancel events because there is no one available.
Max-your problem is that you only give a rip about elite athletes, your self-importance, your expense account, your salary, and the ego boost of running “the world’s greatest track and field team”. You will bail before the future arrives. One with a dearth of young talent, no one to stage or officiate meets, and a dwindling membership that no longer sees any value in belonging to USATF.
Enjoy your rubber stamp fest and inane political drama in Orlando!
Lots of truth here, though this demise has been predicted routinely since the '90s if not further back.
How could VB have almost 10x the revenue of swimming? Not possible. Covid issues in '21 maybe?
Anyway, this clown is way overpaid, imo.
Yes, 2020/2021 are tricky years to look at NGB revenue. Most NGBs derive a significant portion of their revenue from memberships and/or revenue related to events, which were dramatically impacted by COVID.
Not that Max could have predicted COVID, but USATF's revenue primarily coming from sponsorships helped us a lot during the pandemic, we were in better shape financially than almost every other NGB.
LRC note: I didn't realize someone had already started a thread on this great article so I started my own thread on it. I have merged the two threads but kept my thread title as I'd already linked to it from the front page. The other thread was titled, "USATF CEO Max Siegel speaks — first public comments on his $3.8M pay."
Ken Stone of the Times of San Diego has published a must-read piece in which Siegel tries to defend his exorbitant salary.
“This frankly is the worst week of my life. It should be the best. We should be going down [to Florida] to celebrate, have reunions and brainstorm.”
Siegel said the criticism of him is "not professional criticism" and Stone wrote that Siegel implied it's racially motivated.
"When my daughter … who’s now 19 sends me crap that people tweet and send her about her dad, you know, or my family, I take it personally because it’s not professional criticism."....
Siegel (who is biracial with paternal grandparents being Russian Jews) hinted a racial aspect at play in the social media criticism, noting that Fleshman and Beach, both white, are among “the same people” who find fault with USATF.
He asked: “Have you seen one gold medalist in there that’s been critical of me?”
What? What do you have to do with gold medallists? I'm pretty damn sure Sydney McLaughlin would win gold whether you or a third grader were running USATF. Sorry, Max, the criticism is professional. Even if I thought you were doing an amazing job (I don't. We don't even have a site or qualifying standards for 2023 USA Indoorw which takes place in 3 months), I think you are grossly overpaid for a non-profit of USATF's size. Part of a CEO's job is to keep expenses down. That's professional criticism.
Siegel's main defense is that revenues have gone way up under his watch. “The eight years before I got here, the organization’s actual revenue was about $129 million,” he said. “Since I’ve been here [it’s been] $359 million. Those are just facts. That’s not my hyperbole, right?..” “I hate the fact that somehow or another, this organization figures out how to create drama. Good lord. Can we just have one annual meeting where everybody goes home happy?”
Max, we aren't creating drama. You and the board are. It's hard to comment on the revenue without seeing all of the individual contracts (I've always believed revenues have gone up almost exclusively due to the Nike deal), but again we don't care that revenue went up 3 times. Your compensation has gone up way more than that and it's way too high when most pro runners are struggling to get by.
As Ken Stone points out, the USA Tennis brings in ten times the money that track does (Does anyone think Tennis is ten times more popular than track) and paid their CEO roughly 1/3rd of what you earn.
There is some good news near the end of the article.
Siegel says at he has been recruited to leave USATF “for a bigger job.”
Great. Please take it and don't let the door hit you on the way out.
So you can make a sensible argument when you’re not desperately reaching with fake outrage
What would a CEO in the private sector make for a similar sized company? That is the relevant comparison.
Good point. Exxon Mobil had $285 billion in revenue in 2021 and their CEO made $18.5 million, or .000065% of revenue. Max's compensation was about 11% of revenue for the same year.
For $3.8 million per annum, Max would do well to respond to the fact that Sound Running is becoming the choice de rigueur for high-end US elites over USATF championship events. Case in point Austin XC vs. Club Nationals XC nine days later; also consider the competitive implications of those highly specialized track meets.
Lots of truth here, though this demise has been predicted routinely since the '90s if not further back.
And the demise is here. What we see today is what it looks like when track and field is dead: a few elite meets to feed the Olympic/WC system, not much else for elites and nothing for anyone else.
Max is such a great businessman/negotiator that he needed outside consultants to do the NIKE deal, from which they will earn almost $1M/year for the duration of the contract.
For $3.8 million per annum, Max would do well to respond to the fact that Sound Running is becoming the choice de rigueur for high-end US elites over USATF championship events. Case in point Austin XC vs. Club Nationals XC nine days later; also consider the competitive implications of those highly specialized track meets.
This is far better for the long term growth and health of the pro level of the sport. More private events are to the benefit of the pros. Amateur events should be exactly that, for amateurs. Sure Cross Champs siphoned off ADP, TME, and Hansons (though they could certainly race both), yet the majority of the athletes racing in Austin wouldn't be in SF if Cross Champs didn't exist. Club Nationals XC doesn't select any teams nor does it offer significant prize money, as far as I know. USATF has a charter and has to work within that framework. Pro sport has extremely limited space within that. We should be happy to see a shift toward events like Cross Champs, Sound Running should be commended for stepping up with a working model and continues to expand offerings. They're sustaining far better than that Tracktown Summer Series; TFL and ATL are hardly above NCAA D2 in terms of prestige, maybe Sound Running is roughly the same. As it stands, I'd far rather support Sound Running via purchasing and wearing apparel than give even a nickel to USATF. I feel bad for those who still think USATF holds any answers for pro athletes outside of selecting them for USA teams and otherwise staging national championships -- and they arguably hold more national championships than are truly necessary. That USATF offers insurance to athletes and will be rolling out a living wage income for athletes shows that they recognize that there exists a huge void in viable pro structure in the sport, which is not their responsibility to solve. Do golfers really expect USA Golf or do tennis players expect US Tennis to do so much heavy lifting? No, because they have established pro tours to take care of all the professional considerations, their NGBs are left to their own fundamental tasks. Sorry if this is as schizophrenic as our sport, I'm probably over-caffeinated today.
Lots of truth here, though this demise has been predicted routinely since the '90s if not further back.
And the demise is here. What we see today is what it looks like when track and field is dead: a few elite meets to feed the Olympic/WC system, not much else for elites and nothing for anyone else.
Naw, we got Sound Running, ATL, and TFL. If fans won't support those models, that's nobody else's fault. An NGB like USATF is a poor, poor substitute for a real pro sport.
And the demise is here. What we see today is what it looks like when track and field is dead: a few elite meets to feed the Olympic/WC system, not much else for elites and nothing for anyone else.
Naw, we got Sound Running, ATL, and TFL. If fans won't support those models, that's nobody else's fault. An NGB like USATF is a poor, poor substitute for a real pro sport.
Thank you! Some who actually understands what USATF is and isn't.
US Soccer is not the MLS
US Tennis is not the ATP/WTA
US Golf is not the PGA/LPGA
None of those governing bodies are responsible for the well-being of their professional athletes outside of specifically delineated national team support. Siegel might well be overpaid, that's not for me to decide. But the continued failure of professional track and field in the United States doesn't fall within the purview of USATF.