How rich is Craig Masback?

Another whiny thread - what a shocker!

If you think that Masback gets too much money then do something about it. Join USATF to become a "shareholder". Buy a plane ticket and go to the convention. Run for a committee post at the national or association level. Do one of these things if you want action. Whining on the Brojo's little bitching board isn't helping now is it? So much whining over the years and nothing changes. Coincidence? Nope. Just the reality that no one in power cares what a bunch of snot nosed kids and cheap middle aged road whores think because they pose no threat to the ivory tower. Hell, I bet most of you don't even have a USATF membership card.

The problem is that MOST OF YOU want a lot of services and talk a lot of shit but are not willing to do a lick of work to get it. In fact, how many of you went to Portland last month just to race and get drunk? Did you ever think to attend a meeting or two, ask some pointed questions, or nominate yourself to serve? Probably not. If you didn't do these things, then you have no right to squeal like little babies because Masback makes coin and you are powerless to stop it. Try this at the next national meet you attend: bend the ears of the officials in attendance or ask if you can help with committee business. Perhaps that would be more productive than ogling SFH's backside or trying to make eye contact and share a moment with Meb.

And while we're on the topic, there is no such thing as an exorbitant salary. People get paid what the market will bear. Is A-Rod worth $25 million per year? Probably not but if Steinbrenner is willing to write the checks then good for Alex! Same goes for CEO's, doctors, school teachers, and the drive through kid at Taco Bell. People are willing to pay for services based on their perceived value. Want more cash? Be more valuable to those who control the purse strings. It's that simple.

I'm done. Please carry on with your little support group.

because this is letsrun.com and, of course, no one is likely to bring intelligent argument or discussion to a thread, i decided to look up masback's past salaries. i'm not going to include his "benefits" in his "salary" because doing that, i believe, only muddies the water for people on this board and people in general as most have no idea that they have to include benefits like health insurance in their salary, let alone how much these are worth.

2003: $369,321

2002: $300,420

2001: $321,921

2000: $347,768

1999: $230,000

1998: $230,000

i don't know what these tell you. his pay obviously fluctuates rather widely. i have no idea why this is. it suggests to me that some portion of his compensation, after he apparently signed a new contract for 2000 and beyond, is tied to something. could be performance, could be revenue, sponsorships, who knows.

it also suggests to me, as the above poster notes, that this (perceived) too high of compensation has been going on for a long time and no one has noticed or bitched until now (never seen a thread like this on letsrun before, never heard any complaining at meetings). but, it's never too late i suppose. so now that i've gotten the ball rolling for someone else, i hope more than "speculation" and lots of meaningless whining comes from this thread. i am perfectly willing to defer to people who know more about this than i could ever know. i've got better things to do with my time. however, others can see this differently. so have at it. change doesn't happen by itself.

and nice post The Law, Twisted.

Concerning Masback's fluctuating salary, it appears to be somewhat performance based if we understand the surrounding circumstances. I find it as no surprise that he received a major pay raise in 2000- an Olympic year and an Olympics which was very successful (at the time) for American T&F athletes. Once again, an increase in 2003 leading into 2004- Athens Olympics - where I will presume he made closer to $400,000. Furthermore, understand that an Olympic year draws more sponsors, more marketing, more spotlight, more pressure, and more reward, especially for the man on top.

The Law, Twisted wrote:

Another whiny thread - what a shocker! ......

Wow, I had nothing to do with this post either!

Let's compare apple to apples....i.e. non-profit organization to non-profit organization. It does no good to compare Masback's compensation with a for-profit orgainzation executive's compensation.

Probably the most similar organization to USATF in the United States is Swimming USA. Both are 501c3 non-profit organizations and are the national governing body of their respective sports.

Comparison-2003:

USA Swimming vs USATF

Revenue:

$18,098,533 vs $11,763,592

Which includes Revenue received from United States Olympic Committee:

$0 vs $2,801,610

Expenses:

$16,439,551 vs $11,303,799

Assets:

$26,443,026 vs $3,610,928

Liabilities:

$8,003,885 vs $3,564,741

Number of medals won in Athens:

28 vs 25

Top Executive Total Compensation:

$284,495 (Chuck Wielgus) vs $413,143 (Craig Masback)

Looking at this comparision I would have to say that Masback's compensation is way out of line. He's had 7 years to turn the organization around and the only significant claim(s) he can/is making are: (1) a 120% increase in revenue (which sounds impressive until you look at the extremely small base the % is applied to) and (2) just this year they are out of debt for the first time in 8+ years (Masback claims to have inherited books that had USATF $3 million in the hole from his predecessor).

Meanwhile the sport (in the USA) has been battered and bloodied due to doping/drug coverups while he has been at the helm. His lawyer background has been the hallmark of his actions in the 7 years he's been in charge. Posturing, legal manuverings and political wrangling with the USOC and IAAF were all unneccessarily protracted and have lead to stagnation/minisucle porgress in all other areas of the sport.

Looking at the Long Distance Running division of USATF I see no significant progress in the past 7 years. This is not surprising because Masback does not have LDR on his priority radar. Never has, and probably never will. RunningUSA has been the bastard child of USATF and has not had Masback support almost from the get go. He saw RUSA as the marketing arm of USATF LDR and he beleives that it has been a failure (which it more or less has been). The RD of the most significant marathons/road races are now controlling RUSA and they are using it for their own purposes/gains.

Finally, I have to disagree with Garry Hill's letter from the editor in the Jan 2005 issue of T&F News. Hill states, " Having Masback & Roe set for additional (4 yr) terms at USATF is a big plus for the sport." This blatant ass kissing will be the reason why I'll let my subscription to TAFN expire once again. I recently re-subscribed to that rag after many years of not reading it. Hill's/TAFN's blatant blind eye approach to reporting the drug problem in T&F along with their cozy relationship with USATF is NOT good for the sport.

Lest anyone think that this me personally bashing Masback and Roe, it's not. I think both of them are decent guys who love T&F, but I think that they are not the ones who can take the sport out of the rut it is/has been in for many years.

Excellent Post - and proof that Masback is not worth 400g. I say fire his ass, lets put that money into development, not some stuffy CEO that no one cares about. Get someone from out of the sport who can develop more sponsorship and pay them half. Lets get money into USATF instead of out!

PS - THIS IS MY OPINION!

The Law, Twisted -

wow...talk about the kettle calling the pot black!!!! You whine with the best of them!

ZZ,

that's a far more compelling argument. now i'd like to know what the usatf board has to say.

The Law Twisted runs out another hackneyed old argument in favor of the status quo; if you don't like how the people in charge are running things then you should run for office of course!!! Get off your ass and do something positive!!!

If I don't like my tax bill, should I run for congress? If I cant get a good burger around here should I open a restaurant? If I haven't seen a good movie in 6 months...though Garden State was OK....should I get into the movie business and make one myself?

I have neither the time nor the inclination to fly to Indianapolis and run for anything, but I can complain and this is the forum where I have chosen to do it. I participate in my local association (which happens to be the best in the country no thanks to the USATF) and that is about as much as I can do.

If you think that the USATF is beyond reproach and nobody should be complaining then you're a bigger idiot than I gave you credit for.

If something bothers you, either do something about it so that it stops bothering you, or ignore it and don't let it bother you anymore. Bitching about it doesn't help.

i guess it just seems kind of odd to some of us to complain without any apparent constructive purpose. complaining without any interest in change seems a bit idiotic. it's like you don't want change to happen so you can just keep on bitching about things being so bad. yours is just another argument in favor of the status quo, too.

if you have a problem, don't complain here. nothing will happen. actually do something about it, if only cutting and pasting your posts from here and sending them in an email to usatf.

"Looking at this comparision I would have to say that Masback's compensation is way out of line. He's had 7 years to turn the organization around and the only significant claim(s) he can/is making are: (1) a 120% increase in revenue (which sounds impressive until you look at the extremely small base the % is applied to) and (2) just this year they are out of debt for the first time in 8+ years (Masback claims to have inherited books that had USATF $3 million in the hole from his predecessor).

Meanwhile the sport (in the USA) has been battered and bloodied due to doping/drug coverups while he has been at the helm. His lawyer background has been the hallmark of his actions in the 7 years he's been in charge. Posturing, legal manuverings and political wrangling with the USOC and IAAF were all unneccessarily protracted and have lead to stagnation/minisucle porgress in all other areas of the sport. "

Seems like the above supports Masback, putting a bankrupt organisation in the black and successfully taking USATF out of the drug testing business seem like achievements to me.

ZZ, I understand the comparison, but realize that USA Swimming only has to deal with a few other countries at the Olympics. It is not a fully immersed sport in terms of international participation. Not sure if Kenya or Ethiopia sent teams in the 400 IM. Pretty much China, Australia, USA, and sporadic others..

Track & Field is THE sport of the Olympics.

i know plenty of 50-80mill revenue companies where the tip top exec ""only" is bringin in 100-150k.

How does one go from $230,000 to $347,768 in one year at a non-profit? That is sick. Hell, George Bush only makes $400,000 in salary...a few thousand more and Masback will be as well paid (salary) as the president of the united states.

Masbeck would be entitled to earn as much as Bush, given that he is literate and Bush is not.

In the words of Babe Ruth, he (Masback) had a better yearthan.." (Bush)

Phil. -

Here's a bit more info to put things in perspective:

1. USATF did not file for bankruptcy. They were $3 million in debt when Masback took over;

2. Masback has been compensated to the tune of about $2.3 million dollars since he took over as CEO of USATF (see #4 below);

3. He and some others have been extremely well paid considering the condition of the USTAF and the size of the organization. Some, including me, think that their compensation is out of line with a non-profit organization of their size.

4. Masback is not the only well compensated employee of USATF. Below is a year by year summary of the top USATF executives total compensation for the years 1998 through 2004

(*NOTE: the 2004 figures are estimates I made by assuming that their 2004 total compensation would equal at least the average of their 1998-2003 compensation. I believe that this is a conservative figure and that the actuals will more than likely be higher than what I am showing below).

Craig Masback - CEO:

1998 - $230,000

1999 - $257,600

2000 - $376,868

2001 - $356,421

2002 - $337,094

2003 - $413,143

2004 - $328,521*

TOTAL: $2,299,647

Jill Pilgrim - General Legal Counsel

1998 - $57,500

1999 - $118,600

2000 - $147,365

2001 - $155,250

2002 - $159,493

2003 - $163,220

2004 - $133,571*

TOTAL: $934,999

Jim Elias - CFO/COO

1998 - $ 45,500

1999 - $101,350

2000 - $111,413

2001 - $113,000

2002 - $132,704

2003 - $154,816

2004 - $109,797*

TOTAL: $768,580

Peter Mahoney - Director of High Performance Programs

1998 - $77,050

1999 - $92,725

2000 - $89,850

2001 - $92,765

2002 - $93,224

2003 - $99,837

2004 - $90,909*

TOTAL: $636,360

Tom McLean - Director of Programs

1998 - $92,000

1999 - $134,317

2000 - $132,400

2001 - $133,000

2002 - $136,694

2003 - n.a.

2004 - n.a.

TOTAL: $628,411

Mike Conley - Director of Elite Athlete Programs

1998 - n.a.

1999 - $63,783

2000 - $84,400

2001 - $95,500

2002 - $98,291

2003 - $124,804

2004 - $93,356*

TOTAL: $560,134

Some other notable expenditures during this same timeframe include:

Ivan Cropper - Director of Marketing

2002 - $90,924

2003 - $97,549

TOTAL: $188,473

Brooks Johnson - High Performance Division Chair

2003 - $107,200

James Perkins, Jr.

1998 - $83,950-Special Asst to CEO

1999 - $89,850-Director of Community Relations

TOTAL: $173,800

Mayer Brown Rowe & Maw - Outside Legal Counsel

2002 - $120,643

2003 - $159,568

Alan Taylor Communications - Outside Public Relations Firm

2003 - $61,483

The amount paid to Masback and Pilgrim (both laywers) is slightly more than the total debt Masback inherited when he took over. Should it have taken 7 years to dig the USATF out of debt? I think not. Has the sport gotten significantly better/healthier/more visible in that timeframe? No.

I respect your conclusions, but mine are obviously different.

GODDAMN! I wish my company handed out raises like those!!!