Doug Logan named head of USATF

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Doug Logan, former commissioner and president of Major League Soccer, is the new chief operating officer of USA Track & Field. The appointment was announced tonight by USATF.

He replaces Craig Masback, who stepped aside at the end of January to become director of business affairs for Nike’s Global Sports Marketing Division. USATF since has been led by a committee of four staff members, including president Bill Roe.

‘We have said since we started the process of hiring a new CEO that it was more important to do it right than to do it quickly,’ Roe said. ‘In Doug Logan, we know we have found the right CEO to take us into the next phase of growth. We are so pleased to get a person of his caliber to lead our organization, and we are excited to welcome him to the USATF family.’

Masback took over a troubled USATF in July 1997 and proved a steadying force. Since then, the federation’s annual budget has grown from $6.7 million to more than $17 million.

Logan led MLS from its 1995 inauguration, helping to secure long-term sponsorship commitments from sich companies as Nike, Adidas, Honda and MasterCard. He also negotiated a five-year television deal with ABC, ESPN and Univision. But flagging attendance led to Logan’s ouster in August, 1999.

‘I was honored to have stewardship of another major sport, soccer, for four years,’ Logan said Thursday on the USATF web site. ‘The opportunity to play a meaningful role in a second one was irresistible. The strength of the sport is based on the ubiquity of athletics and the fact that everyone has ’played’ at one time or another. Everyone has raced their brother or sister. To a large degree, it is a marketer’s dream.

‘I will devote my energies to maintaining and improving the U.S. position at the top of the medal charts in world championships and Olympic Games, and I will be a passionate messenger in our battle against performance-enhancing drugs.’

After leaving MLS, Logan ran a sports consulting firm that in 2001 helped in the creation of the National Rugby League.

-- Debbie Goffa