It was no easy task to pick Soccer America’s 25 most influential people in American soccer. Many people play key roles in shaping the game, on their own or through the organizations and companies they represent. Our selections are based on those working today in American outdoor soccer who, by virtue of their visibility, leadership, commitment and ingenuity have a significant impact at all levels.
1 Alan Rothenberg
U.S. Soccer president, MLS chairman
What is Rothenberg’s influence now that he’s back practicing law at Latham & Watkins? Some will argue that he’s simply a figurehead. If he is, he’s a figurehead like American soccer never has had before or may never have again. However he got to the top of the World Cup ’94 organizing committee, he’s viewed as the man that got the job done. Even though his relationship with MLS has changed, he still gets all the credit for pulling off what most thought was an impossible undertaking. Rothenberg’s performance record — delivering with World Cup, the U.S. national team program and now MLS — gives him respect in the American sports community that no soccer figure ever has had. And no American has ever enjoyed such influence internationally as Rothenberg. Which is why he is still called upon to get the deals done in the crunch.
2 Sunil Gulati
MLS deputy commissioner
No person has a more hands-on role in more aspects of the American game than Gulati. The Connecticut native once ran the U.S. national team program from his office in the Columbia University economics department. After stints at the World Bank and with the World Cup ’94 organizing committee, he took on the task of acquiring all the players for MLS. He even negotiated the deals for all the American players who went abroad after USA ’94. Gulati oversees all competition-related matters for MLS, yet still plays a major role in all international matters involving American soccer. He’s one of the few top American soccer executives without a legal background, but he’s the sport’s No. 1 dealmaker.
3 Doug Logan
MLS commissioner
Doug Logan is a newcomer to soccer, chosen as the new Division I league’s commissioner last November following two decades in the sports event management business. It’s been a baptism of fire for Logan, who has had to learn soccer and its business as he goes along. He’s already logged tens of thousands of miles, working closely with each of the league’s 10 teams as they launched this spring. He may lack the public presence of Rothenberg, the cool Southern California lawyer, but he makes up for it with his nuts-and-bolts sports business background. His knowledge of Spanish — he spent part of his childhood in pre-Castro Cuba — has been a big plus for MLS, whose early success at the gate has been due, in large part, to its ability to reach the Hispanic market.
4 Lamar Hunt
Columbus Crew and Kansas City investor-operator
Where would American pro soccer be without Hunt? For that matter, Hunt has had an enormous influence over the growth of American pro sports over the last 35 years. A pioneer in pro football and pro tennis, Hunt was the owner credited with keeping the NASL going in the early ’70s when it could have easily died a quick death. He also was quick to back MLS, coming forward to take control of two teams, Columbus and Kansas City, when few others would commit themselves. Hunt’s love of the game — he’s probably attended more World Cups than any other American — has been passed along to his two sons, Clark and Lamar, Jr., who work closely with him on their two MLS teams.
5 Hank Steinbrecher
U.S. Soccer executive director
The former college coach entered sports marketing in 1984 following a stint at the Cambridge, Mass., Olympic soccer venue. Rothenberg recruited him away from Gatorade to take over U.S. Soccer following his election as president in 1990. He quickly moved the federation offices to his hometown, Chicago. Steinbrecher, who signed a new five-year contract following Rothenberg’s re-election in 1994, came in for great criticism for the public positions he took about the U.S. coaching situation last year. Nonetheless, he wields tremendous power as the person responsible for running U.S. Soccer on a day-to-day basis and overseeing its many areas of authority. He’s also a FIFA favorite, working on its five-man task force assigned to evaluate the bids for the 2002 World Cup.
6 Sandy Bodecker
Nike soccer division general manager
Nike has become an American institution, not just in sports but as part of the country’s culture. It was inevitable that the Portland, Ore., company would make the move into American soccer in a big way. Bodecker was instrumental in Nike’s efforts to snatch the U.S. Soccer contract away from adidas and its decision to sponsor half of MLS. Nike has a large and at times chaotic corporate structure, but Bodecker has positioned it as global soccer player.
7 Steve Sampson
U.S. national team men’s coach
A year ago, Sampson was interim U.S. national team coach, a caretaker for the program until a big-name foreigner could be brought in. Well, that foreigner never materialized, and the former assistant coach under Bora Milutinovic won the job with a string of exceptional results last summer. Sampson is familiar with the college game, and his fluency in Spanish gives him tremendous credibility in the Hispanic community.
8 James Hamilton
U.S. Soccer Foundation chairman
The World Cup ’94 legacy is the huge endowment U.S. Soccer Foundation received. With more than $2 million granted to soccer projects in its first year, the Foundation board has enormous power to shape the game’s future. Hamilton, a Grand Prairie, Wash., attorney, has been the chairman since the Foundation’s inception. He’s well-respected and viewed as a neutral in what could potentially be perceived to be a political machine.
9 Andres Cantor
Univision commentator
No person has had more impact on delivering the Hispanic market to MLS than Cantor, easily the most famous soccer commentator in the U.S. No wonder it had the Argentine native kick out the first ball at its inaugural match! If Cantor, in his telecasts on Univision and broadcasts on the radio show “Futbol de Primera,” had trashed MLS, it would have been dead in the Hispanic community. Univision’s hype of MLS is a big reason for its surprising popularity.
10 Bob Contiguglia
USYSA chairman
Contiguglia has headed the largest youth soccer organization in the country since 1990. His organization’s support for Rothenberg in both elections gives him enormous political power. Indeed, he is considered the leading candidate to succeed Rothenberg, when his term expires in 1998. The Denver kidney specialist has worked hard to expand the organization’s national influence, even though its 54 state associations are largely autonomous.
11 Randy Bernstein
MLS executive vice president
Bernstein, who began his soccer career with the indoor San Diego Sockers, moved over from World Cup ’94 to head up MLS’s marketing program. His stock has risen sharply in recent months after serving as the architect of the marketing program that netted more than $50 million in sponsorships. Since the start of the season, he’s played a big role in deciding how the game is presented to fans.
12 Francisco Marcos
USISL commissioner
Few people have toiled for so long in American pro soccer as Marcos. He began with the NASL Tampa Bay Rowdies and started the USISL 10 years ago, following the NASL’s collapse. What started as a collection of teams operated by indoor soccer arena owners has blossomed into a huge outdoor league (119 teams in 37 states). Few people are as knowledgeable about the nuances of American sports and international soccer as Marcos, who owns the USISL name.
13 Jonathan Kraft
New England Revolution investor-operator
The son of Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots and Foxboro Stadium owner who bought into MLS, Jonathan Kraft has played a key role in getting MLS off the ground. The 32-year-old Harvard MBA chairs the MLS broadcast & marketing committee. He’s credited with helping MLS get extraordinary visibility for a start-up league, working on both the league’s national and local TV packages.
14 Bruce Arena
D.C. United head coach, U.S. Olympic men’s coach
Arena brought college soccer to a new level with his University of Virginia team that won four straight national titles between 1991 and 1994 and won high marks for style. Arena’s success gave U.S. Soccer no choice but to give him the Olympic job he coveted and allow him to also take the D.C. United post. His new roles have forced him to be less outspoken about the state of American soccer, but he remains an advocate for the American player and coach.
15 Steve Risser
ESPN vice president, programming
You’re nothing in American sports if you’re not on ESPN, the king of American sports cable, and Risser, a former college soccer player at Susquehanna, is the gatekeeper of ESPN programming. The success of World Cup soccer on ESPN convinced him to give MLS a shot. With games on ESPN and ESPN2 just about every week, MLS has entered into the mainstream American sports market.
16 Tom Kain
Adidas Soccer marketing manager
One of the first college products to make the move abroad, the former Herman Trophy winner joined adidas in 1991 after a short pro career in Germany and in the MISL. He quickly moved up the ranks at Adidas to his current position in which he oversees adidas Soccer. Even though adidas lost the U.S. Soccer contract to Nike, Kain has kept adidas in the forefront, sponsoring three MLS teams and investing heavily in the college game.
17 Bruce Hudson
Anheuser-Busch director of int’l sports marketing
American soccer and Anheuser-Busch go hand in. A-B is the longest serving U.S. Soccer sponsor, and was the first non-manufacturer to jump on the MLS bandwagon. It came at a time when many were still doubting MLS would get off the ground, and Hudson was instrumental in getting A-B to make the jump. A former Saint Louis University star and a U.S. Olympic team member, Hudson has been A-B’s soccer man for a decade.
18 Kevin Payne
D.C. United president, SUSAP president
Few people in MLS have had as much experience in the American soccer market as Payne, who joined SUSAP, the marketing agency responsible for U.S. national team sponsorship sales, from U.S. Soccer in 1991. It had to promote scores of matches in U.S. markets leading up to World Cup ’94. On behalf of API, SUSAP’s British parent, he also heads the investor group that operates D.C. United.
19 Alexi Lalas
New England Revolution defender
There is no more articulate spokesman for the cause of American soccer than Lalas. He may not be the best American player ever developed, but he is surely the best known. After all, who else besides Lalas could MLS have gotten on the “Tonight Show” on the eve of its opener?
20 Jerry Langdon
USA Today soccer editor
Long active in Washington area youth soccer, Langdon began working on soccer for USA Today’s parent, Gannett, as an assignment editor. Little by little, he took on more responsibilities in expanding the national daily’s soccer coverage. No daily newspaper matches USA Today for the depth of its soccer coverage and the play it gives all levels of the game, and Langdon has been the driving force.
21 Burt Haimes
AYSO chairman
Although AYSO has its roots in California, Haimes, a New York attorney, has been the youth soccer organization’s most visible spokesman at the national level, serving several terms as president. He’s been at the forefront of AYSO’s fight with USYSA over youth governance issues, and he’s chaired U.S. Soccer’s pro development committee that sanctioned MLS.
22 Richard Groff
A-League commissioner
For five years, Groff, who made his fortune in real estate development, was hugely successful at promoting national team games (both men’s and women’s). His unsuccessful bid to unseat Rothenberg in 1994 left him persona non grata in the inner circles of U.S. Soccer, but he’s stuck to mission to make the A-League a successful league. At the federation level, he remains a thorn in Rothenberg’s side.
23 Anson Dorrance
North Carolina women’s coach
Despite his surprise decision two years ago to step down as U.S. women’s national team coach, Dorrance is the dominant figure in women’s soccer. He brought the U.S. its only world title at the 1991 Women’s World Championship, and his Tar Heels have achieved a record (11 NCAA titles in 13 years) that will probably never be equaled. If a successful national women’s league ever gets off the ground, look for Dorrance to be the architect.
24 Jim Sheldon
NSCAA executive director
Sheldon, who had worked in soccer as part of the NCAA’s championship staff, moved the NSCAA offices to Kansas City and expanded its staff when he took charge. The NSCAA was already the largest coaching organization in the country, and it has for many years organized the biggest soccer trade show in the country. Sheldon, however, has brought a focus to pressing issues in college soccer, notably gender-equity and marketing.
25 Pat Millen
FC Nutmeg president
Millen, whose company produces the “College Soccer Weekly” series, first became involved in soccer while working in the athletic department at Davidson College, which had been awarded the 1992 NCAA Division I men’s final four. Until his weekly show debuted in 1993, college soccer rarely got television coverage, only as an afterthought as part of the NCAA championship TV package. It’s now an essential part of college soccer’s push to greater national prominence.
by Soccer America Managing Editor Paul Kennedy