USA Track & Field (USATF) today announced in a press release that its CEO, Max Siegel, has signed a contract extension with the organization to take him through 2028.
The 2024 NYC Marathon Was Tough to Get Into.
Siegel became CEO of USATF on May 1, 2012, after first serving on the organization’s board of directors. In 11 years at the helm of USATF, he has “propelled the organization to historic success, marked by record financial growth, programmatic evolution, and inclusive representation,” according to the release.
The release credits Siegel with generating $600 million in revenue during his tenure with the nonprofit, and expanding the USATF annual budget to a record $40 million.
According to the organization’s 2021 tax return, the most recent year for which tax information is available, total revenue for USATF was $33.7 million.
Siegel faced criticism in November 2022 when the 2021 tax return for the nonprofit became available. That Form 990 showed that Siegel had a compensation package totaling $3.8 million, more than 11 percent of USATF’s revenue. Siegel’s pay was way beyond that of CEOs of other national governing bodies (NGBs). In fact, he earned nearly four times as much as the top executive at the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, which oversees all NGBs like USATF.
In the second paragraph of its release announcing the contract renewal, USATF said its board of directors “engaged FW COOK, a leading executive compensation firm, to conduct an independent CEO compensation evaluation.” The release does not say what that evaluation found. Whether Siegel got a raise or a pay cut likely won’t be known until late 2025, when the 2024 tax information is released; USATF almost always files for a six-month extension to submit its tax return.
In 2014, USATF and Nike signed a 23-year sponsorship deal, which goes through 2040, worth an estimated $400 million. Supporters of the deal said it provided an unprecedented level of financial security for USATF; detractors said it gave Nike too much power in the sport and also pointed out that both Siegel and an outside firm, Bevilacqua and Helfant, were being paid handsomely for the deal. Bevilacqua and Helfant earn a commission of almost $1 million per year through the life of the contract; Siegel’s compensation includes portions of a one-time, $25 million “commitment bonus” paid to USATF by Nike in 2014.
Siegel and USATF have found themselves at the center of several controversies throughout Siegel’s 11 years. In 2016, the Washington Post wrote about Siegel’s “soaring pay, lavish spending, and unethical nonprofit leadership.”
In 2021, Runner’s World Health & Injuries The Journey of Shadrack Kipchirchir & Elvin Kibet, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Ness of Columbia had sought documents detailing the financial relationship between USATF and Nike. The status of that investigation is uncertain.
Most recently, the Olympic Marathon Trials, scheduled for February 3, 2024 in Orlando, Florida, have become a source of contention over the late start time (12:10 p.m. for men, 12:20 p.m. for women). USATF and the Orlando organizing committee that is hosting the Trials have disagreed about the start, and Runner’s World learned that a contract for the Trials has not yet been signed, with three months to go until the event.
San Quentin Prison Marathon Doc to Air on ESPN is a writer and editor living in Eugene, Oregon, and her stories about the sport, its trends, and fascinating individuals have appeared in Runner’s World Sales & Deals, Run Your Butt Off! and Walk Your Butt Off!
