Who is US Soccer? Part 1: Sunil Gulati

September 21, 2010

This is the first story of a multiple part series of the people and organizations behind the US Soccer Hegemony.

A story dropped this weekend that once again raises questions about who is pulling the strings over at US Soccer headquarters. In an interview given by Sasha Victorine, Jurgen Klinsmann once again dropped the bomb that the honchos over at US Soccer did not want to yield the necessary power in order to hire the former the German player and coach as leader of the men’s national team.

Klinsmann spoke, candidly, “We had conversations maybe for about a three or four weeks period of time, and very positive conversations, but we didn’t get it to a positive ending because we couldn’t put into writing what we agreed to verbally.”

He pointed to a disturbing issue regarding to staff selection and technical control which could not be worked out by US Soccer. “Verbally, we agreed on that the technical side is my side, and I should have 100 percent control of it,” revealed Klinsmann. “In written terms, they couldn’t commit to it, and at that point, I said, ‘Well, I can’t get the job done because I have to have the last say as a head coach for my entire staff, for all the players issues, for everything that happens with the team.’

Four years have passed since we first lived through this power struggle between US Soccer and Klinsmann, when the German initially disclosed that the deal breaker was the federation not allowing him control over the players selected to represent the US in the Copa America, South America’s regional tournament. The end results of both breakdowns were the separating of ways between Klinsmann and US Soccer, as well as the hiring of default coach, Bob Bradley.

In both cases, concerns about power and control, which US Soccer seemingly do not want to relinquish, have come into scrutiny by fans throughout the country. Despite growing rumblings in the soccer community that the true problem with American soccer lies within the US Soccer Hegemony, we still know very little about this mysterious group of elites who control almost every aspect of the game here in the States.

Sadly, even soccer media personalities appear to have little to no understanding on the inner workings of this brain-trust. Ives Galarcep asked the following questions to his readers: “What we’re left to ponder is whether the process that led to the re-hiring of Bradley was an effective one and if the requirements for being the U.S. men’s national team coach are reasonable. We’re left to wonder because Klinsmann’s statements suggest that the process was flawed and because nobody is refuting what he said.” Grant Wahl, actually emailed the president of US Soccer, Sunil Gulati, for more details on the embarrassing leak by Klinsmann, only to receive the reply, “No comment.” The long time American soccer journalist calls US Soccer “a notoriously opaque organization whose leaders often act like a Skull & Bones secret society.”

This is a not a good sign when the people whose job it is to cover American soccer and to have access to the knowledge on the inner-workings of this organization who governs soccer in this country view decisions such as the hiring of head coaches as shadowy decisions, shrouded in mystery, rumors, and two-word emails. It leaves the fans begging answers to the questions: who runs US Soccer, how do they operate, and who holds them accountable?

While I can’t directly answer all of the questions in full detail (anyone who could would instantly make himself the most powerful person in American soccer media), I can hopefully in this series shed some light on who these people are and what guides their decisions.

On their website, US Soccer lists their Board of Directors, a list of who’s who in this shadow government.

President
Sunil K. Gulati

Executive Vice President
Mike Edwards

Immediate Past President (non-voting)
Dr. S. Robert Contiguglia

Athlete Representatives
Jeff Agoos, Danielle Fotopoulos, Jon McCullough

Pro Council Representatives
Tonya Antonucci, Don Garber

Adult Council Representatives
Richard Groff, Jim Hamilton

Youth Council Representatives
Bob Palmeiro, John Sutter

At Large Representative
Francisco Marcos

Independent Directors
Carlos Cordeiro, Fabian Núñez, Donna E. Shalala

CEO/Secretary General (non-voting)
Dan Flynn

A little digging provides us with some interesting information on these puppet-masters. Let’s start at the top.

Sunil Gulati, President. Gulati is famously understood by US Soccer fans as the head of US Soccer because of his title as well as being the only member of the board who makes public statements, or even shows his face for that matter. This intellectual elite moonlights as a professor of economics at Columbia University and is considered by many fans to have more interest in business than in soccer.

Former USSF president and Major League Soccer founder Alan Rothenberg called Gulati the “single most important person in the development of soccer in this country.” As we’ll see, he is both important and powerful.

Gulati served on the Board of Directors of FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 1999 and 2003, held the position of managing director of the United States Soccer Federation’s Project 2010, and is currently a member of the Board for the U.S. Soccer Foundation and National Soccer Hall of Fame. Gulati is (to the best of my research) on the boards of MLS, the MLS marketing branch, and Soccer United Marketing (which we will get into detail later). USSoccer.com states that Sunil is “a member of the World Club Championship Committee and Task Force for Clubs, in addition to being chairman of the CONCACAF National Teams Committee.” He is in charge of Go USA Bid campaign for the World Cup in 2022 to be held here in America, being the chair of the World Cup USA Bid Committee Board of Directors.

Due to conflict with owners and management, a growing concern over the existence of a United States second division soccer prompted Sunil and US Soccer to take over operations of lower division American soccer. “In the next few months we’ll be laying out some regulations, rules and standards that will put a little bit more substance into our current standards about what a second or third division should look like,” said Gulati in early 2010. So he’s got that too.

On top of this vast domain which he oversees, Gulati is interestingly also President of Kraft Soccer Properties for the New England Revolution in Major League Soccer. Talk about conflict of interest! That’s like having the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York being the president’s Secretary of Treasury (oh wait, we have that in Timothy Geithner. Bonus fact: Robert Kraft serves on the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, woah). According to New England Revolution’s website, “The Kraft Group is the holding company of the Kraft family’s many businesses, with interests concentrated in six areas: manufacturing of paper and packaging, international distribution of forest products, sports and entertainment, real estate development, private equity investing and philanthropy.”

When Sunil was brought on as Kraft’s soccer managing director, his main priorities were “to help [Kraft] explore investment opportunities on the international scene and represent Kraft Soccer Properties on the MLS Board of Governors.” Sunil must be busy throughout the day.

Soccer United Marketing (SUM), is the largest soccer business in America, and one which Gulati serves on the board of directors. According to their website, SUM has their hands firmly around almost all money-making soccer events in the United States, as it holds “all commercial rights to Major League Soccer; the United States Soccer Federation; promotional and marketing rights to Mexican National Team games played in the United States; the marketing and promotion of the CONCACAF Gold Cup™, and marketing, promotional and broadcast rights to the prestigious eight-team Mexican club tournament – InterLiga™. SUM also manages promotional and marketing rights in the United States for Mexico’s most popular sports team, Club Deportivo Guadalajara (Chivas).”

SUM is an interesting organization and is critical in the understanding of how and why US Soccer is run the way it is. Don Garber, who is also the commissioner of MLS, founded SUM to profit off of the commercial rights to all kinds of soccer events in this country. SUM makes more money off of international club friendlies and Mexican national games than it does MLS and US national team games in America. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for capitalism and profits, but in this scenario, the crossover from MLS to SUM to US Soccer has created a paradigm which has consolidated power within the few leaders of US Soccer, thus negatively effecting the development of the United States National Team. This three-headed monster, answers only to its investors. Not to Bruce Arena, not to Jurgen Klinsmann, and certainly not to Bob Bradley. Because of this, SUM is the backbone for every major decision made from second division soccer, to MLS, to the United States National Team and beyond. We’ll be covering SUM in greater detail later in this series, but its important at this moment to understand the existence of SUM and Gulati’s (the president of US Soccer, remember) role as board member.

It has been mentioned that many of the the powers of US Soccer’s presidency were distributed to CEO Dan Flynn in 2006, the year of Gulati’s promotion, and though many view Sunil as more of a figurehead for US Soccer, it is clear from his above positions that the professor’s reign reaches far and wide through all levels of soccer in America. While perhaps more of the day-to-day operations have been handed to Flynn (this will be covered in another edition), Gulati clearly is responsible for the bigger picture decisions made within US Soccer.

When Gulati was first brought on as president, the size of the Board of Directors was curiously slimmed down in order to “more closely represent its three councils- Professional, Youth, Adult- and other constituencies.” Perhaps this was done in order to consolidate the sovereignty of board members and Gulati. With this theory in mind, it is not hard to understand why Gulati was unanimously re-elected as the President of US Soccer in February of 2010, despite any advanced heads up by US Soccer or the media. The Hegemony preserves itself.

Although Gulati and company seemingly have built a clandestine wall around their actions (one which has yet to be broken down by media), occasionally some criticisms from those within US Soccer’s iron curtain slip through. Bitter about being used as the scape goat for the national team’s embarrassing performance in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, coach Bruce Arena voiced his frustrations with how Sunil runs US Soccer. “There’s too many people [in the USSF] who want to be technical directors and soccer experts that aren’t. They’re micromanagers,” Arena told Grant Wahl. “I think [Gulati] is a superfan who now is president. That’s the way our organization is. That’s unfortunate, and you add another micromanager to an organization that’s already micromanaged.”

Arena’s comments were not too reassuring for USA fans who are passionate about the direction of their national team, but most chalked that up to Arena being upset about being let go. However, with the recent Klinsmann controversy resurfacing, those feelings that US Soccer is being run in secrecy by economists, businessmen, micromanagers and not by people with a deep understanding of soccer development, have been stirred up once again. People are becoming increasingly more skeptical of the direction of US Soccer because the shroud of secrecy that Gulati and the board hide behind during incidents like this leaves fans with more questions and concerns than answers and reassurances.

“I have to have the last say as a head coach for my entire staff, for all the players’ issues, for everything that happens with the team,” Klinsmann admits. It is directly due to the many hats that Gulati wears which make it clear why Klinsmann’s demands for more control within US Soccer fell on deaf ears. It should come as no surprise that US Soccer and its SUM partners would not want to relinquish power to this outsider, as his soccer-minded decisions could have potential negative financial implications for the US Soccer Hegemony.

Klinsmann understood that if he could not reign in some of the brain-trust’s power, he would be handcuffed by not being able to develop the team in his vision. He ultimately had to step away from the table. “Unfortunately, they couldn’t commit to [giving me full technical control], and that was basically the end of our talks, and then they agreed then to continue with Bob as the head coach, and that’s totally fine.” So we are once again stuck with USSF’s lapdog, Bob Bradley, as coach, and American soccer czar, Sunil Gulati, firmly in control over our National Team’s destiny.

Kings do not resign. A hegemony will never relinquish power.

Stay tuned for future installments of Who is US Soccer? series.