By Paul Kennedy
Chuck Blazer won’t seek re-election for a fifth term on the FIFA executivecommittee, and his departure means American soccer loses its most influential advocate ever in the world of international soccer.
The former Concacaf general secretary is perhaps bestknown as the whistle-blower who went public two years ago with bribery accusations against his boss, then-Concacaf president Jack Warner, and Asianconfederation head Mohamed bin Hammam, but good timing, plus his marketing and digital savvy, made him a powerful force within FIFA.
The67-year-old Blazer, whose travel has sometimes been limited because of health issues in recent years, made the announcement on his Web site of hisintention to leave his position in May after 16 years on the job.
“It is time for new faces with new energy to take over the responsibility of FIFA’s leadership,” hesaid.
Blazer was the proverbial right man at the right time. He joined the FIFA executive committee in 1997 following the death of Mexican GuillermoCanedo. The digital age had just hit, and he was one of its few members with any intimate knowledge of modern technology and how it could be used.
As Concacaf general secretary, hehad brought Concacaf member associations into the 20th century, equipping them with lap tops and teaching them how to use e-mail. On the FIFA executive committee, he was visible with his own blog –“Travels with Chuck Blazer and his friends” — and Facebook page.
When FIFA’s future was thrown in turmoil following the collapse of its most important television and marketing partners,Kirch and ISL, Blazer promoted the idea of bringing the rights in-house. FIFA took Blazer’s advice and enjoyed profits of $631 million for the four-year period ending in 2010, boosting its net worthto over $1 billion.
In 2010, Blazer was appointed chairman of the FIFA Marketing and Television Advisory Board responsible for negotiating the deals that bring in the bulk of FIFA’smoneys. In recent years, he has also chaired the organizing committee of the FIFA Club World Cup competition.
As the lone American on the FIFA executive committee, he was the USA’s publicface during the hotly contested battles for the 2018 and 2022 World Cup hosting rights.
After the USA pulled out of the 2018 race to concentrate on the 2022 bid, Blazer signaled hissupport for Russia by publishing on his website photos of him with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Putin’s Moscow offices and photos Putin gave him of hisvacation home.
Blazer decried the Qatar 2022 bid, the cornerstone of which was a plan to build air-conditioned stadiums. “I don’t see how you can air condition an entire country,” hefamously said.
Qatar’s financial muscle was too much for the USA, which lost 14-8 in the final round of bidding, but doubts about Qatar’s plans persist as pressure mounts to move thetournament to the winter.
Perhaps the most important move Blazer made that impacted American soccer came in 2006 when he blocked a deal to award the TV rights to 2010 and 2014 World Cupsto NBC and helped strike a deal with ESPN and Univision. The money was not as important as the credibility it meant for MLS to be on ESPN and Univision while it was beginning to expand. It wasbelieved at the time NBC wouldn’t televise MLS.
The move promptedthese words of praise from U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati, “If we have to go to the mat on something, Chuck’s where we go.”
Blazer ran Concacaf’s day-to-day affairs, moved its offices to the Trump Tower in NewYork and helped make the Gold Cup one of the most lucrative international tournaments in the world. Blazer was compensated accordingly, thanks to a contract that paid 10 percent of all Concacaf’s TVand sponsorship deals to an offshore company called Sportvertising.
Blazer fell out with Warner when in 2011 he was told that Warner and bin Hammam attempted to bribe Caribbean delegates$40,000 each to vote for Bin Hammam in the FIFA presidential election against incumbent Sepp Blatter.
Warner resigned his position soonthereafter. Bin Hammam fought his FIFA’s suspension — and won — but later quit international soccer after revelations about his financial dealings as Asian confederation president.
ButBlazer’s days as Concacaf general secretary were numbered. Interim Concacaf president Lisle Austin — a Warner ally — attempted to fire Blazer, but theConcacaf executive committee said Austin lacked the authority and the Barbados official was himself suspended.
Blazer resigned his Concacaf post at the end of 2011, and
As soon as Webb took office, Concacaf members took aim at Blazer.
“There are robbers with guns and there are robbers with white collars,” said Cuba soccer federation president Luis Hernandez, “and I don’t want us to be represented by a thief with awhite collar in FIFA.”
Mexican soccer federation Justino Compean said Blazer was “manipulating information” and responsible for “obsceneirregularities.”
“We feel let down, disappointed, dismayed,” Webb said. “Too often, improper decisions were made by individuals with their own agenda.”
There were calls forBlazer to step down his FIFA position, but he remained on the executive committee.
BLAZER’S SUCCESSOR. Blazer’s successor will be elected at the nextConcacaf Congress, which will be held April 19 in Panama City, and installed on the FIFA executive committee on May 31 in Mauritius.
Two men should battle for Blazer’s job: Compean andGulati, who came up through the American youth soccer ranks at Blazer’s side as an administrator in the Region I ODP program in the early 1980s.
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