FIFA Exec Committee member CHUCK BLAZER, “who went public with bribery accusations against his boss two years ago, said he won’t seek re-election for a fifth term and will leave his position in May after 16 years.” Blazer is the “most senior American official in world soccer but his departure was expected after his role in the scandal over" IFA presidential election candidate MOHAMED BIN HAMMAM. A “contest to replace” Blazer at FIFA is expected between U.S. Soccer Federation President SUNIL GULATI and Mexican Football Federation President JUSTINO COMPEAN (AP, 2/16).
A PASSAGE TO INDIA: The NBA named YANNICK COLACO Managing Dir of NBA India. Colaco will manage the league’s India office in Mumbai and report to NBA Int'l President HEIDI UEBERROTH. The Mumbai office opened in October '11. Colaco comes to the NBA from sports marketing firm Nimbus Sport, where he was COO, a position he was named to in '09 after joining the company in '02. In a statement, Ueberroth said, “Colaco has the ideal combination of experience and knowledge of the sports landscape in India necessary to lead our expanding operations in the country” (John Lombardo, Staff Writer).
MEDIA PLAYS: In this week’s SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, John Ourand reports ESPN “has restructured its customer marketing and sales group,” leading to the promotion of PATRICIA BETRON, WENDELL SCOTT and LISA VALENTINO to Senior VP/Multimedia Sales. All three will report to Exec VP/Multimedia Sales ERIC JOHNSON, who said that he “needed to cut down on his number of direct reports, in part, because he recently added ESPN’s international business to his portfolio.” Other promotions within the group include GREG ROSSI and JENNIFER HOFFNAGLE to VP/Multimedia Sales, as well as DANIELLE BROWN and SAL TALLUTO to Dir of Multimedia Sales (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 2/18 issue).
EXECS: USA Triathlon named BARRETT BRANDON, SUSAN HAAG, JACQUELINE MCCOOK and MICHAEL WIEN to its BOD (USA Triathlon)….The Univ. of Minnesota named Butler Univ. Associate AD and Senior Woman Administrator BETH GOETZ Senior Associate AD and Senior Woman Administrator (UM).
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