Menu
Leagues and Governing Bodies

A time of reflection for soccer’s Gulati

Sunil Gulati has had a front-row seat to see soccer’s massive growth across his 30 years in the sport, including nearly a decade as U.S. Soccer Federation president. But he’s also, as a member of FIFA’s Executive Committee and an influential figure within CONCACAF, watched the spotlight of transgressions and massive failings envelop many of the game’s global leaders over the past year.

Both the U.S. group and Gulati, personally, have remained relatively unscathed compared with the rest of the soccer world’s power brokers, but they have not been without scrutiny. So as FIFA members prepare to gather next week for an expected watershed moment in the group’s governance, Gulati looked back recently to a moment 10 years ago in reflection. At the same meeting where he was elected U.S. Soccer president, the group voted to eliminate its executive committee, reduce the size of its board of directors from 42 to 15, and add three independent directors for the first time.

Gulati: “We’ve been in the middle of a storm.”
Photo by: AP IMAGES
“We had a board and eventually a congress that had to vote themselves out of office,” Gulati said, “and that’s not an easy thing to get done. But I think now the way we govern is much better — and we’re still looking for improvements.”

At issue for FIFA in Zurich on Feb. 26 will be two key matters: Who will be elected as the group’s president, and will a set of executive committee-backed reform proposals be approved? Among the proposals are a three-term limit for the president and members of the executive committee, which also would be renamed the FIFA Council; a number of requirements to boost the number of women involved in decision-making at all levels in soccer; and minimums for the number of independent members on FIFA’s finance, governance and development committees, all of which would be monitored by an independent audit and compliance committee.

For the record, FIFA says the proposals “pave the way for further significant and much-needed changes to FIFA’s governance structure.” Unsaid, but widely understood, is that the proposals aim to help rebuild public trust in the governing body following the string of arrests and indictments levied across the global soccer world in the past year, ranging from federation heads to FIFA’s currently suspended president, Sepp Blatter.

Sitting in his office earlier this month at Columbia University, where he’s a senior lecturer in the economics department, Gulati, 56, looked back at the past year while also anticipating what’s ahead for soccer both in the United States and worldwide.

He declined to comment directly on all ongoing investigations or lawsuits related to FIFA or U.S. Soccer. Still, it’s clear the past year has had an impact on him.

“It’s quite a dichotomy between being in Zurich [in May], when the Department of Justice took their actions, and handing out medals to the U.S. women’s team at the World Cup Final in Canada [in July]. That’s about as good and bad as it gets,” he said. “The last eight months have given me far more pause about what the future looks like and what I want to do than in the first 30 years of being involved in the sport, I think for fairly obvious reasons.”

FBI Director James Comey outlines the case against world soccer leaders.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
For Gulati in particular, questions have been raised about what, if anything, U.S. Soccer knew about the actions of Chuck Blazer, the former general secretary of CONCACAF and former U.S. Soccer executive vice president who was a key cooperating witness in the Department of Justice investigation. Blazer has since pleaded guilty to charges that include racketeering and money laundering. U.S. Soccer has not been named in the Department of Justice investigation, and Gulati, who replaced Blazer on the FIFA executive committee and
Gulati hands out medals to the U.S. women’s team.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
maintained a close relationship with him, has repeatedly denied he had any knowledge of Blazer’s criminal activity.

Additionally, last July, a U.S. Senate subcommittee was convened to discuss what U.S. Soccer had known about corruption within FIFA. Gulati did not attend, drawing criticism from legislators. Instead Dan Flynn, the group’s CEO and secretary general, represented the federation. Gulati later explained that he believed Flynn was as well-versed in the potential topics of the hearing as he was and so chose to have him attend instead.

As it relates to CONCACAF, the governing body for soccer across North America, Central America and the Caribbean, Gulati said he’s been pleased by reforms put in place to date and those up for vote, which include removing and reforming its executive committee, enhanced transparency efforts around its commercial contractual agreements, and establishing a chief compliance officer position. Those reforms will be voted on in Zurich next week as well, a day prior to the FIFA vote.

“I think there’s a lot of soul searching that has to go on,” Gulati said. “The sport is extraordinarily strong, and in a way, the sport has been done a disservice by some of the people involved. That has to get better. The sport is so strong that it’ll survive, and hopefully the organizations and institutions that are responsible for shepherding it will do a better job.”

Gulati noted that U.S. Soccer launched a governance review of its own last year, with McKinsey & Co. taking a look at its management structure and Latham & Watkins assessing its compliance efforts. Those reviews, which he said were not directly related to the global scandals, are ongoing.

“We’ve been in the middle of a storm, and it’s not been a pleasant experience, and I and my colleagues at U.S. Soccer want to make sure that we’re not in the middle of any other storms and will do whatever we can to make sure that happens,” Gulati said.

That extends to FIFA, as well. Gulati is quick to rule out any chance he may look to take on leadership roles beyond his current capacity, but he remains hopeful that the work he and the FIFA executive committee are doing will help to bring reform.

He was elected to the committee in 2013 and re-elected U.S. Soccer president in 2014. Both positions have four-year terms but are without term limits.

“At [U.S. Soccer], we’re going through major reviews of the way we operate to make sure we’re at the cutting edge of good governance and everything else,” Gulati said. “And so FIFA and CONCACAF and other organizations need to take some of those steps towards good governance and to make sure none of this happens again — or they won’t exist. It’s pretty simple.”

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/02/15/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Gulati.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/02/15/Leagues-and-Governing-Bodies/Gulati.aspx

CLOSE