U.S. Soccer today will announce it has named David Wright its new Chief Commercial Officer. Wright has served as MiLB Chief Marketing & Commercial Officer for the past four-plus years. Wright joined MiLB from MLS and SUM, where he was Senior VP/Global Sponsorship and oversaw new business for U.S. Soccer, MLS and the Mexican national club. U.S. Soccer CEO and Secretary General Will Wilson said Wright has the “experience, relationships, skill-set, and work ethic to have both immediate and long-term positive impact on U.S Soccer.” Wilson added, “He has a strong track record of building diverse teams and mentoring staff.”
Wright's departure from MiLB comes during the late stages of what has been protracted and often contentious negotiations between MLB and MiLB over a governing structure, and the announcement comes just one day after MiLB President & CEO Pat O'Conner announced his retirement. Despite the optics, a source said the timing is coincidental, adding that the new role is an ideal fit for Wright and that he would have accepted this position regardless of the state of the MLB-MiLB negotiations.
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Wright, a former SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree, wore many hats at MiLB while leading all marketing and commercial business units, including marketing and business strategy, business development, partnership marketing, brand development, media and communications. He had a profound impact during his tenure with MiLB. Wright helped deliver exponential commercial partner growth, representing a three-fold increase in revenue since ‘16. He helped materially increase net shareholder returns, despite material investments and staff expansion.
Wright emphasized fan-focused technologies and positioned MiLB as the only major sports property to increase attendance in '19 with year-over-year growth of 2.6% and more than 41.5 million attendees. He developed and maintained partnerships with leading brands, including Allegiant Air, Applegate, ECHO, FIS Global, Nationwide, Peerless-AV, Stouffer's, Stryker, Uncle Ray's, Satisfi Labs and Tickets.com. Wright established the strategic partnership with Tickets.com, which helped achieve a 24% increase in digital ticket sales.
He created the ISM Digital Network -- the largest in-venue, digitally connected network in sports and entertainment -- to drive fan engagement and commercial revenue across 50 MiLB ballparks. Wright also launched Copa de la Diversión, an industry-leading Hispanic and Latinx fan engagement platform (supported by Echo and Nationwide), which resulted in a 20% increase in attendance for participating games and record-setting merchandise sales. Copa de la Diversión was recognized as a Sports Business Award Breakthrough finalist in ‘19.
