From obscurity to respect
A look at Rothenberg, the man who put U.S. soccer on the world map
Posted: Thursday August 20, 1998 02:17 PM
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Rothenberg must step down from his eight-year reign as president of the USSF on Saturday because federation rules limit him to two four-year terms AP |
NEW YORK (AP) -- He was virtually unknown in American soccer when FIFA plucked him out of obscurity and "encouraged" him to run for the U.S. Soccer Federation presidency.
Eight years later, Alan Rothenberg leaves his post having run the best attended World Cup in history, started a respected first-division pro league, and gotten the world soccer community to stop sneering loudly at the United States.
"I think Alan's greatest contribution, despite the fact that he is not a linguist, has been his ability to represent American soccer in the international community, and enjoy credibility never achieved before by the United States," FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper said.
Much of that came in 1994, when 3,567,415 people showed up to watch World Cup games in a country where many -- Americans and foreigners alike -- said nobody cared about the kind of football played with a round ball.
The attendance was 1 million more than had ever witnessed a World Cup before and its average crowd of 68,604 was nearly 8,000 better than the next closest championship.
France 98, which had 12 more games than USA 94, wasn't even close.
"When [people] look back to that ('94) Cup, they say it was the greatest World Cup ever," U.S. federation secretary general Hank Steinbrecher said. "Alan did that. He was responsible.
"If they dig deeper, they'll see the whole infrastructure [of American soccer] improved."
Rothenberg must step down from his eight-year reign as president of the USSF on Saturday because federation rules limit him to two four-year terms.
Either Dr. Bob Contiguglia or Larry Monaco, two men who have risen through the ranks from the country's youth divisions, will succeed Rothenberg in Saturday's election at the USSF's Annual General Meeting in Hawaii.
Either will have a huge shadow to emerge from, with Rothenberg having established a legacy of business success and even some on the field for American soccer.
"I'm pretty pleased with what's happened in the last eight years," Rothenberg said. "Every goal we established, we met. You would like to do more, but at same time, we made some giant strides."
In 1990, two years after FIFA awarded the World Cup to the United States, the world body did not like the look of things.
Officially, it merely "encouraged" Rothenberg, a lawyer, former professional sports team owner, and the head of soccer at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, to challenge incumbent Werner Fricker for the USSF presidency.
Unofficially, FIFA threatened to take away the World Cup if Rothenberg wasn't elected.
With the backing of the USSF's pro division, Rothenberg narrowly won and immediately set out to change things.
"All those involved in the World Cup prior to Alan were cautious," said Sunil Gulati, then an unpaid aide to Fricker and now the deputy commissioner of Major League Soccer. "We were going to play in smaller stadiums, 30,000, 40,000. Definitely not the Rose Bowl.
"Alan was insistent on going for much a bigger event. That decision, if no other, was the single, biggest difference in making money and not making money."
Like the 1984 Olympics, the World Cup made a profit -- $50 million. The surplus was enough to give Rothenberg a controversial $ 3 million bonus and establish the non-profit U.S. Soccer Foundation with most of the rest.
Additionally, Rothenberg transformed the U.S. federation from a small outfit run mostly by volunteers to a professional organization with a $38 million annual budget.
While Fricker had started the ball rolling ever so slowly, it was Rothenberg who added sponsors, television exposure and a pro league to change the stature of American soccer in the United States and abroad.
The United States reguarly qualifies for all FIFA competitions and even wins some, like the 1991 Women's World Championship and the 1996 women's Olympic title. Last Sunday, two-time MLS champion D.C. United won CONCACAF's annual club title only 2 1/2 years after Rothenberg established the league.
With MLS and national team games, soccer is broadcast regularly on television.
In the last year, multi-million dollar deals with Nike and IMG have secured the federation's finances well into the next century.
Rothenberg even sees the debacle at France 98, when the Americans lost all three games to Germany, Iran and Yugoslavia, as a positive.
"Even after the U.S. was eliminated, American media clearly accepted the World Cup as an enormous event. They clearly accept soccer as a mainstream sport," he said.
"The amount of press on the so-called coaching controversy is daily. Nobody gave a damn eight years ago."
The U.S. coach's job is still an unsettled affair. After Steve Sampson resigned following the Americans' last-place finish in France, Rothenberg vowed to name a replacement before he left.
Now, that seems unlikely.
Besides the coach, Rothenberg leaves several tasks for his successor, namely next year's women's World Cup and Project 2010, an idea he dreamed up following the 1994 World Cup to put the United States in a position to host and win the World Cup by the end of the next decade.
Rothenberg almost assuredly will not fade into the grass of American soccer. Besides his advisory post as a USSF past-president, he has purchased the San Jose Clash of the MLS along with Japanese firm Dentsu and 1984 Olympics buddy Peter Uebberoth.
But don't expect to see him back running the 2010 World Cup should the United States get it.
"I'd be happy to take a gold pass and sit in the tribune of honor with my grandchildren," he says. "Once is enough."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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