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≡ INSIDE USATF ≡
As the tumult of the 2024 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials and the 2024 Olympic Games subsided, a half-dozen long-time USA Track & Field staff members were let go or left, including events manager and chief of content Adam Schmenk and two other key event staff.
In January of this year, Chief Communications Officer Aarti Parekh and long-time Chief of Athlete Services and International Teams Aretha Thurmond – and others – exited. In June, Communications Manager Natalie Uhl moved on to TrackTown USA after almost four years in Indianapolis.
Also in June, the LA28 organizing committee hired Michael Nussa, the USATF General Manager of High Performance and a former assistant coach at Tulane, as the sport manager for track & field for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Nussa joined USATF as the High Performance Programs Manager in August 2018 and had been promoted to head the High Performance division in February of 2025.
A close observer told The Sports Examiner that as many as 17 of the 95 employees USATF had as of the start of 2024 had left or been terminated. And not replaced.
Amy Begley, a 2008 Olympian in the women’s 10,000 m and a five-time national champion, joined USATF in September 2023 as the Director of Long Distance Running Programs, was promoted to replace Nussa, now covering both track & field and long-distance.
In 2024, USATF staged three branded “Journey to Gold” meets, the April Bermuda Grand Prix, the Los Angeles Grand Prix in May and the NYC Grand Prix in June. All three were canceled for 2025, with the Bermuda Tourism Authority deciding not to continue its support, and USATF saying in a statement it was not the organizer of the New York meet. The L.A. meet was canceled without notice or comment.
Why the contractions?
Money.
This is the carnage which has followed the difficult finances of USA Track & Field since 2022, when it provided a long-promised $9.9 million subsidy to the 2022 World Athletics Championships organizers in Eugene, Oregon.
The federation’s financial statements detail the drop in USATF’s net assets:
● 2021: $8.53 million
● 2022: $548,002
● 2023: –$4.93 million
That’s a loss of $13.46 million from 31 December 2021 to 31 December 2023, and a negative net worth.
Just as alarming is that revenues have remained – since the start of the landmark, 20-year Nike sponsorship agreement came into effect in 2014 – essentially static:
● 2014: $35.05 million
● 2015: $30.40 million
● 2016: $38.43 million
● 2017: $33.67 million
● 2018: $36.71 million
● 2019: $37.24 million
● 2020: $23.30 million (Covid impact)
● 2021: $35.52 million
● 2022: $36.54 million
● 2023: $36.71 million
If inflation is taken into account, the situation is even worse. One dollar in 2014 is worth about $1.36 today, so the $35.05 million revenue from 2014 represents $47.67 million in 2025 (+36.0%). But USATF revenue has advanced by just 4.7% over the 10 years.
USATF does not usually publish its financial statements until the end of the following year, so no public reporting on 2024 has been made. But knowledgeable sources have told The Sports Examiner:
(1) USATF suffered a loss in 2024 as well.
(2) The October 2024 agreement to absorb Paralympic track & field into USATF as of 1 January 2025 will provide a $3.7 million boost from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, against which $3.2 million is expected to be spent.
And the new Board of Directors, with new Chair Curt Clausen, the 1999 Worlds 50 km Walk bronze medalist, is taking a much more active role in reviewing, guiding and trying to rebuild the finances of the federation.
And that means less people and fewer meets, at a time when hopes are high to use the upcoming 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles as a boost for the sport.
¶
However, USATF has not been completely on the defensive, filing an 18 June 2025 complaint against former Board Chair Mike Conley, the 1992 Olympic triple jump gold medalist, for breach of fiduciary duty during his time as Chair.
The action arises from the November 2023 complaint against USA Track & Field filed by former USATF staff member and Board member Jim Estes, whose consulting role with the Chattanooga Sports Commission bidding for the 2024 U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials led to the disqualification of the Chattanooga bid and the awarding of the event to Orlando, Florida. This action (Marion (Ind.) County Superior Court/Civil Division cause no.: 49D01-2309-CT-034614) is continuing.
The USATF complaint against Conley alleges:
“communications between Conley and Estes [that] indicate a high level of coordination and collusion between them, in direct contravention of Conley’s ethical and legal obligations to USATF while Chairman of its Board of Directors.
“Equally troubling is Conley’s ongoing refusal in the litigation discovery process to
comply with USATF’s request for documents and communications relevant to Estes’ lawsuit. Conley’s refusal to comply with USATF’s document requests has impeded USATF’s ability to defend itself in the ongoing litigation and risks subjecting USATF to potential sanctions by the Court. As of the date of the filing of this Third-Party Complaint, Conley still has not provided USATF with any documents and communications relevant to these legal proceedings.”
Further, that “Conley was actively feeding Estes information regarding internal management and Board discussions related to USATF and USOPC’s ongoing investigation of Estes.”
USATF also alleges that Conley is continuing to refuse to cooperate with the provision of information in his possession relayed to the Estes case. So the prayer states:
● “USATF suffered, and continues to suffer, significant monetary, reputational, and legal procedural harm and damage as a direct result of Conley’s prior and continuing breach of his fiduciary duties.
● “WHEREFORE, the Third-Party Plaintiff USATF prays that the Court enter judgment in its favor and against Third Party Defendant Michael Conley, and award USATF all damages, prejudgment interest, costs, attorneys’ fees, and all other appropriate relief as is just and proper.”
The Estes vs. USATF case is still in discovery, so it’s not close to trial, and Conley’s cooperation will be important, so this new filing is going to push Estes’ action back. This is sad, and not close to over.
¶
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