Posted on January 6, 2012
By Michael Lewis
TropiGol.com Editor
He might be gone, but former CONCACAF general secretary Chuck Blazer certainly is not forgotten.
During his 21-year tenure in the position, the confederation grew immensely.
Ted Howard, the confederation’s acting general secretary, talked about Blazer’s legacy.
“Oh my God, Chuck has done so many incredible things,” Howard said adding that Blazer’s biggest contributions included “certainly his skill as a negotiator and dealing with all of our broadcasting and marketing rights, the look of CONCACAF and what it does and how we do it. It’s been a tremendous amount to this confederation under his leadership. It’s gone through all these growth spurts, so the whole effort now is to make sure we continue that in the right direction.”
Blazer stepped down from his post on Dec. 31 for other soccer pursuits. He is part of a group that includes former Jets running back Curtis Martin and former New York Cosmos and New York Arrows goalkeeper Shep Messing, now a New York Red Bulls TV analyst, that is seeking to become Major League Soccer’s 20th team.
Howard said he won’t think twice about turning to Blazer for advice. Blazer lives in New York City.
“He’s always there,” he said. “We’re close friends. We have been for years back before I ever came here. When he was on the international games committee, I was part of that at the U.S. Soccer Federation and the years I was at the NBA. I got to know him when he was vice president of the federation. Since then we have stayed in touch, been on some committees on CONCACAF when I was still with the NBA. I have worked with him for 13 years. That doesn’t end.
He’s one of those people that has great insight because of his knowledge and experience on the FIFA executive committee and all of that. He’s still going to be on the executive committee going forward. He’s available for counsel and assistance and everything else because that’s who he is.”
Photo: Chuck Blazer (above) “has done so many incredible things” for CONCACAF,” Ted Howard says. Photo by Joy Rubenstein.
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Tags: Chuck Blazer, CONCACAF, Curtis Martin, FIFA Executive Committee, NBA, New York Arrows, New York Cosmos, New York Jets, Shep Messing, Ted Howard, U.S. Soccer
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