MANAGERS CONCLUDE SUCCESSFUL MEETINGS WITH IAAF, ORGANIZERS, AND SHOECOMPANIES
Thu, Nov 13, 2008
MIAMI - The Association of Athletics Managers, a group of thirty-two (32) ofthe World's leading managers in athletics, held its fifth annual convention in Miami, Florida last week. For the second consecutive year, the AAM invited representatives of the IAAF, the sports top meet directors, and representatives of the major shoe and apparel companies. Senior Vice-President Robert Hersh and Assistant to the President, Sandro Giovannelli, appeared of behalf of the IAAF. Among the many meeting directors who attended were Wilfried Meert of Brussels, Claude Buffault on behalf of Paris-St. Denis, Bettina Boerner on behalf of Zurich, Ian Stewart from the British meetings, Jose Luis de Carlos representing the Spanish meetings, Jacky Delapierre of Lausanne, Switzerland, Jean-Pierre Schoebel of Monaco, Steinar Hoen of Oslo, Tom Jordan of The Prefontaine Classic and Helio Melo of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
The meetings with the IAAF focused on changes made to the AAM By-Laws for 2009 which will establish a more streamlined criteria for entry into the AAM. In the future, any IAAF-authorized manager who has been authorized by the IAAF for at least three consecutive years and who represents either 1) 5 athletes ranked in the top 30 on the year end world list, or 2) an individual gold medalist from the most recent Olympics or World Championships, will be accepted as a member upon the passing of an IAAF/AAM basic exam and the posting of $100,000 US liability insurance policy or bond. All current AAM members will be required to post the same insurance policy or bond in 2009.
Luis Carulla, the IAAF Director of Marketing who is spearheading the drive for the new Golden League, presented the plan and reasoning behind the new Golden Leagueto a joint meeting of the AAM, the Euro Meetings meet directors and the major shoe company representatives who were in Miami. This was the first time that all of the major interested parties in the new Golden League (the IAAF, the current Golden League Meet Directors, the potential additional Golden League Meet Directors, the managers who represent the top athletes, and the representatives of Nike, adidas, Reebok and Asics) were present as one to hear the plan. A lively discussion between the parties took place over two days which examined the new proposal, the possibilities it may bring for the sport and its athletes, and the challenges the new system would face.
Next year's AAM annual meeting will take place from November 3-5, 2009 in Madrid, Spain.