Union executives also have Tampa ties

Posted Mar 19, 2010 by Nick Murray

Updated Mar 19, 2010 at 02:11 PM

Former Wharton standout Nick Zimmerman of the Philadelphia Union is the only player with the club with ties to Tampa, but two other members of the Union’s organization in club president Tom Veit and club CEO Nick Sakiewicz also have ties to Tampa.

Veit is a native of Tampa and a graduate of the University of South Florida who previously worked for the Tampa Bay Storm and Tampa Bay Mutiny before returning to South Florida as the Associate Athletic Director of External Affairs, helping the school acquire its membership in the Big East.

Sakiewicz is himself a former Rowdie, having been a member of the side’s squad when it played in the APSL in 1990. Sakiewicz then moved into the executive ranks, becoming the Tampa Bay Mutiny’s President in 1996. With the Mutiny he was named MLS Executive of the Year in 1999 before becoming the President of the New York/New Jersey Metrostars, now New York Red Bulls, until 2005.

Maybe the greatest achievement of Sakiewicz’s professional career, though, is about to be unveiled as the Red Bulls officially open the new Red Bull Arena on Saturday with an exhibition against Brazilian power Santos. After his work with the Metrostars, Sakiewicz was promoted to become the President of AEG New York in 2005, and helped secure the deal to allow the stadium, already being called the finest soccer stadium in the U.S., to be built.