Product Code Database
Peter Victor Ueberroth (; born September 2, 1937) is an American sports and business executive known for his involvement in the Olympics and in Major League Baseball. A Los Angeles–based businessman, he was the chairman of the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee which brought the games to Los Angeles in 1984. Ueberroth was named 1984's Time Man of the Year for his success in organizing the Olympic games.
After the conclusion of the games, he was named as the sixth commissioner of baseball, a role he held from 1984 to 1989. He later served as the chairman of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee from 2004 to 2008.
Ueberroth created a committee of over 150 members (mostly business people and entrepreneurs) to generate ideas, opportunities and solve problems. His aggressive recruiting of sponsors for the 1984 Olympics is credited as the genesis for the current Olympic sponsorship program. Due to recruiting competitors between the Los Angeles Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), after 1984 all Olympics in the US had their local organizing committees enter into recruitment agreements with the USOC to jointly recruit sponsors and share revenue.
Just as Ueberroth was taking office, the Major League Umpires Union was threatening to Strike action the postseason. Ueberroth managed to arbitrate the disagreement and had the umpires back to work before the League Championship Series were over. The next summer, Ueberroth worked behind the scenes to limit a players' strike to one day before a new labor agreement was worked out with the Players Association.
During the course of his stint as commissioner, Ueberroth reinstated two Hall of Famers, Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle, who had been banned from working for Major League Baseball by Kuhn because of their associations with gambling casinos. Also, Ueberroth suspended numerous players because of cocaine use, negotiated a $1.8 billion television contract with CBS,Joseph Durso, A Billion-Dollar Bid By CBS Wins Rights To Baseball Games The New York Times. December 15, 1988. Retrieved March 13, 2008. and initiated the investigation against Pete Rose's Dowd Report. In 1985, Ueberroth's first full year in office, the League Championship Series expanded from a best-of-five series to a best-of-seven series. At his urging, the Chicago Cubs chose to install lights at Wrigley Field rather than reimburse the leagues for lost night-game revenue. Ueberroth then found a new source of income in the form of persuading large corporations to pay for the privilege of having their products endorsed by MLB.
However, Ueberroth, with the assistance of the owners, also facilitated collusion between the owners in violation of the league's collective bargaining agreement with the players. Players entering free agency in the 1985, 1986 and 1987 offseasons were, with few exceptions, prevented from both signing equitable contracts and joining the teams of their choice during this period. The roots of the collusion lay in Ueberroth's first owners' meeting as commissioner, when he called the owners "damned dumb" for being willing to lose money in order to win a World Series. Later, he told the general managers that it was "not smart" to sign long-term contracts. Former Major League Baseball Players Association president Marvin Miller later described this as "tantamount to fixing, not just games, but entire pennant races, including all post-season series." The MLBPA, under Miller's successor, Donald Fehr, filed collusion charges and won each case, resulting in "second look" free agents, and over $280 million in fines. Peter Ueberroth and Collusion Fay Vincent, who followed as Ueberroth as commissioner, laid the crippling labor problems of the early 1990s (including the 1994–95 strike) directly at the feet of Ueberroth and the owners' collusion, holding that the collusion years constituted theft from the players.
Under Ueberroth, Major League Baseball enjoyed "increased attendance (record attendance four straight seasons), greater awareness of crowd control and alcohol management within ballparks, a successful and vigilant anti-drug campaign, significant industry-wide improvement in the area of fair employment, and a significantly improved financial picture for the industry. When Ueberroth took office, 21 of the 26 clubs were losing money; in Ueberroth's last full season – 1988 – all clubs either broke even or finished in the black. In 1987, for example, baseball as an industry showed a net profit of $21.3 million, its first profitable year since 1973."
Nonetheless, following the announcement of the first of three large awards to the players following the collusion findings, Ueberroth stepped down as commissioner before the start of the 1989 regular season; his contract was to have run through the end of the season. He was succeeded by National League president Bart Giamatti.
In 1989, Ueberroth considered purchasing Eastern Air Lines, then crippled by a strike and bankruptcy from Texas Air. However, a management dispute with Texas Air CEO Frank Lorenzo led to the deal falling through.
In 1990, Ueberroth bought controlling interest of Hawaiian Airlines with his brother John and business partner J. Thomas Talbot.
Three years after leaving office, he led the Rebuild Los Angeles project after the 1992 Los Angeles riots.
In 1999, Ueberroth, along with Arnold Palmer and Clint Eastwood, bought the Pebble Beach golf course.
Ueberroth ran for Governor of California in the 2003 California recall election as an independent, though he was a registered Republican. His campaign focused on California's economic and budget crisis, avoiding social issues. With polls indicating only a low level of support, he pulled out of the race on September 9, 2003, though his name still appeared on the ballot and received a small but significant number of votes. He placed sixth in a field of 135 candidates.
Ueberroth was chairman of Ambassadors International but was replaced by his son, Joseph Ueberroth in April 2006. Ueberroth resigned from the board in November 2008.
Ueberroth was also the chairman of the United States Olympic Committee Board of Directors from 2004 to 2008.
Ueberroth was inducted into the USA Water Polo Hall of Fame in 2010.
Ueberroth is a Life Trustee of the University of Southern California. Board of Trustees , University of Southern California, Retrieved April 13, 2008.
Ueberroth and his wife, Ginny, were two of the founders of Sage Hill School. He additionally served briefly on the school's Athletic Advisory Council.
Ueberroth is a board member for the Lott Trophy, named after Pro Football Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott, and is awarded annually to college football's Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year. Lott Impact Trophy Retrieved December 15, 2011.
|
|
