Major League Soccer Commissioner and Soccer United Marketing CEO Don Garber today appointed veteran sports executive Andy Swift as the companies' Senior Vice President of Marketing & Communications.
Swift joins MLS after one year as the Chief Operating Officer for Dallas-based D4P ("Diversity for Peace"), an organization that develops grassroots marketing properties in the youth and Hispanic soccer segments.
From 2000-03, Swift served as the President and General Manager for the MLS Dallas Burn. During the three seasons with the Burn at the Cotton Bowl, Swift guided the team to consecutive overall attendance and team revenue increases each year. In 2002, the Burn surpassed team records for both season tickets as well as sponsorship sales for the second consecutive year. On the field, the Burn maintained its reputation as one of the most competitive teams in the league, qualifying for the playoffs during each of its first seven seasons.
"Andy's extensive experience at the team level and intimate knowledge and understanding of our sports' two key demographics - Hispanic and youth - make him a perfect fit to oversee the League and SUM's Marketing and Communications departments," said Garber. "His expertise across several disciplines, including sales, media, broadcasting and the competitive side of soccer, make him an invaluable asset for the New York-based MLS/SUM headquarters."
Swift originally joined the Burn in February of 1996, spending the 1998 and '99 seasons as Vice President of Marketing and Broadcasting. In that role, he was responsible for managing the team's advertising, media buying and planning, public relations, broadcasting, and community relations efforts. Swift also negotiated broadcast agreements for television and radio, which saw the Burn become the first professional sports team in Dallas to have regular-season games broadcast on both mediums in both English and Spanish.
From 1997-98, Swift was Director of Hispanic Marketing for the Burn. In that capacity, he helped create the League's first Hispanic marketing department. In his initial year with the Burn from 1996-97, Swift served as the team's Director of Community Relations and Hispanic Media. In that role, he served as international player liaison and was the team's spokesperson for the Hispanic market.
Prior to joining the Burn, Swift was a producer for KFWD, the Dallas Telemundo affiliate and later became an independent producer specializing in the Hispanic and corporate video markets. Swift, 36, was raised in five different Latin American countries and is a 1989 graduate of Texas Christian University with majors in psychology and Spanish. He is fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
