KELSEY WILL MANAGE AND OVERSEE SOCCER OPERATIONS FOR LEGACY’S CURRENT LOCATION AT BELL BANK PARK, AND ALL FUTURE LOCATIONS
MESA, Ariz. – Legacy Sports USA has named Rick Kelsey as its National Soccer Director, a position that will manage all soccer operations for Legacy’s current location at Bell Bank Park in Mesa, as well as for future Legacy Sports USA locations. Additionally, Richard Nuttall, the current Director of Soccer for Legacy Sports USA, has been promoted to Legacy Ambassador of Soccer for all Legacy locations.
Kelsey comes to Legacy Sports USA with an extensive leadership background in soccer and business. In his most recent role, Rick served as the CEO of the Arizona Soccer Association (ASA), where he not only oversaw growth in total registrations but also drove significant growth in community-based programming and ASA branding.
Along with being CEO, Kelsey has served on the ASA Board of Directors, served on multiple U.S. Youth Soccer (USYS) national committees that included being a member of the USYS Organizational Growth Committee, where he developed a national partnership with the NWSL Players Association and USYS.
“Legacy had a big win today with the hiring of Rick Kelsey,” said Jeff de Laveaga, COO of Legacy Sports USA. “Rick will manage and oversee all soccer operations for Legacy’s current and future locations and we know he will be instrumental in our growth and expansion of soccer operations throughout the country.”
Prior to his time with ASA, Kelsey spent more than 18 years at American Express where he held numerous leadership positions overseeing global operations, risk management, and reporting/analytics development and implementations.
Kelsey is a veteran of the U.S. Navy where he spent eight years serving with the Seabees and shore duty. During his time with the Seabees Rick deployed to Al Jubail, Saudi Arabia in support of Operation Desert Storm, Rota, Spain, Guam, and Mogadishu, Somalia in support of Operation Restore Hope. He has been married to his wife Jennifer for more than 30 years, and they have six children ranging from 10 to 28 years old.
“Legacy Sports USA is developing world-class facilities and experiences that will be second to none, it is very humbling to be a part of that,” Kelsey said. “I am excited to leverage my local, regional, and national network in developing and delivering soccer programs that will be part of such tremendous facilities.”
Bell BankPark is a privately owned, 320-acre multi-use family sports and entertainment complex in Mesa, Ariz., currently under construction with plans to officially open to the public in January of 2022. Bell Bank Park will create more than 1,500 jobs and generate hundreds of millions of dollars in direct economic impact back to the surrounding community, with an expected three million visitors annually. Bell Bank Park is the vision of Randy J. Miller, Chairman of Legacy Sports USA, Chad J Miller, CEO of Legacy Sports USA, and Olympic Gold Medalist Dan O’Brien, Director of Performance Training at Legacy Sports USA. In addition, Bell Bank Park also will feature a multi-purpose arena and outdoor amphitheater which Oak View Group will schedule live events, family shows, exhibitions and conventions.
The project will be developed in one single phase constructing outdoor and indoor team athletic
facilities geared to high energy entertainment, sports venues. For more information on Bell Bank park, visit www.bellbankpark.com. For a virtual tour, visit http://elitesportsaz.com/virtualtour. Follow @LegacySportsUSA on Facebook and Instagram for additional updates and announcements.