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Chivas USA names Zeke Chaidez as VP of Business

June 9, 2006 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Club Deportivo Chivas USA News Release


CARSON, Calif. (Thursday, June 8, 2006) - Major League Soccer club Chivas USA announced today that it has hired Zeke Chaidez as its new Vice President of Business. In the newly created position, Chaidez, 41, will oversee sales and other revenue generating programs for the Mexican-owned soccer team, which joined MLS as an expansion franchise in 2005. A Southland native and son of immigrant parents, Chaidez brings to Chivas USA his profound understanding of the Los Angeles Hispanic marketplace, borne of 15 years' experience in sales and marketing in Southern California.

"Zeke is a significant and welcome addition to our club. His record in management and driving revenue speaks for itself," said Chivas USA Senior Vice President and General Manager Whit Haskel. "He is a guy who makes everyone around him that much better. He will undoubtedly help us aggressively grow as an institution and as a business."

"I grew up in Southern California and have watched the Hispanic market, and particularly soccer, grow into the force that it is today. I am pleased to join Chivas USA and Major League Soccer and I look forward to contributing to the next phase of growth of both the world's greatest sport and the Chivas brand in the United States," said Chaidez.

Chaidez joins Chivas USA after a three-year stint with Radiovisa (2003-2006), where as Executive Vice President and General Manager he was instrumental in the purchase and format launch of one of the nation's premier Spanish-language talk radio networks, which combined a variety of talk programming with the very best in international sports content, including Major League Soccer, InterLiga, the Copa Libertadores, the Copa Sudamericana, and, during the 2005 MLS season, Chivas USA.

Chaidez began his career with Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation (now Univision Radio), which he joined as a local sales executive in 1992, moving his way up to General Sales Manager for the group of four stations. During his ten-year career with HBC, Chaidez successfully oversaw the launch of two stations, 'La Nueva' KSCA-FM and 'Recuerdo' KRCD/KRCV-FM, and under his leadership, KSCA became the number-one revenue producer among Spanish-language stations, AM or FM, anywhere in the United States.

Chaidez was born on July 8, 1965 in Los Angeles, California, to parents from the state of Durango, Mexico. He currently resides in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, with his wife Lisiane and their son Diego.

About Chivas USA

Founded on August 2, 2004, Club Deportivo Chivas USA is the sister team of Club Deportivo Guadalajara, popularly known as 'Chivas', Mexico's most beloved professional soccer club. Chivas USA, which celebrated its inaugural season as a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in 2005, is currently playing its second campaign in MLS. Bringing a different approach to the world of professional sports in the U.S., Chivas USA not only fields teams in Major League Soccer and the MLS Reserve Division - it also runs such innovative programs such as the Chivas USA Futbol Academies and other soccer education initiatives; the ChivaTown fan zone, the ChivaGirls dance team and other aspects of Chivas USA's uniquely passionate gameday experience; and the Fundación Chivas de Corazón USA, the team's own 501(c)3 non-profit organization, and other community outreach programs and alliances. In 2005, its inaugural season in Major League Soccer, Chivas USA set the all-time standard for corporate sponsorship of an MLS club. Chivas USA is based at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California and is owned by Mexican businessmen Jorge Vergara Madrigal and Antonio Cué Sánchez-Navarro, who also serves as the team's president. For tickets, a 2006 game schedule, and more information on Chivas USA, call 1-877-CHIVAS-1 or visit www.cdchivasusa.com.

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