SOCCER Crew's Smith is moving to NFL

COLUMBUS (AP) -- The Columbus Crew announced Tuesday that team president and general manager Jim Smith is leaving to take a front-office position with the NFL's Atlanta Falcons.
Smith, who joined the Crew and Major League Soccer in January 2000, will take over as the Falcons' vice president of marketing on July 9.
"It doesn't take a genius to market Michael Vick," Smith said with a laugh, referring to the franchise's star quarterback.
Mark McCullers, the Crew's executive vice president and the general manager of Crew Stadium, will replace Smith on an interim basis. Until a permanent GM is selected, player-personnel decisions will be made by coach Greg Andrulis in consultation with the ownership group led by Lamar Hunt.
The Hunt ownership group said McCullers would be considered for the permanent position of replacing Smith, which will most likely be filled by the end of this season.
Smith came to the Crew from Ohio State where he was an associate athletic director for marketing and communication. He was selected as the MLS executive of the year in 2001, a year before the team won the U.S. Open Cup title.
He said he regretted not being able to stay through the season to watch the transformed Crew, which lost several top players in the off-season but has come back from a slow start to get to 4-4-3.
Moving up to working for an NFL team made the decision to leave an easier one, Smith said.
"It's clearly the No. 1 professional sports league in this country and could very well be the No. 1 professional sports property worldwide," Smith said.
McCullers has been with the Crew since December 1998 and played an integral part in the development and construction of America's first soccer-specific stadium, which opened in May 1999.