Is There an Olympics In Maryland's Future" Subject of April 21 Lecture by John Moag

SALISBURY, MD---John Moag, who as chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority brought the NFL Ravens to Baltimore and now chairs Baltimore’s bid to host the 2012 Summer Olympics, will talk about "Is There an Olympics in Maryland’s Future?" on Wednesday, April 21, at Salisbury State University. As a member of the Maryland Olympic Committee, Moag is in a unique position to predict whether or not marquee events will some day be held in Maryland and whether or not certain events will be held on Delmarva.

His lecture, free and open to the public, is at 7 p.m. in the Great Hall in Holloway Hall on the SSU campus. His presentation at SSU is sponsored by the Salisbury State University Foundation Inc. and the SSU President’s Club.

As chairman of the Maryland Stadium Authority from 1995-99, Moag oversaw Oriole Park at Camden Yards, home of the Orioles, the Baltimore Convention Center, construction of the Ocean City Convention Center expansion and the establishment of the Montgomery County Conference Center.

Since luring a National Football League team to Baltimore he has been honored by several professional business and civic groups. A new stadium for the team on property adjacent to Oriole Park at Camden Yards was completed on time and within budget and Ravens Stadium, regarded as a marvel of engineering and design, is the benchmark for pro football stadiums in the USA today.

In June 1998 Moag joined Legg Mason Wood Walker Inc. as a managing director where he leads a multi-disciplinary financial team devoted to the sports industry. His group at Legg Mason has extensive experience in stadium and arena financing, the sale of franchises and financial reorganizations.

Moag earned a B.A. in political science from Washington College in 1977. While pursuing a law degree, which he earned from the University of Baltimore in 1981, Moag served for a year as a personal assistant to Steny H. Hoyer, then president of the Maryland Senate, and also served as aide de camp to Acting Governor Blair Lee III of Maryland.

From 1981-86 Moag served Hoyer as his legislative director and associate staff to the House Committee on Appropriations of the U.S. House of Representatives. In 1987 Moag joined the Washington, D.C. law firm of Patton Boggs, LLP, the youngest partner in the firm’s history. He joined former Governor Harry Hughes to open the Baltimore office and was director of the firm’s branch offices in Denver, Dallas, Greensboro, Raleigh, Seattle and Baltimore.

He is secretary of the Board of Visitors and Governors at Washington College. He ia widely credited with persuading Dr. John Toll to come out of retirement and assume the presidency of that private institution. Toll had previously been chancellor of the University System of Maryland.

Moag lectures frequently on the sports industry and has published several articles on the subject.

For more information about his lecture, please call the SSU Public Relations Office at 410-543-6030.