This weekend on Sports Business Radio I'll catch up with a person I've wanted to interview for quite some time now - Arizona Diamondbacks Managing Partner Jeff Moorad. One of the most recognizable names in professional sports, Jeff Moorad brought over 20 years of sports management experience to Arizona on August 6, 2004, when he was named a member of the executive team of the Diamondbacks. The career change was finalized when the Office of the Commissioner formally approved Moorad as a General Partner in the Diamondbacks’ ownership group. Armed with a wealth of experience in Major League Baseball on the player side of the table, Moorad now represents the ownership group and oversees the day-to-day operations of the Diamondbacks.

Moorad's leadership is one of the main reasons the Diamondbacks returned to the MLB Playoffs this season (with the best league in the NL) for the first time since 2002.

The founder of Moorad Sports Management, he began specializing in athlete representation in 1983. Moorad's reputation as a knowledgeable and respected negotiator has earned him a spot on The Sporting News' 100 Most Powerful People in Sports on eight occasions, as he helped revolutionize player representation. Moorad was the negotiator on a number of landmark contracts for a client base that included Manny Ramirez, Ivan Rodriguez and Mo Vaughn.

Moorad's client base took off in 1984 when he was retained by Will Clark and four other members of the U.S. Olympic baseball team, each of whom were top ten draft choices. He then joined forces with Leigh Steinberg in 1985 to form one of the most dynamic twosomes in the history of sports representation, covering both Major League Baseball and the National Football League. The successful duo negotiated over $3 billion in athlete contracts throughout their 18 years together, including representing Hall of Famer QB's Steve Young and Troy Aikman.

Moorad and fellow Diamondbacks executive Tom Garfinkel (COO) recently purchased the majority stake of a NASCAR team. The team they purchased is Hall of Fame Racing and Dallas Cowboys Hall of Fame QB's Troy Aikman and Roger Staubach will be minority partners with Moorad and Garfinkel. Just as Roush Fenway Racing has cross promote the Red Sox with NASCAR and vice versa, don't be surprised if Moorad and Garfinkel cross promote the Diamondbacks with their new NASCAR team.

Moorad is one of the true power brokers in all of sports and is well versed in just about every aspect of the business side of sports. I look forward to my conversation with him this weekend on Sports Business Radio.