Executive Director Report
Febuary 04, 2008

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1. Since last Friday, I have been in Colorado Springs, Colo., visiting with family and spending time at the USOC’s Olympic Training Center. I thought it might be of some interest to report on progress being made for the Beijing Olympic Games set for this upcoming August even though we are not participating. USOC Chairman of the Board Peter Ueberroth has commented frequently that the Beijing Olympic Games will likely be the event of the decade with great global implications as China puts its best foot forward. As in all Olympic Games, there will be some confusion, there will be considerable price gouging, and there is great sensitivity from the IOC through to the national Olympic committees (NOCs) that athletes, coaches, and others may try to use the Games as a platform for their own particular “protest” or agenda item. Nonetheless, progress is ongoing in many areas. Here are a few examples:

Marketing. The USOC is exclusively funded through corporate sponsorships, some giving programs, and several fee schedules for some of the services it provides. All in all, it operates with around $600,000,000 per quad (or, Olympiad using USOC parlance..means every four years). Not a dime is derived through tax dollars, and, as a result, the USOC can be hampered if its marketing efforts occur during difficult economic times. Many other NOCs are funded through governmental monies, and are not as sensitive to twists and turns in the economy. Currently, USOC marketing, for the most part, is complete for this Olympiad (ends at the end of this year), and the USOC is working on the execution of sponsor campaigns, and preparing sponsor decks and renewals for the next quad. There is also a massive effort taking place to provide incredible hospitality for USOC sponsors in Beijing.

Games Prep. The USOC’s Game Prep division is just the most prepared group ever invented. Ask our athletes who represented water skiing and wakeboarding at last year’s Pan American Games. At all Olympic and Pan American Games, they are responsible for creating training opportunities, apparel provision, and for the overall care, feeding and watering of athletes, coaches and support personnel. It is a giant enterprise as the USA has its own village within the Athletes Village, which looks after several thousand people. I could go on and on.

Media. The USOC’s and IOC’s electronic media partner is NBC Much preparation is under way in studios throughout the country (including the one in the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs) producing athlete profiles and other material to be used in August. “Amazing Awaits” is the new USOC tagline, and we will see branding in sponsor ads with that term, its logo, and newly created music that will be associated with these Games. The music is magnificent and will be used in a variety of ways. Music is a marketplace branding application. Much like the three notes always heard at the conclusion of an Intel commercial, the USOC will also have its own tagline notes.

The reason I mention all of this is that it has been a dream of many within the USA Water Ski community to be a part of the Olympic Games. We have experienced disappointments over the years..most recently in Athens... but we must never, never, never give up. The Olympic experience for athletes is the ultimate, and for most sports, the Games open up an array of marketing opportunities and further legitimize the sport.

Our principal challenge in gaining Olympic programme acceptance is green in nature. The IOC is closely monitoring the carbon footprint of each sport in an effort to exemplify the proper use of limited energy resources within sporting competitions.

And in one final note regarding the USOC and USA Water Ski, late last year we signed a content agreement with the USOC for Internet and television use. The new enhanced USOC Web site (ours will be a part of that overall site) is planned for launch on May 1, 2008 (although the exact date for the USA Water Ski site has not yet been determined). The new Olympic television network is planned for launch in August 2008 to coincide with the Beijing Olympic Games. Both launches should create good buzz.


2. Within last week’s report, I noted that we needed to expand coverage in our magazine, The Water Skier , to include articles additional to our current athlete profiles, instruction and tournament coverage. I received three responses from that report expressing concern. That is encouraging. The encouragement is that the report is being read, and, hopefully, stimulating healthy debate. Pasted below are excerpts from my response to one of the concerned folks:

Dear…..,
….During the board meeting and during my recent report, I suggested areas that may strike some within the organization as a little different. I thought it encouraging that two others in addition to you wrote concerned with my views. It means people are paying attention and that is a good thing…….. hopefully, the weekly reports will encourage an ongoing healthy exchange of ideas with us coming to an eventual positive outcome.

….. I say in my latest report that all of our disciplines are "cool", but outsiders are not always made aware of the coolness. Wakeboarders seem to have met that goal primarily due to the newness of the sport and their feeling that wakeboarding is a break-away from the norm. Remember the term cool is in the eye of the beholder. Wakeboarding and its attendant behaviors may be cool to some while three event or any of our other disciplines and their attendant behaviors may be cool to others. We need to make every effort to not only report on competitions of the various disciplines, but also speak to the various lifestyles each discipline brings to the table.

Over-riding in my report was our need to identify who our principal customer is. I believe it is the event organizer. We need to
nourish event organizers to bring more event opportunities to each discipline and provide more entry level opportunities to new participants. Doing this alongside with reporting on lifestyles and providing, as we have always before, high level competitions for quality skiers should be our go-forward endeavor.


Thank you to the three of you who responded. In the end, it will be the people of this sport family that will ultimately decide on the path we will follow to grow the sport, and I look forward to an ongoing healthy expression of ideas in how to achieve that growth.

Have a good weekend. No Super Bowl will be on hand, but there is always the Pro Bowl.

Steve Locke
Executive Director
USA Water Ski