Excutive Director Report
April 08, 2008
Back
Dear USA Water Ski board of directors, board members of the sport disciplines, principals of the sport,
and the USA Water Ski staff:
It is great to be back in Florida with some warm weather. I spent the latter part of last week in Colorado
Springs and participated in several NGB-wide and USOC meetings on Wednesday and Thursday. This
report will be oriented around those meetings. If you are inclined toward the philosophy that we should
not be a part of the Olympic movement, bear with me on this report as it will eventually get to the point of
greatest interest, and that is the hard-dollar investment by the USOC in USA Water Ski.
ACES is the acronym for a recently created organization formed to improve USOC/NGB relations. The
organization is The Association for Chief Executives of Sport. USA Water Ski is a member of ACES.
Prior to ACES formation late last year, the NGBs met monthly on an informal basis to mostly excoriate
the USOC. Now, the monthly meetings are still monthly, but more formalized with a well-considered
agenda and involvement with USOC executives. Credit is due to the USOC for its distinct interest in
being involved at the highest level (i.e. the CEO and his upper-level staff attend each meeting). The
outcome has been a better flow of information, and quicker reaction to problems that may exist. I must
say that the USOC and the NGBs have worked earnestly to improve relations and communication to the
mutual benefit of all the organizations.
Two topics of interest in this meeting were (i) the Internet/Television content agreements between the
NGBs and USOC, and (ii) the negative PR emanating out of the lead-up to the Beijing Olympic Games.
You may recall from a previous report that USA Water Ski and every other NGB (except USA Track and
Field, US Swimming, USA Shooting, and USA Gymnastics) signed an Internet/Television content
agreement and are receiving rights fees paid by the USOC for the exclusive use of our content. You may
also recall that I had mentioned that typically new programs initiated by the USOC come with some
hiccups, but always turn out to be of a superior quality. Currently and generally, the NGBs are having
some confusion regarding NGB functionality (e.g. online membership and online event sanctioning
programs) being housed on the USOC server. Those problems will work themselves out yet this month as
the USOC plans the launch of the new "fan-based" USOC/NGB site on May 1, 2008. However, we may
experience some delays in the actual cosmetic updated look of our site. Also, as a reminder, part of the
arrangement was the exclusivity of television rights beginning in 2009 being assigned to the new Olympic
TV Network to be launched later this year prior to the Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. We have
already been sending some television content for video streaming on the USOC Internet site.
The other topic that might seem far afield from USA Water Ski, but not really as you will discover as this
report progresses, is the PR the Beijing Olympic Games are receiving in the lead up to the August
opening. I am writing this report on Tuesday of this week, and already there have been recent flair-ups on
the torch run in London and Paris.
This Wednesday the torch run will be held in the USA in San Francisco in its only appearance on our
nation's soil. (See article below) It is anticipated that the San Francisco torch run will be the run most
fraught with protests. There are several sponsors involved with the torch run (e.g. Coca-Cola, Lenovo,
Samsung) and sponsors do not like being intertwined with something that is controversial. And, these
Olympic Games have all the trappings of having controversy draped upon them throughout the lead up
and into the actual competitions.
The effect it can have on USA Water Ski and every other NGB is that the USOC is currently engaged in
sponsor renewals for the next Olympiad (the next four year period leading to the London Olympic Games
in Olympic-speak). Allocations committed to all NGBs on an annual basis add up to around $26,000,000.
Direct allocations to athletes add up annually to another $20,000,000. These numbers can be adversely
affected as we go into the next Olympiad if sponsors determine that sponsor dollars are better invested
elsewhere in the face of the international controversy associated with Beijing. Sponsor partners are
already falling away from many high profile properties (witness NASCAR) so development is a challenge
even if there was no controversy.
There has been an interesting history revolving around the hard dollar investment in USA Water Ski by
the USOC due to our status as a Pan American Games sport. USA Water Ski was introduced onto the Pan
American Games program in 1995 for the Pan American Games in Argentina. There was a somewhat
subjective formula in place at that time to provide funding to prepare athletes for those games. Later on as
the USOC made its initial efforts to develop a purely objective form of resource allocation, USA Water
Ski found itself with a base funding of $250,000 per year with possibilities to build upon that level if
certain markers were met. Several years later the base funding was reduced to $100,000 for Pan American
Games sport only NGBs, and a little later after that reduction there was a total base reduction to zero
dollars (although we do still receive allocations for services, health insurance benefits for upper level elite
athletes and opportunities to apply for grants). I do not know the exact reason for the reduction to zero;
however, as the Beijing Olympic Games come to a conclusion there will be new opportunities open to
USA Water Ski.
A portion of the USOC’s board of directors will turn over upon the completion of the Beijing Games.
That turnover will include the current chair. Philosophies can and often change upon turnover of a board.
We anticipate that with the help of ACES and hopefully, an assist from USOC staff, that Pan American
Games sport only NGBs will find their way onto a funding formula again. A big if will be the
development of adequate funds by the USOC. If funds are not successfully developed, we can anticipate a
lack of support from Olympic NGBs as the pool of available resources is reduced across the board.
However, if there is success, we can anticipate support.
If one takes a careful look at the Ted Stevens Act of 1978 (Ted Stevens is an Alaskan senator in the
Congress; Stevens wrote the legislation federally chartering the USOC) you will note that the act
chartered the USOC as the organization charged to prepare athletes for the Olympic, Paralympic, and Pan
American Games. Hand in hand with that charge is the responsibility to help in the provision of resources
to develop athletes for competition. Hopefully in the next Olympiad we can re-engage with the USOC in
developing a base level of funding.
Steve Locke
Executive Director
USA Water Ski
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