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≡ USOPC NGB SPENDING ≡
With the release of its financial statements for 2024, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee also included a recap of the funds paid to athletes and to the U.S. National Governing Bodies in 2024. It’s a long list, but there were some clear winners.
Of the stated $191 million-plus distributed to athletes and NGBs, the breakdown shown was:
● $55.71 million in direct Athlete Grants
● $21.74 million in Athlete Services
● $78.63 million in NGB Grants
● $34.96 million in NGB Services
The total shown is $191.04 million in 2024. The athlete and NGB grants were spread out over 59 National Governing Bodies: 34 Olympic, nine Winter Olympic, eight Paralympic and eight Pan American sports. That’s a lot of sports. But the breakdown of the NGB funding (grants and services) was decidedly in favor of the Olympic sports in 2024:
● 67.7% or $75.39 million to Olympic sports
● 18.3% or $20.40 million to Olympic Winter sports
● 13.5% or $15.07 million to Paralympic sports
● 0.4% or $475,074 to the Pan American sports
And which Olympic-sport National Governing Bodies got the most money (grants and services)? Let’s start with the big two, which combined for 62 of the 126 medals won by Americans at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games (total medals won in parentheses):
● 1. $10.80 million: USA Track & Field (34)
● 2. $6.70 million: USA Swimming (28)
● 3. $4.18 million: US Rowing (2)
● 4. $4.15 million: USA Volleyball (2)
● 5. $4.06 million: USA Gymnastics (9)
● 6. $3.65 million: USA Cycling (6)
● 7. $3.37 million: USA Rugby (1)
● 8. $3.03 million: USA Shooting (5)
● 9. $2.94 million: USA Water Polo (1)
● 10. $2.86 million: USA Wrestling (7)
The top 10 accounted for 95 of the 126 medals won by the U.S. in Paris. Of note was USA Fencing, which won four medals, but ranked only 13th in funding.
The bottom 10:
● 34. $170,877: USA Handball (did not qualify)
● 33. $254,629: USA Golf (1)
● 32. $254,996: USA Pentathlon (0)
● 31. $545,224: USA Badminton (0)
● 30. $587,635: U.S. Tennis Assn. (2)
● 29. $697,922: USA Table Tennis (0)
● 28. $726,826: Breaking (in-house) (1)
● 27. $767,005: American Canoe Association (2)
● 26. $925,300: USA Surfing (1)
● 25. $932,143: USA Weightlifting (2)
The low amounts for golf and tennis are understandable, as the players come from existing, wealthy professional tours. The other eight combined for nine medals; the 10 listed NGBs were the only ones to receive less than $1 million in grants and services from the USOPC.
What is also true is that not one of these NGBs – those in the top 10 or the bottom 10 – will tell you that they received enough money from the USOPC. In fact, that’s true for all 60 NGBs.
And the number of governing bodies to support keeps expanding. When the Amateur Sports Act of 1978 was passed, giving the then-U.S. Olympic Committee jurisdiction over the Olympic Movement on the U.S., there were 21 Olympic NGBs (summer and winter) and 34 NGBs when counting the Pan American Games sports.
For 2028, add in cricket, flag football and lacrosse, raising the total to 63.
For the winter National Governing Bodies, whose allocations will increase in 2025 looking ahead to the 2025 Winter Games in Milan Cortina, the leader – as always – was U.S. Ski & Snowboard at $8.81 million, second only to USA Track & Field.
Next up were US Speedskating at $2.26 million, USA Bobsled & Skeleton at $2.19 million, USA Hockey at $1.61 million and U.S. Figure Skating at $1.46 million.
It’s a lot of money that has to go to a lot of places, a reality that is not often considered by the International Olympic Committee or Olympic organizing committees when they add sports to the programs of the Olympic and Winter Games.
And, as noted above, no matter what the amount, it’s never enough.
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