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≡ USOPC BOARD MEETING ≡
The United States has been the most successful National Olympic Committee in history in terms of medals won at the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and is the only NOC which does not receive direct funding from its national government.
That’s because the USOPC has been the beneficiary of America’s love for the Olympic Games, and that has helped with fund-raising.
At a Monday briefing following last week’s Board meetings in New York, USOPC chief executive Sarah Hirshland enthused about the corporate support coming together for the LA28 Games:
“Our joint LA28 and USOPC team – U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties, as we refer to it, ‘USOPP’ – will close out this year having achieved a really wonderful milestone. USOPP has raised more than $2 billion through domestic sponsorship and licensing agreements, with nearly a billion dollars in deals signed this year alone. And while the resources are critically important both to Team USA and to the execution of the LA28 Games, it is the brands and the stories they will tell that perhaps will have the greatest impact for us. …
“There is still much work to do and I can assure the team is not resting, but the reality is that this success puts the LA28 Games on track to be very successful, while building significant commercial value for Team USA for many years to come. We couldn’t be more pleased with where we sit.”
As for the USOPC’s own fund-raising efforts, Hirshland explained that support from Americans is coming to rise, for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation:
“We’ve seen consistent and steady growth in the Foundation since its inception just more than a decade ago as we think about quad-over-quad growth. I think, two quads ago [2017-20], we raised $125 million; last quad, we raised $225 million – that’s the quad that ended in 2024 – this year we’ll raise nearly $250 million, in a single year. So the momentum is very real.
“Now, that takes into account $100 million gift from Ross Stevens, so it’s a significant thing. We are seeing real growth in, I’ll say, major and transformational gifts, that gifts that are in the $10-25 million range. We’ve had several of them and we’re continuing to see the generosity of individuals who have that kind of capacity, which is really promising.
“But we’re also excited that we’re seeing growth at every level. So even the small gifts: on Giving Tuesday, we saw significant year-over-year growth in both the number of gifts and the average gift size, and these are $40-50 kinds of gifts coming from hundreds and thousands of people.”
Hirshland also pointed to new fund-raising efforts, in the Women’s Circle, and the Next-Gen Council.
On the Milan Cortina preparation side, Hirshland shared in the amazing exploits of skier Lindsey Vonn’s World Cup Downhill win at age 41 and Jordan Stolz’s five golds in a single ISU Speed Skating World Cup. But what about the continuing worries over the hockey rinks to be used in Milan? Said Hirshland:
“We have no concerns. We have all the confidence in the world that they’re going to have venues suitable to their talent and as I mentioned, we’re feeling incredibly excited about the talent coming in, both on the women’s side, the sled [Para] side and the men’ side. All three teams had an incredible 2025 and these are the best athletes in the world . They’re ready and we’re excited.”
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One of the issues the USOPC is worried about is Olympic-sport collegiate programs. Hirshland noted:
“The risk for us is that schools cut Olympic-sport programs, or reduce the resources allocated to them, due to the financial pressures that they are facing. Our perspective and our commitment on this topic has not changed. Our focus remains on protecting broad-based sport and the Olympic and Paralympic pipeline and we will continue to actively engage Congress, the Administration, the NCAA, individual schools and all the conferences in that effort.
“We believe strongly there is a solution to be had that honors the athletes and Olympic and Paralympic sport, while also providing for the new revenue-sharing landscape and continued NIL [name-image-likeness] growth.”
The USOPC has come out in support of the SCORE Act, which was advanced out of committee in the U.S. House and awaits a floor vote.
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Although the Milan Cortina Games are the main focus for the USOPC right now, there are ongoing issues with in multiple Olympic sports for which there is no currently-recognized National Governing Body. Hirshland noted the status for three sports:
● “USA Badminton has been de-certified, and so they are no longer a certified National Governing Body and the support for elite, Team USA athletes in that sport is being managed by our internal team here at the USOPC.”
● “Cricket [USA Cricket] is an entity which has not been certified as it is a new sport on the program, and so cricket has to essentially meet standards to be considered for certification. … Both the ICC [International Cricket Council] and the USOPC have some concerns about where that organization sits relative to its compliance, so there will be additional work to be done there before USA Cricket, as it stands today, would be in a position to be certified.”
● “Surfing is in the process of an application to be certified. I believe we just had a hearing in that proceeding just before Thanksgiving, and I think decisions around USA Surfing’s application will be made sometime in the spring; my guess is just post-Milan Cortina.”
Skateboarding is another sport for which an application has been made for certification by U.S. Ski & Snowboard, which certainly has the financial resources, but whose candidature runs afoul of the Ted Stevens Olympic & Amateur Sport Act (at 36 USC §220522 et seq.), which allows a National Governing Body to be a member of only one International Federation.
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USOPC President Gene Sykes was the only American who attended the Olympic Summit in Lausanne last week and was asked about the follow-up to Indonesia’s refusal to issue entry visas to Israeli athletes for October’s World Artistic Gymnastics Championships:
“We did have a discussion about that. It was a good, thorough and very direct discussion. …
“The IOC, as I say, issued this statement, reiterating that it is the responsibility of the host country, the competition organizer and the relevant governing bodies to ensure guarantees in advance for all athletes to compete without discrimination. They held a special Executive Board session to discuss the issue and they continue to talk to both the gymnastics federation and the Indonesian Olympic Committee about the issues.
“So, I think there is still a very strong view that this was not reflective of the direction and the approach that the IOC and its members would like to see in international sport.”
In a not-wholly-unrelated matter, LA28 organizing committee Chair Casey Wasserman appeared last week at the year-end event of the Israel Olympic Committee last week and gave assurances that Israeli athletes would not only be welcome at the 2028 Games, but would be safe and secure in Los Angeles.
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