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« Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » It's A 'Home Game' Olympics With American Heroes Says Kelly - 'A Real Opportunity'By Craig Altschul 
"The similar time zone coverage on NBC and its partners will provide immense awareness of winter sports across America," Tom Kelly, the veteran U.S. Ski and Snowboarding Association Vice President for Communications, told The Industry Report. "It's a great opportunity for the U.S. ski and snowboarding industry to capitalize on that awareness by providing programs for the public to try the sport and share the excitement for themselves. There will never be a better opportunity to take advantage of the awareness created by heroes like Lindsey Vonn and Bode Miller." Kelly offered that advice with an exclamation mark: The day before this interview, Vonn aced the Super G for a gold medal at the World Alpine Skiing Championships in France. The World Championships head into their second week today and Kelly is looking at the event as a "great springboard for Lindsey and our other athletes into Vancouver." He said what was really exciting was that the U.S. is in position to challenge for medals in every event. "The TV coverage from Val d'Isere is encouraging, as well, as NBC Sports will carry same day coverage on both weekends, which is a huge increase. NBC's partner, Universal Sports TV, will provide coverage every day into over 30 million homes, plus live Webcasting on UniversalSports.com." So, what is the "state of the union" for USSA as it moves into that critical awareness bump that occurs when the Winter Olympics draws nigh? "The USSA is seeing strong athletic success in its elite sports again this season and very healthy participation across our 400 local clubs. Like most businesses and organizations, the USSA is focusing on its core programs to ensure that the best services are delivered to athletes," he told us. "We're very encouraged by growth in recent years. We've seen increases in our participation for eight straight years. Our 400 USSA clubs at local resorts are growing. The gains are across all sports, including alpine, but some of the real hot growth areas are in freestyle with moguls skiing and skier halfpipe," Kelly said. Kelly took time to introduce some of the "new" faces at the races – the ones that could become household names in an Olympiad in North America. "Lindsey is an incredible athlete and role model. She has an amazing work ethic and is eloquent in her ability to tell her story and the story of her sport. She will energize an entire generation of athletes, much like her hero Picabo Street did." (Vonn was part of U.S. Olympic teams in 2002 and 2006, but had not won on a "big stage" until last week. Her maiden name was Lindsey Kildow. She married racer Thomas Vonn in 2007). "Bode Miller is a great American ski racer and has shown that in the last two seasons through his dedication and focus. He will continue to be a factor as an athlete and an icon for the sport. He generates excitement. "Olympic champions Hannah Teter, Kelly Clark, Shaun White, and Seth Wescott are still at the top of their sport, but will be challenged by emerging stars like halfpipe rider Louie Vito and X Games SBX champion Nate Holland. Olympic silver medalists Gretchen Bleiler and Lindsey Jacobellis also will be factors. "Freestyle aerialist Jeret "Speedy" Peterson and moguls skier Hannah Kearney are back after a break and already have World Cup wins. "Billy Demong has won two nordic combined World Cups this year while Kikkan Randall and Andy Newell will be contenders in the cross country sprint." The Olympics bubble builds every four years, but the FIS World Cup competition in the build-up and aftermath will make a difference to momentum. Kelly thinks those tours "will continue to do well worldwide. "Our sports are one of only a few Olympic sports that have such a global presence across a six month competition season each year. We still have great interest from U.S. resorts in capitalizing on the global awareness of the World Cup. We had huge turnouts of fans at Beaver Creek for the Birds of Prey Race Week this year. At Deer Valley Resort recently, we had capacity crowds for two night events plus a separate Main Street concert. "The Olympic town of Lake Placid continues to be a big draw. International athletes love coming to America for the best events in the world. Our corporate partners and donors find great value in attending our events at major U.S. resorts. "Television coverage worldwide remains strong. The USSA is now delivering content to a wide range of platforms including our broadcast partnership with NBC Sports, cable partnerships with Versus, Fuel TV, and Universal Sports TV, online partnerships with UniversalSports.com, and Go211.com, as well as mobile distribution with Sprint," he says. What It Means: U.S. resorts and travel businesses have their best shot at capitalizing on snow sports interest in many an Olympic moon. The opportunity is greatly enhanced by the new and engaging presence of Vonn, the brash image and seemingly new focus of Miller, and some other proven names. Maybe, just once, the ski industry can do what it never has truly done before and take advantage of a nicely timed significant boost. « Previous Story | The Industry Report Home Page | Next Story » |
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