Vail/Beaver Creek World Champs Honored
LAS VEGAS (Nov. 11, 2015) – The 2015 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships at Vail/Beaver Creek, which attracted record spectators and broadcast ratings for alpine ski racing in America, received top honors Tuesday with presentation of the Best Pro Multi-sport/Multi-discipline Award from SportsTravel magazine at its annual TEAMS conference in Las Vegas. The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) and the Vail Valley Foundation (VVF) were jointly honored for their innovation in producing an extraordinary World Championships.
The February, 2015 event attracted more than 200,000 spectators over the 14-day Championships. It set U.S. broadcast records for the sport with live coverage from every event on NBC and NBCSN, plus live streaming on NBC Sports Live Extra, and had a media impact of more than 800 million.
The award was presented to USSA and VVF leadership Tuesday during a gala event at the TEAMS ’15 Conference & Expo in Las Vegas, the world’s largest gathering of event organizers and travel planners from the sports industry. Held on the basketball court of the Thomas & Mack Center, the awards ceremony was emceed by ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza. Receiving the award in Las Vegas was former VVF President and CEO Ceil Folz and USSA President and CEO Tiger Shaw.
“A major factor that made the 2015 FIS World Alpine Championships worthy of a SportsTravel Award included the event’s innovative approach to attendee promotion, which resulted in a record number of spectators attending the event,” said Scheider Publishing President and CEO Tim Schneider. “Any time the USA hosts a marquee international sporting event, it goes a long way toward encouraging the community of international governing bodies to consider the U.S. as a potential site for their championships.”
The World Championships won against a host of top international events in America including the Winter X Games in Aspen and summer Dew Tour in Chicago. SportsTravel magazine has been an industry leader since 1997, serving organizations that manage sporting events of all types at all levels. Its annual TEAMS conference is a focal point for the industry, attracting more than a thousand sports industry executives each year.
Under the leadership Folz, the organizers took bold steps to grow the Championships from the past, developing an American festival concept as well as investing in the quality and scope of the live global television broadcast. The USSA, meanwhile, acquired the domestic broadcast rights and brokered a groundbreaking package with NBC and NBCSN to bring live TV and streaming coverage resulting in a record 10 million Americans watching the event, triple the previous World Championships.
The U.S. Ski Team had one of its most successful Championships in history, winning five medals lead by gold from Ted Ligety and Mikaela Shiffrin.
“Bringing the World Championships to America was an opportunity for the USSA to increase the awareness of alpine ski racing in America,” said Shaw. “A key to that success, though, was the performance of our U.S. Ski Team stars with five medals.”
This year’s Audi Birds of Prey World Cup, set for Dec. 1-6 in Beaver Creek, will carry on with many of the successful elements of the World Championships. A new festival, the EverBank America’s Winter Opening, will overlay fan-friendly activities at the resort in conjunction with the three days of Audi FIS Ski World Cup racing. NBC and NBCSN will continue live broadcast coverage, as well as streaming on NBC Sports Live Extra.
QUOTES
Tiger Shaw, President and CEO, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association
Bringing the World Championships to America was an opportunity for the USSA to increase the awareness of alpine ski racing in America. A key to that success, though, was the performance of our U.S. Ski Team stars with five medals.
Our innovative investment in domestic broadcast rights, pushing out live TV and streaming coverage daily, brought that story to America. Vail Valley Foundation did an outstanding job in producing a truly remarkable event that showed our global partners how valuable alpine ski racing is in America.
Tim Schneider, President and CEO, Schneider Publishing
A major factor that made the 2015 FIS World Alpine Championships worthy of a SportsTravel Award included the event’s innovative approach to attendee promotion, which resulted in a record number of spectators attending the event. USSA should also be commended on the investment it made in broadcasting the event in America, which resulted in record television ratings.
Any time the USA hosts a marquee international sporting event, it goes a long way toward encouraging the community of international governing bodies to consider the U.S. as a potential site for their championships. One area of potential growth for the U.S. sports-event industry is to successfully bid for and host more international events such as the 2015 FIS World Alpine Championships.