Olympic Medalists Headline Partner Summit

PARK CITY, UT (July 24) – The Sochi Olympic Winter Games produced 17 medals, including a record eight gold, for U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association (USSA) athletes. It was also a record year for USSA partners who activated marketing campaigns around the U.S. Ski Team, U.S. Snowboarding and U.S. Freeskiing. Over 200 partners gathered for USSA Partner Summit 2014 at the team’s Center of Excellence in Park City this week to celebrate Sochi and recap the partnership outreach that brought the Sochi story to millions of Americans.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Over 200 partners and trustees of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association celebrated the team’s Sochi success at USSA Partner Summit in Park City.
• USSA athletes won 17 medals, including a record eight gold, in Sochi with nearly 250 million Americans watching the Olympics on NBC.
• Among those attending USSA Partner Summit 2014 were 11 of the 17 medalists, including 2014 gold medalists Ted Ligety, Sage Kotsenburg, Joss Christensen, David Wise, Maddie Bowman and Kaitlyn Farrington – who each spoke to the group, detailing out their winning runs from Sochi.
• It was also a record year for partner activation around the U.S. Ski Team, U.S. Snowboarding and U.S. Freeskiing with USSA and its partners builing a strong year-long campaign around a Believe in U.S. theme.
• Over 50 USSA athletes were selected to attend NBC’s pre-Olympic promotional shoot, as well as the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Sochi Media Summit.
• An unprecedented 18 USSA athletes were featured in NBC primetime Olympic profiles including a multiple segment feature with Bode Miller and NBC’s Tom Brokaw.
• Over 30 skiers and snowboarders took part in the USOC’s 100-year out celebration in New York City held in conjunction with the USSA’s Gold Medal Gala that raised a million dollars for the team.
• Olympic Trials in nordic combined and ski jumping were broadcast live from the Utah Olympic Park, site of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
• The Sprint U.S. Grand Prix, which served as the core of selection for snowboarding and freeskiing, saw a 20% boost in ratings, continuing to establish the 18-year old Grand Prix as one of America’s most notable action sports properties.
• Nine USSA athletes were featured in a dozen national television commercials running during the Olympics including a Visa campaign featuring Sarah Hendrickson that debuted on the NFC Championship Game on Fox.
• The USSA used its growing success in broadcast to make a media rights acquisition from the European Broadcast Union to gain exclusive USA broadcast and streaming rights for the 2015 and 2017 World Championships.
• At recent meetings of the International Ski Federation, the USSA was awarded rights to conduct the 2017 Audi FIS Alpine World Cup Finals in Aspen and the 2019 World Championships in freestyle, freeskiing and snowboarding in Park City.
• This spring the USSA announced the most extensive coverage ever of a World Championships in the USA with live broadcast and streaming coverage of every event at the Vail/Beaver Creek championships this February on NBC, NBCSN and Universal Sports.

QUOTES

Tiger Shaw, President and CEO, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association
Partners play a tangible role in our athletic success through their support of our athletes and creating greater visibility for our sport. We were proud to share the success of Sochi with companies who are committed to our cause.

Michael Jaquet, Chief Marketing Officer, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association
The Sochi Olympic season provided us with a remarkable opportunity to bring our sport to millions of fans across America through our broadcasts and activation from our partners. Our innovative approach to events and television will continue that momentum we generated this past season.