New USOC Marketing Office In N.Y. Among Baird's Changes

The USOC, after "decades of having its marketing staff based in Colorado Springs," plans to open a marketing office in N.Y., according to Tripp Mickle of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. USOC CMO Lisa Baird said that the organization decided to "return a portion of its marketing staff" to N.Y., where the USOC has not had an office since moving its HQs to Colorado Springs in '78, "because NBC is headquartered there and a lot of the organization's partners visit the city, which makes more in-person meetings possible." Baird also said that if Chicago is awarded the '16 Olympics, the USOC "might open an office there, as well," though the "bulk of the marketing staff will remain in Colorado Springs." Meanwhile, Baird in an e-mail to sponsors last week "detailed her plans for restructuring the marketing department into a consumer products group, a business development team and a partner marketing department with four separate teams responsible for servicing five to six partners each." The business development group "will be responsible for signing new sponsors and developing new revenue streams." Mickle notes the moves are the "first steps by Baird to put her stamp on the marketing division that she took over" in January, and her changes "put more emphasis on servicing partners than developing the USOC's brand." Baird has hired former NFL Dir of Business Development, Consumer Products Peter Zeytoonjian to "manage the USOC's new consumer products group" and to "oversee its licensing and consumer products offerings." Rob Prazmark of 21 Marketing also will work as a consultant with the USOC for sales and marketing following the restructuring and through the rest of the year (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/1 issue).