The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association anticipates that it will be able to sell longer, and more lucrative corporate sponsorships than ever before in the wake of this month’s FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Colorado.
The championships, which wrapped up Feb. 15, finished as the most-watched skiing event in a non-Olympic year among U.S. viewers, with more than 10 million viewers tuning in to nearly 30 hours of coverage on NBC, NBC Sports Network and Universal Sports Network.
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The FIS Alpine World Ski Championships attracted 10 million viewers on NBC and related channels.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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Mike Jaquet, USSA’s chief marketing officer, said that while sponsors’ deals with the organization are often four years in length — thereby covering two world championships and one Winter Olympic Games — the success of this year’s worlds could allow the national governing body to sell the idea of adding a fifth year to its deals with current and new corporate partners. That additional year would provide the opportunity for another biennial world championship event as part of the deal.
Jaquet said USSA is in talks with sponsors Goodyear and Procter & Gamble, whose current two-year deals expire this year, about renewing their deals through 2019, a worlds year, as opposed to 2018, an Olympic year.
A Goodyear representative said the company is reviewing renewal options. P&G declined to comment on any talks.
USSA’s top sponsors include Audi, Nature Valley, Putnam Investments, Sprint and Visa. The NGB’s top-tier sponsorships typically go for low seven figures per year. The association additionally has about a dozen sponsors that have deals in the high six figures annually.
Jaquet said that while previous sponsorship agreements included 30 percent premiums tied to Olympic years, the added exposure sponsors received on television at this year’s world championships could allow for 10 percent to 20 percent premiums on future world championship years.
USSA in 2013 reached a deal with the European Broadcasting Union, FIS’s international rights holder, that gave USSA rights to the 2015 and 2017 FIS Alpine and Nordic Ski World Championships. (FIS is the international governing body for skiing.) Then, last year in Sochi, USSA finalized a five-year broadcast deal with NBC that, for the first time, was a revenue-sharing partnership as opposed to a time-buy arrangement. It also offered more coverage hours than ever before.
Jaquet said those moves allowed USSA to integrate its sponsors into the telecasts of this month’s event when otherwise they would have had little exposure.
Because FIS operates the world championships, its sponsors are granted all of the on-course signage, which reaches both TV viewers and event attendees. Under the new arrangement, the TV coverage included branded content from USSA sponsors, including regular weather reports sponsored by Goodyear. Gary Melliere, general manager of sponsorships and marketing assets for Goodyear, touted the ability to “deliver relevant messaging and engage fans” with the impact of weather conditions on performance as a logical link between skiing and driving.
The telecasts also featured content branded by Putnam, P&G, Liberty Mutual and knee-brace sponsor DonJoy.
Alex Silverman is a staff writer for SportsBusiness Daily.
