Team USA CEO urges brands to sponsor more Olympic athletes

Good morning.

The Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games are now a month away, with almost 15,000 athletes poised to compete for medals in 32 sports, including ‘breaking’ or break-dancing. Caitlin Clark wasn’t invited to join USA Basketball, but stars like Simone Biles, Katie Ledecky, Scottie Scheffler, Coco Gauff, and Steph Curry are expected to go.

Marketers are betting big on Paris, with record marketing spend by brands like Nike and Olympic media rights revenue up 20% over the COVID-era Tokyo 2020 Games. The ads are already rolling at a Super Bowl-like pace. (This one from Deloitte, which sponsors this newsletter, is up there with P&G’s “Thank You Mom” from Rio in 2016.)

But even with all the money floating around, very few competitors get rich. “Sport is becoming increasingly more haves and have-nots, and access is waning,” Sarah Hirshland, CEO of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, told me. “It’s such a powerful tool for the development of human beings, particularly women in business.”

Hirshland became USOPC CEO in 2018 to turn around an organization that failed to stem the abuse endured by Team USA gymnasts, among other things. After years of working to restore credibility and provide a sense of safety to athletes, her message is “we’re back.”

“We’re the most diverse team in the world,” she says of the 900 athletes headed to Paris. “We’re also an ecosystem of tons of organizations, it's fragmented and complex, but we’re stronger today…This is the most fair, safe, inclusive environment that exists in sport.”

The USOPC released its 2023 Impact Report this morning, highlighting a record-breaking $60 million raised through its foundation, the $1.8 million in continuing education grants, $721,000 allocated through its technology fund. That might sound like chump change next to, say, the record $1.2 billion in ad sales NBC had already booked by April.

The USOPC is under pressure to implement wide-ranging reforms an independent commission released in a 275-page report to Congress earlier this year. (Hirshland supports many of them.) The commission found that 26.5% of current athletes were making less than $15,000 a year, with training costs averaging $12,000.

Why the bulk of her funding comes from philanthropic donations versus corporate funding is a question for others to ponder. “The hardest thing in the world to do is to make Team USA,” she says. “Think about the opportunity for companies to leverage and build relationships with these individuals in a way that's deeper than the top 10 names everyone knows; how they can be valuable partners in motivating employees and customers.” Good point.

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Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com