UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – As a member of the USOPC College Sports Sustainability Think Tank, Penn State Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Sandy Barbour joined the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee to announce its phase one priorities, which includes three concepts focused on sport sustainability, sport structure and vertical partnerships. The concepts were generated through three working groups, which convened during the fall of 2020.
Developed by the USOPC Think Tank, the concepts emphasize partnerships across the collegiate space and Olympic and Paralympic movements, and recognize that increased alignment can result in operational efficiencies, untapped revenues and a unified vision of the sport pathway for shared athletes.
- Sport sustainability. Olympic and Paralympic sports need more flexibility to manage sport-specific expenses and generate revenue in a cost-effective manner. Modifications of current policies may reduce operating costs, including recruiting expense reductions and streamlined regionalized competition, and open access to new resources, including increased collaboration with youth sport programs and national team partnerships.
- Sport structure. The NCAA legacy of broad-based sport sponsorship at the Division I level should be upheld. Preserving this structure may benefit from collaborative sport management with National Governing Bodies through shared costs, policy alignment and collective promotion of the sport pathway. Through partnerships with NGBs, the NCAA sport sponsorship umbrella could extend flexible membership requirements, agile season operations and sport-specific rules customization to help declining Olympic and Paralympic sports manage within the realities of each sport ecosystem.
- Vertical partnerships. Many Olympic and Paralympic sports rights are bundled with football and basketball agreements, which may limit exposure and commercial opportunities. There could be great opportunities for the NCAA, schools and NGBs to partner on sport-specific competitions to facilitate new avenues to increase awareness, exposure and commercial opportunities within each sport. Early efforts could include piloting partnerships around the NCAA championships and/or NGB events, and over time could expand to include content sharing plan and school recognition programs.
During the next several months, Barbour will join the USOPC Think Tank in convening project teams with industry experts to further explore the above areas. Following a deep-dive within each concept area, actionable recommendations will be developed by the full USOPC Think Tank and shared with the USOPC Collegiate Advisory Council for review. Final recommendations will be shared with the NCAA, college leaders and USOPC board in the coming months.