Thursday, March 5, 2009

Sponsership... Then... Now...

Over the past few days this has been brought up a few times on a message board, in person, e-mail, etc.

A long time ago, USAC (now USARS) did not allow skaters to have known sponsors. There were many reasons, and some are seen today. The mid to late 90's were FILLED with sponsorships from all kinds of company's, ranging from product, all the way to paying skaters large amounts of money for a paycheck. Geo/Rollerblade, Hyper, EC Beast, Rollerblade, Terminator, Miller, Labeda, Ultimate,.. I could go on ALL DAY on past sponsors that have thrown in tons of money to athletes. I was lucky enough to see it happen then, but I am also lucky enough to BE a sponsor today. Let me tell you, its ALOT different today, than it was 10-15 years ago.

As everyone knows there just is not as many skaters skating in the US now, less at the races, less at practice, less on the road and trails. Less skaters, means less profit for company's to put back into the athletes. I wish that I could do more for my skaters, but especially now, less people are going to races that means less product is getting sold.

Today's sponsorships in the US (save for a few elite skaters), are product only, and minimal product at that. Gone are the days of getting hotel rooms, plane tickets, perdium, gas money, and more, getting taken care of. Now with the company's making less profit, they cant pay for all of that. Skaters are lucky to get what they can now. Don't get me wrong, some are very grateful for anything that they can receive, but some others i guess saw what it was years ago, and don't understand now..

I wish I could pay for some flights for my skaters, I wish i could take care of all the rooms at hotels, but its different nowadays. Skaters don't get a "paycheck" now, but what they can do is sell product for there sponsor. If you sell product for your sponsor, you could get a kickback for the profit made. If you do your job, perform on the track, and sell product, then you are doing what you need to do for the person/company that is helping you.

I'm not trying to pick on anyone, just wanted to give a little insight to what most "sponsorships" are now.

God bless everyone, and I hope all of you are healthy and skating.

Don't forget to turn your clocks this Saturday night!

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

seems to me like the money can still be made, its just top heavy now. Long gone are the days of the mediocre athletes riding the coat tails of their sponsor in exchange for nothing more than sporting some spandex with a company logo on it. You wanna make money, beat the people that make money... consistently. You shouldn't have to justify not paying your athletes, or not taking care of their air fare, or any of that nonsense jimmy.

Anonymous said...

if that's the case why sponsor someone....i think the door swings both ways...like you, not picking on anyone....just stating an opinion. if companies can't afford it....they shouldn't do it...like you said, times change

Anonymous said...

I think you are right. People think they if they are good enough, someone should pay them and pay them lots. I once had someone tell me that as a National Champion I shouldn't have to pay for anything (even as a Master's woman), and I think that's the expectation people have for being a big fish in what is now a little pond. I was lucky enough to get sponsorship, but *always* figured it was a two-way street. My job wasn't just to win, but to promote my team, AND the sport where ever I went. At the end when my sponsor began to seriously decrease the team, I returned the favor by buying extra equipment from my sponsor beyond what my sponsorship covered, rather than jump ship, because we're all in this together. I think sometimes we get too wrapped up in the "me me me" and let success go to our heads when we really need to be giving back. So never feel bad as a small business for not being able to pay to feed someone's ego. Just my opinion.

Anonymous said...

the bottom line is, jimmy if you want to be successful in the business of speedskating...you HAVE to sponsor people and give them all of your cool stuff...PERIOD....call me crazy....but if you don't give your last cent to your skaters...i just dont see pinnacle speed racing lasting very long

Anonymous said...

i must say i agree with the comment above!

Anonymous said...

you know. after hard diliberation, i've came to the same conclusion. For instance, you have a grand-veteran man. dude, wins nationals. why shouldn't he be able to have the pinnacle name on him from head to foot. You want to make a profit in this business, you have to give a little, and in this particular case, A LOT. I mean, come on! This dude just WON freaking nationals. If im a kid and see these older guys that i look up too without your stuff plastered on them, im not buying your crap. In fact, they should be waiving Pinnacle flag when they cross the line. Without these kinds of changes, these younger skaters arent going to be going in the right direction. The bottom line is, these youngster's are watching these men (classic and above) their hero's and they are looking for a good example, and what does this show to them, when a prestigious sponsor is beeing stingy! It's crazed! and down right lunicy to think that a child should be subjected this kind of behavior! "It's better to give, than recieve." How are parents going to be able to explain this statement to their children during holidays, when fast skating sponsors are being grinch's.

Anonymous said...

absolute bollox

Anonymous said...

bollox? how absurd miss! let me hit u up with some knowledge about bollox. i can tell you're absolutely insane just by reading your malign talk about my creative idea. the bottom line is.....im always right:)

Anonymous said...

excuse me, mr. silly ponce but we are all entitled to our own opinions here, young man. You are going to need to learn how to take criticism. Although I didn't specifically criticize anything particular, it would be more respectful next time to take it like a man. Confidence is great, but cocky is too far, and there is a fine line between the two in which you are crossing.

Now, lets put this behind us and get back to business young chap.

Anonymous said...

ok:)