Idaho Mountain Express: Local athletes struggle to keep and find sponsorship

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Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Local athletes struggle to keep and find sponsorship

Slowing economy complicates funding

By DELLA SENTILLES
Express Staff Writer

Endurance athlete Rebecca Rusch, sponsored by Specialized and Red Bull, rides hard in the 2008 Cowbell Challenge. Express courtesy photo.

The economic crisis has Rebecca Rusch worried.

Although Rusch, an "ultra-endurance" athlete and world champion of the 24-hour bike racing scene, is still sponsored by Specialized and Red Bull, she has noticed that few companies are taking on new athletes.

"I think a lot are just taking the cream of the crop, keeping the people that will give them the most bang for the buck," said Rusch, a Ketchum resident.

In response, Rusch is working harder than ever to market herself.

"What I have been focusing on this year and last year are ways to make me look more appealing," she said.

That means more promotional events, posting race reports online, appearing at bike shops and handing out Red Bull products. Rusch owes her business savvy to her background in marketing and business, but also her desire to keep her job as a professional athlete.

"Instead of just taking the paycheck, I'm trying to be more a part of the company and send them ideas," Rusch said. "I try to look at it as a business and say, 'OK, airfare is more expensive, what can I do to provide them more for their money?' And that is just, I think, sort of smart business."

For those beginning their professional athletic careers, sponsorship is even less secure. One such group is the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation's Cross Country Olympic Development Team.

"It is always, in the best of times, a challenge to help them secure the funding and the sponsorship that they need to be able to keep racing and make it on the national team," said Rick Kapala, the foundation's cross-country program director.

Kapala said a typical ski racer spends about $20,000 per year on training and competitions. To complicate matters, he or she often has to train 20 to 30 hours each week, which makes working a full-time job next to impossible.

"It is really hard to have a full-time job and train," Kapala said. "How do they pay for the car insurance or the rent?"

Cross-country racing is also, he adds, not trendy.

"A lot of marketing and sponsoring is about what is hip, about selling stuff," Kapala said. "[Cross-country] is not the cool thing or the new thing or the hip thing, so the problem is how does that figure into somebody's marketing?"

Yet even practitioners of the newer and cooler snow sports are struggling. Ketchum native Taan Robrahn has set his sights on making the Australian national team in snowboard cross, a relatively new sport to the industry.

"I thought after the Olympics (in 2006 when snowboard cross debuted), getting sponsorship would be no problem because it was so popular," Robrahn said. "But companies are shying away from boarder cross."

Robrahn is pretty much self-funded. He works in antique restoration and gives snowboard lessons for Sun Valley Co. in the winter.

"I'm lucky I have a credit card because it is pretty much my biggest sponsor," Robrahn said

Nick Hanscom, an alpine skier and Ketchum native, is in a similar boat.

"It has been really tough to get clothing and equipment sponsors," he said. "Everyone I've talked to, all the ski companies, the majority of them are downsizing and they are holding on to their really, really big-name athletes and dropping everyone else."

But it is not just the companies that are cutting back. Even members of the U.S. team are short on funding.

Hailey native Graham Watanabe, a member of the U.S. team for snowboard cross, acknowledged that despite being on the A team, he is not fully funded for the season.

"I am getting a majority of my season paid for as far as traveling and lodging, but we are running out of money come March," Watanabe said.

But, Watanabe said, money is not really what it is about.

"You can't get to this level and not try to make a living out of it," he said. "But anyone who says they are doing it to make money, they are either lying or in it for the wrong reasons. It is a glory life and a lucky position to be in."

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The comments below are from the readers of mtexpress.com and in no way represent the views of Express Publishing Inc.

T – midwest

11/12/08 - 05:24

as a relative of an olympian who's trying for it again, I can attest to the poverty and lack of funding from the USOC/USSA..if these young men and women didn't do what they could we wouldn't have a national team and nothing to watch at the olympics with an American in it for these sports. It's a shame the USA doesn't at least fund their national team members, but their desire and hard work to be there representing us is amazing to watch, and even more amazing if you knew the adversities they all overcome to be there....each one has a story....if you don't believe in the Olympic spirit, then I guess you will think they aren't 'really working'. If you knew what it took to compete internationally, and in what poverty and uncertainty they live with year in and year out, you might have more respect for what they do.

Reply to T

Kevin Montford – Colorado Springs, CO

11/12/08 - 09:07

Hello, I couldnt agree with you more. I am an ex-pentathlete and watched my teammates and friends struggle over the years from the lack of funding. I think most of the public has a misconception about the funding provided to our athletes and this is why I founded America For Gold, a non-profit that will raise awareness and funds for America's athletes training/competing in the Summer and Winter Games. Our goal is to fill the gap between the funding that is given and that which is needed to compete and train at this very high level through need-based grants. So, please tell your relative about America For Gold and anyone else who will listen. We are not associated with the USOC and give .90 cents of every dollar earned directly back to the athletes. www.americaforgold.org

pierre

11/11/08 - 12:58

both of the above points of view have merit in their own way
of course to those who see what these athletes "do for a living" as a free pass to go and play, the life looks pretty darn good when compared to chopping wood, or driving a truck or roofing a house in the middle of a snowstorm.
the inescapable fact is that it takes a great deal of hard work, some luck, and even some outside support to compete at a high level... at any activity, not just sport. Would your comments be different if these athletes were football or baseball players? Funny how almost no one will accuse a good 'ole American football hero of being a slacker looking for a handout huh?
Have we all "forgotten" that high schools, and universities routinely spend big dollars on their chosen sports programs
often at the expense of the students actually being educated there? is that OK somehow? Even the football players have a team; most of the skiers, boarders and endurance athletes accept that their success or failure rides on their earnest efforts to create their own business.

Perhaps one should consider that maybe they are just a reeeally small advertising agency?

Bravo to the" fringe" athletes who are guilty of nothing more of being creative, driven, passionate and honest about the challenges they face, and the business they love!

Mo-T

11/11/08 - 10:19

What is obvious, is not that these athletes have never had to work for a living, but that this is what they do for a living. For some people, these sports are a hobby. For people like Rebecca and Graham, it is a way of life. It is their full-time job. When you factor in training, travel, competing, obligations to sponsors, maintaining equipment, and educating themselves about the sport, these athletes have a more than full-time job. In return, they get less than they need to keep this job. The fact that they sacrifice so much and work so hard to make the most of God given talents is commendable and inspiring. They are not whining, they are simply giving us a glimpse of that life.

Mo-T

11/11/08 - 10:18

11/06/08 - 08:52

It's hard to have any empathy for these athletes especially when there are a lot of people just trying to hold a full-time job to pay the bills and keep a roof over their families. Rebecca and Graham need a reality check since they're whining about not being able to play for a living and have someone else pay for it. Sometimes I don't even have time to get out and ride my bike or snowboard because I work full-time and can't afford to buy a ski pass. Obviously, neither one of you has ever really had to work for a living.