00:00:01
Speaker 1: You know, I think we want of a very few sports where you can literally race and ski on the cours that then the best athletes in the world are going to be going down. You can go out get a few runs snowboarding or skiing in the morning and then watch the athletes compete right there. That just doesn't really exist.
00:00:19
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Courtside, where we break down the business of women's sports with the leaders shaping its next era. I'm your host, Laura Crenty, and today we're moving slope side, so put on your park up and grab your skis. My guest is Sophie Goldschmidt, CEO of US Ski and Snowboard and a powerhouse executive whose career has taken her across the global sports landscape, from rugby to tennis, basketball to brand marketing. Sophie's been in leadership at some of the most influential organizations in sport, including the WTA, the NBA, the RFU, and even the World Surf League. Now she's bringing that expansive international playbook to Park City, where she's building a future for winter sports that's faster, more inclusive, and undeniably boulder. In this conversation, Sophie and I get into what it means to lead a national governing sport body in twenty twenty five, including how to balance nonprofit structure while welcoming commercial investment, the value of the lifestyle around snowsports, and the incredible untold stories of how brave and elite these athletes are. If you care about innovative leadership, totally new sponsorship opportunities, and three hundred and sixty degree brand building, this.
00:01:21
Speaker 1: One's for you.
00:01:22
Speaker 2: Let's go slope side, Sophie Goldschmidt. Welcome to court side. Thank you delighted to be here. Well, Sophie, I'm so thrilled to have you. Coming off of an incredible season, so many great updates in the world of snow and ski, namely some big stars like Lindsay Vaughan coming back, Mikaela Schiffer and overcoming a pretty gruesome injury, and the countdown to Milan. Courtinez on it is yeah, Calm Waits and like you said, we had a great season on the snow.
00:01:50
Speaker 1: Our athletes excelled and made us proud in all sorts of ways, and if you can believe it, they're back on snow already preparing for next season.
00:01:57
Speaker 2: I know it's unbelievable considering we've just got through More Day, which is the unofficial start of the summer in Jersey. But my husband was just telling me somewhere up north, I want to say, in New Hampshire this week got incredible amount of snow. So I guess the world still wants to ski.
00:02:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, We've got athletes scattered around the world chasing snow. They can't get enough.
00:02:17
Speaker 2: Before we get into all of the current and future endeavors in and around snow and ski, i'd love to just talk about your journey. When was the first time you fell in love with sport and which one was it?
00:02:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, good question. So I fell in love with a lot of sports at a young age. I actually grew up in Wimbledon. Sounds a bit corny, but that it is actually a place, not just a tennis tournament. So yeah. So tennis was definitely very close to my heart from a young age, and that's what I really got obsessed with and initially was what brought me to the US as well. I came over here on a tennis scholarship, went to college at Bayla and that sort of opened my eyes to what sort of the sports industry wasn't and could be because at that stage the US was still so advanced from what was happening back across the pond in Europe. And yeah, that sort of got me, you know, on the ladder. And I actually started out working in tennis and then have had the chance to work for the NBA and basketball in rugby. I was on the board of the PGA European Tour for a while. In surfing, worked on the agency side, and now working for Fuski and Snowboards. So my first time on the winter side. But it's been awesome, learning a lot and have been very lucky to have, you know, various fantastic opportunities throughout my career. That's amazing.
00:03:29
Speaker 2: I guess. Yeah, you can't grow up in wimbled in a not touch tennis in some respect. Yeah, exactly.
00:03:34
Speaker 1: Still very close to my heart, I have to say, when I look at sports results each day, I'm kind of always drawn to see what's happening on the tennis weld. Obviously Roland Garross going on at the moment, which is exciting to see them getting all messy on the dirt over there, but I'm an avid sports fan, especially with women's sports, but I love to be honest, all sports and follow them closely, both from a personal and professional perspective. So how lucky am I to be kind of doing what I love? And what made you say yes to the snow and ski role? What did that look like?
00:04:03
Speaker 2: And how did you decide ultimately like this is the right time, right opportunity to take this on.
00:04:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, to be honest, I kind of thought I was done working in sort of more traditional sort of sports organizations and having those kind of roles after the World Surf Leak, because I've also done a bit on water as well, dodging sharks and various other things. That was quite an adventure. But this was really compelling because I felt they're a set of sports. So we oversee ten different sports on skis and snowboards, and these amazing athletes, two hundred and fifty athletes that we kind of fully fun to achieve their dreams, and I felt, well, they were in a good place. There was a lot of untapped potential. I was an avid skier. I love to be in the mountains. I sort of have an adventure streak in me so love to be outdoors, and I just felt I should know more about these sports and athletes. They're doing superhuman feats, competing in a very very competitive environment with amazing athletes from around the world, and their stories, you know, aren't being told like they should be. And then you look at the commercial side of it. There's almost twenty million people that scial snowboard in the US alone, that's all as many is play goal for tennis. So it's also a significant audience, very high net worth. So I felt commercially there have to be more opportunities to really help these sports cut through. So never say never, I dive back into sort of a more similar role but with huge untapped potential. And also the way we're structured allows us to be really entrepreneurial. We kind of control our whole ecosystem, whether it's the events, the relationships with the athletes, the broadcast rights, new you know, ventures and business opportunities that we can get into which we can get onto later on. But for example, we're launching a new travel and experiences business and we're able to do that without having to get a lot of buying from different owners and teams and that kind of thing. So while we're not for profit, which maybe you know, does put us in a slightly different area, that doesn't mean we can't be really entrepreneurial and very commercially minded. So I've kind of relished that challenge and people have been very open minded to doing things differently. Look, I certainly wasn't their sort of typical high the fact that I didn't come from snowsports. I think maybe some might have thought could be a disadvantage, but actually I think they'd take me at face value. I haven't got these pre existing sort of ideas or deep rooted relationships that therefore I'm doing things for political reasons. It's sort of what you see is what you get, and hopefully, you know, the experience that I've had from other sports is going to make an impact. I'm certainly really excited with sort of the trajectory of growth over the last couple of years. But yeah, it's been an awesome job, as good as any role I've had. I'm really loving it.
00:06:36
Speaker 2: I love to hear that you're expanding into things like hospitality.
00:06:40
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the model.
00:06:41
Speaker 2: Can you talk about what that entails and how your athletes play within your overall season circuit and what that means to be an Olympics or out of Olympics.
00:06:50
Speaker 1: We're what you call a national governing body, so we sit yes in the Olympic movement. Our sports a part of the Olympics, are ten sports make up about sixty five seventy percent of Team USA and the Winter team, and the Olympics is obviously a huge moment every four years. We're planning we have been since about two days after Beijing finished for Milan Cortina in February next year. But that is just one moment every four years. Well, I think a lot of the American audience maybe on as familiar with is that our athletes actually compete on what we call a World Cup circuit every season. So it's sort of analogous to a PGA Tour or a WTA or even a left one circuit where basically pretty much every weekend from the end of October until the beginning of April, they're competing against the best athletes in the world on a circuit of events that more and more of them are taking place in the US, which has been a big goal of ours. We've almost doubled the number of World Cups over the last couple of years, which is huge, but they spend a lot of their time competing in Europe and they have the opportunity to win World Cup races every weekend, which are big moments, but ultimately, what defines the best athlete is who finishes top of the rankings at the end of season, so we can week out, that's what they're striving for. I mean, you muld ask some athletes actually to win a globe, which is what you win if you finish number one in the rankings at the end of the season. Really determines the best athlete rather than sort of one race or a couple of races at the Olympics. So yeah, trying to educate the US audience on what that structure is and how competitive it is and who are you know, the main athletes that we're competing with, which of our athletes are kind of dominating on a global level, is a big part of our job, and I think we've made some good progress. We've got a long way to go, but that's also what I love. I mean, week in week out, we're trying to be the best, and in this role, I actually get to see oversee the sports side, not just the business side, because the athletes sit under our umbrella. They qualify for a team, We have a criteria and we actually just not named those that have been nominated to make the team for next season. So it's about two hundred and fifty athletes across these different sports, and then we oversee their training schedule, their competitive schedule, obviously with input from those of the closes them. For us, it's a real partnership which I also love. You know, our athletes are the most important part of our organization covering all of these different sports, and I want to be their best and most important partner as well. So we fund everything that they need to be an elite athlete, and with that they give us certain things in return, whether that's you know, commercial rights, appearances, doing different sort of broadcast initiatives, and then they're able obviously to make money as an independent individual as well. But it's a really interesting sort of dichotomy with our sports because they do compete as individuals again like in tennis or f one or golf, et cetera. But in our sports you really need to be part of a team because the training requires the speed of someone else to make sure that you're getting faster from a danger perspective, you need numerous coaches along the slopes to make sure from a safety standpoint that everything's in check. So they really are very dependent on each other and they train together sometimes men and women as well, but definitely you need other ap fleets around you. But yet you're competing with those athletes on a daily basis as well. So I think culturally that actually makes the sport really special, the values and the support and just the respect they have for each other's bravery. I mean when they get down downhill course having gone at almost one hundred miles an hour with no safety protection around them, and they make it and they see actually someone do even better and come down, they're like, oh my god, that was freaking awesome. Yeah, such respect. Yeah, you're putting your body on the line, you're too intes hey, if you get the turn wrong, you're careering into the side netting and it's freaking dangerous. So yeah, so that's been really really interesting for me to get my arms around because it is so different just structurally to other sports.
00:10:40
Speaker 2: I love the analogy though, to the PGA and the WTA. I think it's a hopeful frame of reference, especially for the US market and just understanding the competitive circuit that exists. So let's talk about the awareness and the storytelling because I think, you know, one of the biggest challenges for over indexing Olympic sports in which I would consider snow and key. You know, the times you start to think about some of these incredible athletes is around these big ones every four year moments. How are you looking to combat that from a storytelling perspective to really start to break through the zeitgeist.
00:11:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, it does come down to storytelling for sure, and we're trying to create this mindset of really being just a three six y five content engine. I mean, given the number of athletes we have and what they're doing sort of in the prep period as well as during the season, there's so many different angles we have and the individual side and then the camaraderie between them and the team behind the team. But I think also something that's really struck me as these athletes are just so well rounded. Look, a few of them do very well financially, but still, relatively speaking compared to other athletes, I think they're very underpaid and I'm as determined as anyone to change that because they deserve to make more money both prize money wise and from endorsements and on the marketing side. But because of that, they just have an appreciation, you know, like anything they do get any support they do get means a lot because they know that it can you know, end at any moment, and then they're kind of on their own. And these sports are really expensive to participate in, so a lot of them are doing further education, some of them have second or third jobs, and that just makes them very relatable, but very well rounded, culturally interesting human beings. I would say more so than the average athlete. I think I can say that having worked in a lot of different sports. I mean there's a lot of other amazing athletes out.
00:12:22
Speaker 2: There, and that many sports you're flying down one hundred miles an hour with no safety guards.
00:12:26
Speaker 1: So yeah, there's just something a little bit more real about them. So I think the storytelling is definitely a huge opportunity for US, also having more major moments. Look, the US is a very competitive landscape, which is awesome, but it means you've got a punch above your weight and get creative, so hence really trying to have more World Cup events in the US so that we can have these major moments where people cut through, you know, just another average event. It's tough for the American audience to really sort of tune into that. So for example, this year we had the Stifol some value World Cup Finals to finish the season, the best men and women in the world across all for alpine disciplines. NBC and outside really supported it. It got some great exposure and coverage. Lindsey Vaughn got her first podium, having come back in an incredible way. So those big moments, I think are also key for us. That we've got Milan Cartina next year, which will be awesome. We actually just came off doing the NBC shoot last week and the build up to that. We now have this nine year north Star with the next US Home Winter Games here in our backyard in Utah, which is going to be amazing. So that's really key. And then also to grow the sport, finding the right partners that can help us tell ours stories. You know that marketing muscle and resource and investment is really key. And while we've grown a lot, we're still not for profit and we're mindful of where we spend our money. We don't have the budgets of the NBA or the NFL or even WNBA now you look at what they're doing, but our partners can be that voice for us. So whether it's Defaul, whether it's Jakrue, whether it's Kappa Toyota, when we become more a priority within their marketing budget, that really helps us to connect with a new audience. So yeah, there's various different ways. It's certainly not a one size fits all.
00:14:20
Speaker 2: Let's talk about this new endeavor into the travel and hospitality, but can you talk about why you decided to move into this new area and how you sort of see that being additive to versus just integrated in the World Cup circuit for now. Yeah.
00:14:34
Speaker 1: Absolutely, So it came about for a couple of reasons. First of all, we've had success in signing quite a few new partners over the last couple of years, and they also have their own objectives and sign with us for slightly different reasons. But one thing they just continue to lean into more and more is these money com't buy experiences. You know, I think we're one of the only, well very few sports where you can literally race and ski on the course that then the best athletes in the world are going to be going down. You can go out, get a few runs snowboarding or skiing in the morning and then watch the athletes compete right there. That just doesn't really exist. And I think all of these new partners were blown away by how many of their clients and key kind of stakeholders love our sports. They don't need to be that good at it. You know, you can be very average or actually learn for the first time. But it was like, wow, we can be in this environment. We can give them someone that no one else can. And we're also going to these fantastic locations and so you know, selling hospitality sponsorships linked to these unique sort of experiences became more and more valuable. We then also signed a partnership with cloud Flair. It was the first time they've done anythings significantly in sports. It was great on the technology side for us, they're the leading cyber security company in the world, but they also wanted to cut through in a different way. Davos, the World Economic Forum, was a big platform for them, and they decided they want to sort of turn it on its head and take business to the mountains. And so we took over the Davos mount We bought in four of our lead athletes, some of our former greades, and they've never had a event that's been so oversubscribed. And you had the leading you know, CEOs and some decision makers. Of course, it's big companies, and I was like, wow, okay, this just keeps kind of happening. We also have a very good value but quite expensively priced program around the Olympics called the Champions Club. It also got over subscribe. We could sell it out twice and we never even marketed it. So I'm like, okay, right, enough of this. Let's get into this business in a big way rather than it being kind of something on the side. That's part of the partnership. Given this twenty million audience that is high net worth and wants to be part of connecting with the great American athletes and going to these places where we can give them a behind the scenes look that you just can't get on your own. So that's sort of what you know, forced us, or not forced us, encouraged me to come up with this idea, and yeah, can't wait to get going on it. We're actually finalizing who we're going to hire to lead it. We're going to likely John venture with another company too to help us want some of the resource and operations that we need on the back end of it. But I think it can be a major business for us.
00:17:08
Speaker 2: Who's net new dream partner for you? For our marketing audience that's listening, who should we be inviting to the table?
00:17:15
Speaker 1: Well, from a brand perspective, I mean anyone that wants to really provide unique experiences that are very authentic where you can integrate and meet some of the most inspiring athletes in the world. I mean our list is pretty long and we actually have quite a diverse group of partners. But then also these different hospitality companies, you know, whether it's the on Locations or other companies like that. I think they're always looking for these different angles and each year you've got to elevate. You know what you are and what you can do. So yeah, look, who knows how big it can be. But we're quite excited to get it launched. How do you see it helping to build business? Because I do see it as a really interesting way to curate events for marketers, media companies, off sites for corporations. They can and should be thinking about us now and sky to tap into some of these womens, you already have to be additive to create that business environment. Is that something you're seeing happening naturally at these events? Absolutely? Yeah. I mean we have a very influential group of stakeholders connected to our sport, you know, decision makers from across various different industries, and when you come to our bigger World Cup events, it's pretty who's who of folks that a lot of brands and other marketers would like to be around. And actually, is that sort of a test case. We did an event for the first time the women raced at an iconic course called Birds of Prey, and being a women's sports fan, you'll appreciate this, and we were trying to have the women's ski there for a while and the head of the men's race was like, it's going to degrade the men's race to have the women. I'm like, I can't believe you're saying that out loud, Like that's just so inappropriate. So no, it's not true. And secondly he's like, well, also, women can't skip, it's too hot. They're going to hurt themselves. Someone's going to kill themselves and it's going to you know, just put the race out of action. Even the men won't be able to ski there. Well, what not only did the women kill it, No one had any injury. They skied brilliantly, loved it, and we had the biggest crowd we've ever had at that. It's amazing.
00:19:13
Speaker 2: And also Birds of Prey is just a badass name for female skiing momentary.
00:19:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, you visualize what it's going to be like. But I mentioned it because around that, together with CNBC Liontry and together we bought a bunch of really influential women to an event see it in person. They couldn't all ski or snowboard. Some came for at Prey, which was awesome because that's a big part of what we do in these amazing locations. But they just got a different sort of appreciation and there was some great meetings and business taking place and sort of what I mentioned earlier about cloud Flare. They were really blown away by the convening of different business minds. Again, some just met us for lunch on the mountain. If people did ski and snowboard, the beauty of our sport too is which sometimes gets a little bit frustrating, but you to spend a lot of time on the shell lift. You take five minutes to go up in a minute to come down, so actually you do get a lot of quality time. And as I've experienced many times, having a conversation with someone on a chairlift in a beautiful spot, you get into a different level of sort of depth and understanding than you would in an office. It just does.
00:20:17
Speaker 2: I love this as a tactic. The next time might come out for a skiing trip and make it business. I'm just going to just go on the chairlifts and just book my meetings.
00:20:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is strategic and you'll bump into all sorts of amazing people. I love it.
00:20:30
Speaker 2: So if we talk about the audience, can you talk about who the core consumer audience is of the snow and ski universe, and then perhaps more broadly, who you see coming in, perhaps as a result of people jumping on and following specific athletes or the expansion of the sport with this World Cup season.
00:20:46
Speaker 1: So look, it's twenty million and growing is trending very nicely. Unlike most sports. I think a lot of that, you know, silver linings and all off the back of COVID the world has become more about outdoor experiences and being more adventurous. Actually, you know, if you do have some disposable income, actually not just investing in things, but actually in travel and seeing new places. So we have that kind of mindset with so many people that participate in our sports. We have a diverse age range because we have these ten different sports that all have slightly different personalities. So on the snowboard and free ski side, for example, it skews a little bit younger. I would say, we've got a lot of more of the caller kids that are setting trends and incredibly creative and thinking out the box. In some of our other sports, maybe it does skew a little bit older, and there's more of a sort of competitive mindset or endurance. If you think of something like cross country, where you look at you know, the boom of cycling and triathletes, etc. Cross country is now doing that. I mean cross country. The numbers are just skyrocketing, which is super exciting. So I say that because we have a bunch of different personalities within our sports, if I can put it that way, and they each appeal to something slightly different. Have being said that there's a lot of common opt too, and there's definitely some themes and threads. I mean when our athletes are here. I work in Park City. We have our Yusana Center of Excellence here, so we often have athletes from multiple sports training here and it's really cool to see that dynamic. Again, there's many more similarities than there are differences. How they inspire and push each other. You know, they're doing a lot of the same training in the gym, and then some things that are very very different. So from a gender split, it's about sixty forty male to female, but female participation growing certainly on the athletic side. Many of our most well known and successful athletes have been women, and that's been the case for decades, which is really cool to see.
00:22:38
Speaker 2: It is so interesting as you're saying that, I'm like, with the exception probably of Sean White, only female athletes come to mind in this territory. How are you seeing the next generation shape there? And are they bringing new audiences with them using social media et cetera.
00:22:52
Speaker 1: Absolutely yeah, I mean I think they've become a lot more savvy. Again, it's where our partnership with our athletes I think has really benefited because of them need the support of our social content creators and brand experts to help them build their narrative and who they want to be. They don't have big teams of agents and managers and what have you around them, so we're really in it together, which has been great and helps us to kind of shape it and makes us more valuable to each other. But yeah, there's Savvian especially within some of our sports. They get their inspiration and they push themselves to new levels by being creative. So for example, on the snowboard free skiers, they compete regularly, but in their downtime they're going to the out back furthest points you away from sort of civilization in the mountains to capture the most amazing scenery and tricks and try these never being done before things that they do. And that's all about filming, and they travel with a filmer before they'll travel with a coach or a physio and then capturing that content and bringing it to life. So they really are creative. But if they don't have that, they can't perform competitively. They need to be inspired in that way, which again for me was a bit of a head twist. I'm like, wow, I thought you had to go to the gym and you know, do more sprints and lift more weights. I mean it's a little bit similar in surfing as well, which is where I work before. But you know, that's been so cool to sort of appreciate and just understand how they're wired in a different way. I mean, they're incredibly professionally also in how they train, but you know, they achieve new things. Oh, Lindsay Vaughn's workout videos are insane. I'm like, I'm just so in awe of this woman and everything that she's been through and continues to accomplish. Yeah, and has totally transcender the sport obviously in so many ways.
00:24:31
Speaker 2: But she gets me out of bed. I'm like, well, if she's doing that, the least I could do is do it thirty minute peloton walk.
00:24:35
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:24:35
Speaker 2: Seriously, talking about these athletes and their storytelling, thinking about the next generation, how do you start to think about perhaps the media package? Right, I know you talked about NBC and obviously such a critical partner in and around Olympics and storytelling, but are you starting to explore new and differentiated ways to get the word out about who these athletes are? Where the World Cup is happening, anything you're excited by with respect to amplification, Yeah, I mean.
00:24:59
Speaker 1: Looks social we've been across of many of us have for a long time, and our athletes have certainly leaned into it and are getting savvier by the day with it all. There's also some longer form content projects that we've done. We did one around our snowboard athletes this year. We're actually just finalizing our deal to come out with our version of sort of Drive to Survive, which I think is going to be really cool, which will drop leading up to the Olympics. We've got an amazing cross country documentary that we're working with a production team on focusing on So Jesse Diggins is currently the world's best cross country skier. She's the only non Scandinavian to have ever won that title and she's won it now three times. I mean, this woman is superhuman and has been through you know, some real hardships with mental health and eating disorder, etc. And it's very honest about it and just a role model for so many. So yeah, figuring out sort of what are the right verticals, what are the right partners, How can that investment model work the podcast business in congrats to you or launching this. It's amazing. Again, these stories can sort of take different shapes and formats, so we're very open minded.
00:26:06
Speaker 2: I'm totally bringing slop side to one of your toy like, this is going to become a thing. We're greenlighting it now.
00:26:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going on the road absolutely. So yeah. Look, I like to think of ourselves as being guinea pigs because we don't have the same kind of oversight sort of bodies that some organizations have, and we need to punch above our weight. We need to be creative to begin to compete with some of the other leagues. We're open for business and our athletes are very flexible. The way we control our rights we actually quite a big thing for us. So working with FISTS, which is our global governing body sort of our FIFA, we negotiated a really big strategic partnership to now centralize all our rights. So in the US we'll be going to the market with our domestic rights as well as all the international rights, so all the inbound rights coming from Europe, which at the moment we've had to sell separately. So from a fan perspective, it's going to be much easier to watch us.
00:27:07
Speaker 2: Obviously, there's so many different places brands can show up. Is there anyone who's doing it different, doing it unique thinking about the space, Like I'm like cowas Lubitan not come in and done red Ski bottoms. But are there creative use cases that are starting to take shape?
00:27:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think we've really pushed to be honest to our partners, to activate more broadly and just make sure we're constantly also giving them ideas and making it easy because a lot of the big ones, you know, have many different partners that they're trying to activate around, So how can we kind of cut through and become even better to work with Actually, recently got a great compliment for NBC who said, your athletes and your organization is just so user friendly. You need to know that like you are the best to work with them. Like that is exactly what I want every partner to say. We're available and willing to do pretty much anything. I think one partnership that I'm really proud of that we signed recently is with Jake, So it's the first time they've done something sort of significant like this in sports. It's very much focused on the connection with lifestyle, and again, having worked in a lot of different sports, these are the ultimate lifestyle sports, you know. I said it when I was working tennis and golf and surfing and all of that, and for sure they cross over, but we're much more deep rooted than the fact that we're multi generational. I think it's one of the few sports that a grandpa loves doing with a grandchild. And again it's because of that time on the chairlift and having fun, being bad together, falling over and then who doesn't love to sit around a fire and have a cocktail or a mocktail at the end of the day. So I think that crossover into lifestyle are really interesting demographic. So for them, you think about Kashmir and sort of the luxury off the slopes and how they're repositioning their brand and the places that they're going to take us to. We're actually going to be doing some stuff at canl and hopefully with you as well. You're on my book, so I'll be seeing you there soon. And brands like that, you know, love those opportunities, you know. Our performance partner, interestingly is Kappa, the sort of more heritage based Italian brand which is very retro lifestyle. So again you think of a prey. They're all about that and music and djaying, but they have this performance heritage. They actually sponsored the US track and field team back in the days in the eighty four sort of La Olympics. So that was a really interesting way for us to again branch out of being just a more traditional, high performing sport, but taking that away from the mountains and really to the street. What are you looking to see more of?
00:29:27
Speaker 2: Right as obviously you've gotten Alan Quartina in front of us, seeing just the overall explosive awareness and attention, particularly around the women's sports industry of late, what would you like to see more of from the media, marketing, advertising community as it relates to your circuit.
00:29:42
Speaker 1: I think just still a little bit more open mindedness, you know, I think we're still while the sports have been around for decades, we're still sort of seen as somewhat new and maybe untested. So look, give us, give us a chance. We're willing to be creative. You know, our audiences are growing, participations growing. Very few can say that, and we've actually got pretty clean slate. You haven't got, you know, dozens of brands already involved or certainly not. You know, multiple brands from the same sector, so you can really carve out a position and a voice where you can differentiate yourselves. And our fans are very, very loyal because these are lifestyle sports. Yes, it's the way they stay in shape and get fit, but it's a way of life.
00:30:21
Speaker 2: Look.
00:30:21
Speaker 1: I have only really ever lived in big cities before moving to Park City, London, LA, New York on my last three stops, and I'd been to Park City a bunch to ski, so we knew we'd like it enough. But I love it here. It really is a way of life without making it sound like a cult. And I think, you know, that's what the world's ready for, and I think brands can lean into that and just have a much deeper conversation. But I think, yeah, think out the box and be more creative. Test some of these things, because that's how you can really cut through Observationally.
00:30:50
Speaker 2: If we were doing court side, but make it slope side, and you were on that chair lift looking down, not just literally but figuratively over what you've experienced to one's since you took over.
00:31:01
Speaker 1: Are there things that have surprised you?
00:31:03
Speaker 2: Takeaways that you're like, Wow, had I not been on the inside of this, I wouldn't have known to be able to take this into the mainstream, into the zeitgeist, to be able to bring new fans, new partners, new media into the space.
00:31:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's multiple things. I mean, first of all, the athletes. I had no idea how brave they were and really what they were putting their bodies through. I mean, I would say on average, our athletes go through at least two to three what would be career ending injuries in any other sport. I mean a leg break, Multiple leg breaks is nothing, you know, multiple acls, I mean career defining kind of injuries in other sports. And they come back and their resilience and their work ethic and just talk about love of the sport when you're putting yourself through that, but the adrenaline rush. So I have a whole new appreciation for what these athletes really stand for and what they do. I think the deep connectivity with our sports and I see this a little bit so for the first time working for this not profit type structure. A big part of our revenue comes from philanthropy, which is where we have this very interesting high net worth influential demographic who are so invested in what we do. Some of them have been giving for decades and significant sums and if I ever need anything for all them, many of them, you know, managing some of the biggest companies in America, if not the world. They respond within five minutes because they care so much and they're passing it down. It's multi generational. So I think just that intrinsic, deep rooted love for these sports is unlike what I've experienced, and I think it is this is multigenerational at Prey, anyone can be part of it. It's not just about performance and elite sort of sport. It's much more well rounded than that. So that I just I've sort of beginning to figure out why they're so passionate. It comes back a little bit to the sharelift too. When does a grandpa get to spend five minutes every six minutes with their grand kid and they can't be on a phone because it's so freaking cold and you can't you know, type away. It just builds connectivity. And then I'd say the other thing that surprised me because I was told these are very traditional, sort of male, white dominated sports. Good luck, you know, trying to transform things. They've been incredibly open minded and we've changed a lot and they've embraced it, and we certainly haven't got everything right, but they've been willing to, you know, have that attitude and approach. And I think I would say a little bit of me being an outsider has helped with that, which I wouldn't have thought would have been the case. I would have thought it would take me longer to build the confidence and then we'd make the changes. But because I was an outsider, they kind of took me more at face value. So that's been a pleasant surprise, and I think that's a benefit for our brands, Like there's a lot of things we're open to doing that haven't been done yet, and a brand or you know, marketing visionary can take credit and be, you know, the one that sort of gets the value out of that.
00:33:49
Speaker 2: How many different steps are on the tour in the season.
00:33:53
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean dozens? I mean just in alpine or alone, and alpine is four disciplines, downhill, super giant, Slala, giant slalom, and slalom. They would have over really stops between men and women.
00:34:07
Speaker 2: So do you inherently have eighty different audiences or one umbrella audience that has eighty different cuts.
00:34:11
Speaker 1: Again, it depends what you're looking for. Is it just age range, is it income? Is it other demographics? Is it country? I mean one thing, a couple of our recent partners have partnered with US more for Europe than they have for the US. They love that, you know, we're an American brand and team, but interestingly also for our sports. I didn't think we'd translate so well into Europe. But unlike in most sports, in our sports, people love the US team. We're like everyone's second favorite team. Like when I go to these events, everyone's sharing for the US and I'm like, wow, this is really fascinating. It's sort of used to everyone sort of not hating the US but rooting against them. And you know, maybe that's because we're the underdog a little bit. But we're dominating in some sports. I mean, Mackaya's different. People love she gets more, she can't and she competes in all four right, I think I learned this from you. That will dominate in all four? Yeah, which like how imprecedent and it is that. Yeah, it's like doing four different sports. I mean, yeah, little on skis, but it's yeah, technically very different. So you can imagine her training schedule. It's like four times as much as anyone else.
00:35:13
Speaker 2: Last year we were fortunate to have Mikayla Schiffrin with us, and she was talking about the amount of skis she goes through per season. I mean it's incredible the amount of equipment and just overall support these athletes need to just compete are season long.
00:35:29
Speaker 1: Yeah no, I mean she will travel with thirty ish pairs of skis and be changing them out regularly as long with God knows how many pairs of boots and yeah, backage expense is one of our larger cost items, which.
00:35:42
Speaker 2: Is a great partnership opportunity. I mean, when I think about the amount of shoes I travel with, I have nothing on her. But of all the stops, which one's your favorite? I know Park City has a special place in your heart, But of all the places you've gone, if you're a first timer who's like, you know what I want to get out on the circuit. I want to stop and really experience the World Cups, where would you do me? Oh?
00:36:01
Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to give a plug for the US ones. I mean Deer Valley here in Utah is amazing. We have it's the best actually World Cup for locals and aerials. It's super fun. Beginning of February Killington. Actually we're taking a year off from Killington because they're putting a new lift in, so we're going to be at Copper Mountain in Colorado for men's and women's alpine, which will be awesome. But Killington has built something in only sort of seven or eight years. It's the most attended women's alpine event in the world now, even beating out the Europeans, so that's pretty special. Sun Valley, where we had the World Cup finals, was amazing. We're back in Aspen now with a snowboard free ski event. An Aspen in the spring is not a bad place to go.
00:36:41
Speaker 2: I learned this from one of my former mentors, Beth Comstockets. I have I need in this idea of like what you have to give the marketplace, but something you're you're also looking in return. If you can round us out before I let you go, what would you say I have and what would you say you need?
00:36:55
Speaker 1: I say we have the product. Our athletes, not sports are incredible and there's so much more potential. We're just getting going. Oh I could be doing this job for decades and not get bored, which hasn't normally been the case. I'm very grateful for all the supporters that we have, but yeah, I think what we need is to get we're just getting going. You know, we want to support more athletes, We want to get these stories out there, so we're looking for really active partners that share those core values. We don't get any government funding, unlike all of our European counterparts, about fifty percent of their budget would come from the government.
00:37:29
Speaker 2: We get zero, which we make up for with. When you say fifty percent, like, what are we talking about. This is not a couple hundred thousand.
00:37:36
Speaker 1: No, No, this is like tens of millions of dollars every season, and this is all sponsorship dollars coming in. Yeah, and in Europe, half of that's from the government. And then the athletes are competing in Europe in their backyard, so it's cheaper as well. So it's kind of like a double whammy. So those baggage fees, yeah, exactly, baggage fees and just yeah, flights and all of that. But when you're giving to us you're giving to a not for profit, you're helping the next generation great athletes. What does it cost to sponsor an athlete for a year? What would be the average if a brand wanted to come in and make a meaningful impact. So yeah, look again, depending on the agent level of an athlete, you can get in for ten twenty thousand dollars and that would be very meaningful for an athlete, and then it obviously goes up to significantly more than that. Sure, but yeah, there's a lot of athletes that need these supports, and they're the greatest people to work with. I mean a lot of them sort of are adopted by these brands and families that want to look after them because they're just so well rounded. They're great to hang out with. But yeah, they definitely need more support than they deserve it.
00:38:37
Speaker 2: Well, I can't wait to see your slope side on a chairlift or app ry skiing. Maybe you'll be the one to help me get back up on those skis and get back out. But I'm certainly rooting for you, and you know we are here to support you every step of the way. I can't wait for Milan, but more importantly, I can't wait to check out some of these World Cups in between. It would be really fun to experience it, and I totally invite the advertising community to get involved and check it out for themselves.
00:38:59
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thanks for all you're doing. You've made quite a monk in a short space of time, but your execute the energy and visionary that we need.
00:39:08
Speaker 2: I'm your host Laura Crenti, founder and CEO of Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz, and this show is produced by Ryan Martz along with associate producers Meredith Barnes and Rachel Zuckerman. Court Side is an iHeart Women's Sports production and partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:39:30
Speaker 1: Want more, follow, rate.
00:39:32
Speaker 2: And review port Side wherever you get your podcasts, and stay in the game by following us on social media at Iheartwomen's Sports, and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter. In the show notes, thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. Court Side
Speaker 1: You know, I think we want of a very few sports where you can literally race and ski on the cours that then the best athletes in the world are going to be going down. You can go out get a few runs snowboarding or skiing in the morning and then watch the athletes compete right there. That just doesn't really exist.
00:00:19
Speaker 2: Welcome back to Courtside, where we break down the business of women's sports with the leaders shaping its next era. I'm your host, Laura Crenty, and today we're moving slope side, so put on your park up and grab your skis. My guest is Sophie Goldschmidt, CEO of US Ski and Snowboard and a powerhouse executive whose career has taken her across the global sports landscape, from rugby to tennis, basketball to brand marketing. Sophie's been in leadership at some of the most influential organizations in sport, including the WTA, the NBA, the RFU, and even the World Surf League. Now she's bringing that expansive international playbook to Park City, where she's building a future for winter sports that's faster, more inclusive, and undeniably boulder. In this conversation, Sophie and I get into what it means to lead a national governing sport body in twenty twenty five, including how to balance nonprofit structure while welcoming commercial investment, the value of the lifestyle around snowsports, and the incredible untold stories of how brave and elite these athletes are. If you care about innovative leadership, totally new sponsorship opportunities, and three hundred and sixty degree brand building, this.
00:01:21
Speaker 1: One's for you.
00:01:22
Speaker 2: Let's go slope side, Sophie Goldschmidt. Welcome to court side. Thank you delighted to be here. Well, Sophie, I'm so thrilled to have you. Coming off of an incredible season, so many great updates in the world of snow and ski, namely some big stars like Lindsay Vaughan coming back, Mikaela Schiffer and overcoming a pretty gruesome injury, and the countdown to Milan. Courtinez on it is yeah, Calm Waits and like you said, we had a great season on the snow.
00:01:50
Speaker 1: Our athletes excelled and made us proud in all sorts of ways, and if you can believe it, they're back on snow already preparing for next season.
00:01:57
Speaker 2: I know it's unbelievable considering we've just got through More Day, which is the unofficial start of the summer in Jersey. But my husband was just telling me somewhere up north, I want to say, in New Hampshire this week got incredible amount of snow. So I guess the world still wants to ski.
00:02:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, We've got athletes scattered around the world chasing snow. They can't get enough.
00:02:17
Speaker 2: Before we get into all of the current and future endeavors in and around snow and ski, i'd love to just talk about your journey. When was the first time you fell in love with sport and which one was it?
00:02:27
Speaker 1: Yeah, good question. So I fell in love with a lot of sports at a young age. I actually grew up in Wimbledon. Sounds a bit corny, but that it is actually a place, not just a tennis tournament. So yeah. So tennis was definitely very close to my heart from a young age, and that's what I really got obsessed with and initially was what brought me to the US as well. I came over here on a tennis scholarship, went to college at Bayla and that sort of opened my eyes to what sort of the sports industry wasn't and could be because at that stage the US was still so advanced from what was happening back across the pond in Europe. And yeah, that sort of got me, you know, on the ladder. And I actually started out working in tennis and then have had the chance to work for the NBA and basketball in rugby. I was on the board of the PGA European Tour for a while. In surfing, worked on the agency side, and now working for Fuski and Snowboards. So my first time on the winter side. But it's been awesome, learning a lot and have been very lucky to have, you know, various fantastic opportunities throughout my career. That's amazing.
00:03:29
Speaker 2: I guess. Yeah, you can't grow up in wimbled in a not touch tennis in some respect. Yeah, exactly.
00:03:34
Speaker 1: Still very close to my heart, I have to say, when I look at sports results each day, I'm kind of always drawn to see what's happening on the tennis weld. Obviously Roland Garross going on at the moment, which is exciting to see them getting all messy on the dirt over there, but I'm an avid sports fan, especially with women's sports, but I love to be honest, all sports and follow them closely, both from a personal and professional perspective. So how lucky am I to be kind of doing what I love? And what made you say yes to the snow and ski role? What did that look like?
00:04:03
Speaker 2: And how did you decide ultimately like this is the right time, right opportunity to take this on.
00:04:08
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, to be honest, I kind of thought I was done working in sort of more traditional sort of sports organizations and having those kind of roles after the World Surf Leak, because I've also done a bit on water as well, dodging sharks and various other things. That was quite an adventure. But this was really compelling because I felt they're a set of sports. So we oversee ten different sports on skis and snowboards, and these amazing athletes, two hundred and fifty athletes that we kind of fully fun to achieve their dreams, and I felt, well, they were in a good place. There was a lot of untapped potential. I was an avid skier. I love to be in the mountains. I sort of have an adventure streak in me so love to be outdoors, and I just felt I should know more about these sports and athletes. They're doing superhuman feats, competing in a very very competitive environment with amazing athletes from around the world, and their stories, you know, aren't being told like they should be. And then you look at the commercial side of it. There's almost twenty million people that scial snowboard in the US alone, that's all as many is play goal for tennis. So it's also a significant audience, very high net worth. So I felt commercially there have to be more opportunities to really help these sports cut through. So never say never, I dive back into sort of a more similar role but with huge untapped potential. And also the way we're structured allows us to be really entrepreneurial. We kind of control our whole ecosystem, whether it's the events, the relationships with the athletes, the broadcast rights, new you know, ventures and business opportunities that we can get into which we can get onto later on. But for example, we're launching a new travel and experiences business and we're able to do that without having to get a lot of buying from different owners and teams and that kind of thing. So while we're not for profit, which maybe you know, does put us in a slightly different area, that doesn't mean we can't be really entrepreneurial and very commercially minded. So I've kind of relished that challenge and people have been very open minded to doing things differently. Look, I certainly wasn't their sort of typical high the fact that I didn't come from snowsports. I think maybe some might have thought could be a disadvantage, but actually I think they'd take me at face value. I haven't got these pre existing sort of ideas or deep rooted relationships that therefore I'm doing things for political reasons. It's sort of what you see is what you get, and hopefully, you know, the experience that I've had from other sports is going to make an impact. I'm certainly really excited with sort of the trajectory of growth over the last couple of years. But yeah, it's been an awesome job, as good as any role I've had. I'm really loving it.
00:06:36
Speaker 2: I love to hear that you're expanding into things like hospitality.
00:06:40
Speaker 1: Let's talk about the model.
00:06:41
Speaker 2: Can you talk about what that entails and how your athletes play within your overall season circuit and what that means to be an Olympics or out of Olympics.
00:06:50
Speaker 1: We're what you call a national governing body, so we sit yes in the Olympic movement. Our sports a part of the Olympics, are ten sports make up about sixty five seventy percent of Team USA and the Winter team, and the Olympics is obviously a huge moment every four years. We're planning we have been since about two days after Beijing finished for Milan Cortina in February next year. But that is just one moment every four years. Well, I think a lot of the American audience maybe on as familiar with is that our athletes actually compete on what we call a World Cup circuit every season. So it's sort of analogous to a PGA Tour or a WTA or even a left one circuit where basically pretty much every weekend from the end of October until the beginning of April, they're competing against the best athletes in the world on a circuit of events that more and more of them are taking place in the US, which has been a big goal of ours. We've almost doubled the number of World Cups over the last couple of years, which is huge, but they spend a lot of their time competing in Europe and they have the opportunity to win World Cup races every weekend, which are big moments, but ultimately, what defines the best athlete is who finishes top of the rankings at the end of season, so we can week out, that's what they're striving for. I mean, you muld ask some athletes actually to win a globe, which is what you win if you finish number one in the rankings at the end of the season. Really determines the best athlete rather than sort of one race or a couple of races at the Olympics. So yeah, trying to educate the US audience on what that structure is and how competitive it is and who are you know, the main athletes that we're competing with, which of our athletes are kind of dominating on a global level, is a big part of our job, and I think we've made some good progress. We've got a long way to go, but that's also what I love. I mean, week in week out, we're trying to be the best, and in this role, I actually get to see oversee the sports side, not just the business side, because the athletes sit under our umbrella. They qualify for a team, We have a criteria and we actually just not named those that have been nominated to make the team for next season. So it's about two hundred and fifty athletes across these different sports, and then we oversee their training schedule, their competitive schedule, obviously with input from those of the closes them. For us, it's a real partnership which I also love. You know, our athletes are the most important part of our organization covering all of these different sports, and I want to be their best and most important partner as well. So we fund everything that they need to be an elite athlete, and with that they give us certain things in return, whether that's you know, commercial rights, appearances, doing different sort of broadcast initiatives, and then they're able obviously to make money as an independent individual as well. But it's a really interesting sort of dichotomy with our sports because they do compete as individuals again like in tennis or f one or golf, et cetera. But in our sports you really need to be part of a team because the training requires the speed of someone else to make sure that you're getting faster from a danger perspective, you need numerous coaches along the slopes to make sure from a safety standpoint that everything's in check. So they really are very dependent on each other and they train together sometimes men and women as well, but definitely you need other ap fleets around you. But yet you're competing with those athletes on a daily basis as well. So I think culturally that actually makes the sport really special, the values and the support and just the respect they have for each other's bravery. I mean when they get down downhill course having gone at almost one hundred miles an hour with no safety protection around them, and they make it and they see actually someone do even better and come down, they're like, oh my god, that was freaking awesome. Yeah, such respect. Yeah, you're putting your body on the line, you're too intes hey, if you get the turn wrong, you're careering into the side netting and it's freaking dangerous. So yeah, so that's been really really interesting for me to get my arms around because it is so different just structurally to other sports.
00:10:40
Speaker 2: I love the analogy though, to the PGA and the WTA. I think it's a hopeful frame of reference, especially for the US market and just understanding the competitive circuit that exists. So let's talk about the awareness and the storytelling because I think, you know, one of the biggest challenges for over indexing Olympic sports in which I would consider snow and key. You know, the times you start to think about some of these incredible athletes is around these big ones every four year moments. How are you looking to combat that from a storytelling perspective to really start to break through the zeitgeist.
00:11:12
Speaker 1: Yeah, Look, it does come down to storytelling for sure, and we're trying to create this mindset of really being just a three six y five content engine. I mean, given the number of athletes we have and what they're doing sort of in the prep period as well as during the season, there's so many different angles we have and the individual side and then the camaraderie between them and the team behind the team. But I think also something that's really struck me as these athletes are just so well rounded. Look, a few of them do very well financially, but still, relatively speaking compared to other athletes, I think they're very underpaid and I'm as determined as anyone to change that because they deserve to make more money both prize money wise and from endorsements and on the marketing side. But because of that, they just have an appreciation, you know, like anything they do get any support they do get means a lot because they know that it can you know, end at any moment, and then they're kind of on their own. And these sports are really expensive to participate in, so a lot of them are doing further education, some of them have second or third jobs, and that just makes them very relatable, but very well rounded, culturally interesting human beings. I would say more so than the average athlete. I think I can say that having worked in a lot of different sports. I mean there's a lot of other amazing athletes out.
00:12:22
Speaker 2: There, and that many sports you're flying down one hundred miles an hour with no safety guards.
00:12:26
Speaker 1: So yeah, there's just something a little bit more real about them. So I think the storytelling is definitely a huge opportunity for US, also having more major moments. Look, the US is a very competitive landscape, which is awesome, but it means you've got a punch above your weight and get creative, so hence really trying to have more World Cup events in the US so that we can have these major moments where people cut through, you know, just another average event. It's tough for the American audience to really sort of tune into that. So for example, this year we had the Stifol some value World Cup Finals to finish the season, the best men and women in the world across all for alpine disciplines. NBC and outside really supported it. It got some great exposure and coverage. Lindsey Vaughn got her first podium, having come back in an incredible way. So those big moments, I think are also key for us. That we've got Milan Cartina next year, which will be awesome. We actually just came off doing the NBC shoot last week and the build up to that. We now have this nine year north Star with the next US Home Winter Games here in our backyard in Utah, which is going to be amazing. So that's really key. And then also to grow the sport, finding the right partners that can help us tell ours stories. You know that marketing muscle and resource and investment is really key. And while we've grown a lot, we're still not for profit and we're mindful of where we spend our money. We don't have the budgets of the NBA or the NFL or even WNBA now you look at what they're doing, but our partners can be that voice for us. So whether it's Defaul, whether it's Jakrue, whether it's Kappa Toyota, when we become more a priority within their marketing budget, that really helps us to connect with a new audience. So yeah, there's various different ways. It's certainly not a one size fits all.
00:14:20
Speaker 2: Let's talk about this new endeavor into the travel and hospitality, but can you talk about why you decided to move into this new area and how you sort of see that being additive to versus just integrated in the World Cup circuit for now. Yeah.
00:14:34
Speaker 1: Absolutely, So it came about for a couple of reasons. First of all, we've had success in signing quite a few new partners over the last couple of years, and they also have their own objectives and sign with us for slightly different reasons. But one thing they just continue to lean into more and more is these money com't buy experiences. You know, I think we're one of the only, well very few sports where you can literally race and ski on the course that then the best athletes in the world are going to be going down. You can go out, get a few runs snowboarding or skiing in the morning and then watch the athletes compete right there. That just doesn't really exist. And I think all of these new partners were blown away by how many of their clients and key kind of stakeholders love our sports. They don't need to be that good at it. You know, you can be very average or actually learn for the first time. But it was like, wow, we can be in this environment. We can give them someone that no one else can. And we're also going to these fantastic locations and so you know, selling hospitality sponsorships linked to these unique sort of experiences became more and more valuable. We then also signed a partnership with cloud Flair. It was the first time they've done anythings significantly in sports. It was great on the technology side for us, they're the leading cyber security company in the world, but they also wanted to cut through in a different way. Davos, the World Economic Forum, was a big platform for them, and they decided they want to sort of turn it on its head and take business to the mountains. And so we took over the Davos mount We bought in four of our lead athletes, some of our former greades, and they've never had a event that's been so oversubscribed. And you had the leading you know, CEOs and some decision makers. Of course, it's big companies, and I was like, wow, okay, this just keeps kind of happening. We also have a very good value but quite expensively priced program around the Olympics called the Champions Club. It also got over subscribe. We could sell it out twice and we never even marketed it. So I'm like, okay, right, enough of this. Let's get into this business in a big way rather than it being kind of something on the side. That's part of the partnership. Given this twenty million audience that is high net worth and wants to be part of connecting with the great American athletes and going to these places where we can give them a behind the scenes look that you just can't get on your own. So that's sort of what you know, forced us, or not forced us, encouraged me to come up with this idea, and yeah, can't wait to get going on it. We're actually finalizing who we're going to hire to lead it. We're going to likely John venture with another company too to help us want some of the resource and operations that we need on the back end of it. But I think it can be a major business for us.
00:17:08
Speaker 2: Who's net new dream partner for you? For our marketing audience that's listening, who should we be inviting to the table?
00:17:15
Speaker 1: Well, from a brand perspective, I mean anyone that wants to really provide unique experiences that are very authentic where you can integrate and meet some of the most inspiring athletes in the world. I mean our list is pretty long and we actually have quite a diverse group of partners. But then also these different hospitality companies, you know, whether it's the on Locations or other companies like that. I think they're always looking for these different angles and each year you've got to elevate. You know what you are and what you can do. So yeah, look, who knows how big it can be. But we're quite excited to get it launched. How do you see it helping to build business? Because I do see it as a really interesting way to curate events for marketers, media companies, off sites for corporations. They can and should be thinking about us now and sky to tap into some of these womens, you already have to be additive to create that business environment. Is that something you're seeing happening naturally at these events? Absolutely? Yeah. I mean we have a very influential group of stakeholders connected to our sport, you know, decision makers from across various different industries, and when you come to our bigger World Cup events, it's pretty who's who of folks that a lot of brands and other marketers would like to be around. And actually, is that sort of a test case. We did an event for the first time the women raced at an iconic course called Birds of Prey, and being a women's sports fan, you'll appreciate this, and we were trying to have the women's ski there for a while and the head of the men's race was like, it's going to degrade the men's race to have the women. I'm like, I can't believe you're saying that out loud, Like that's just so inappropriate. So no, it's not true. And secondly he's like, well, also, women can't skip, it's too hot. They're going to hurt themselves. Someone's going to kill themselves and it's going to you know, just put the race out of action. Even the men won't be able to ski there. Well, what not only did the women kill it, No one had any injury. They skied brilliantly, loved it, and we had the biggest crowd we've ever had at that. It's amazing.
00:19:13
Speaker 2: And also Birds of Prey is just a badass name for female skiing momentary.
00:19:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, you visualize what it's going to be like. But I mentioned it because around that, together with CNBC Liontry and together we bought a bunch of really influential women to an event see it in person. They couldn't all ski or snowboard. Some came for at Prey, which was awesome because that's a big part of what we do in these amazing locations. But they just got a different sort of appreciation and there was some great meetings and business taking place and sort of what I mentioned earlier about cloud Flare. They were really blown away by the convening of different business minds. Again, some just met us for lunch on the mountain. If people did ski and snowboard, the beauty of our sport too is which sometimes gets a little bit frustrating, but you to spend a lot of time on the shell lift. You take five minutes to go up in a minute to come down, so actually you do get a lot of quality time. And as I've experienced many times, having a conversation with someone on a chairlift in a beautiful spot, you get into a different level of sort of depth and understanding than you would in an office. It just does.
00:20:17
Speaker 2: I love this as a tactic. The next time might come out for a skiing trip and make it business. I'm just going to just go on the chairlifts and just book my meetings.
00:20:25
Speaker 1: Yeah, this is strategic and you'll bump into all sorts of amazing people. I love it.
00:20:30
Speaker 2: So if we talk about the audience, can you talk about who the core consumer audience is of the snow and ski universe, and then perhaps more broadly, who you see coming in, perhaps as a result of people jumping on and following specific athletes or the expansion of the sport with this World Cup season.
00:20:46
Speaker 1: So look, it's twenty million and growing is trending very nicely. Unlike most sports. I think a lot of that, you know, silver linings and all off the back of COVID the world has become more about outdoor experiences and being more adventurous. Actually, you know, if you do have some disposable income, actually not just investing in things, but actually in travel and seeing new places. So we have that kind of mindset with so many people that participate in our sports. We have a diverse age range because we have these ten different sports that all have slightly different personalities. So on the snowboard and free ski side, for example, it skews a little bit younger. I would say, we've got a lot of more of the caller kids that are setting trends and incredibly creative and thinking out the box. In some of our other sports, maybe it does skew a little bit older, and there's more of a sort of competitive mindset or endurance. If you think of something like cross country, where you look at you know, the boom of cycling and triathletes, etc. Cross country is now doing that. I mean cross country. The numbers are just skyrocketing, which is super exciting. So I say that because we have a bunch of different personalities within our sports, if I can put it that way, and they each appeal to something slightly different. Have being said that there's a lot of common opt too, and there's definitely some themes and threads. I mean when our athletes are here. I work in Park City. We have our Yusana Center of Excellence here, so we often have athletes from multiple sports training here and it's really cool to see that dynamic. Again, there's many more similarities than there are differences. How they inspire and push each other. You know, they're doing a lot of the same training in the gym, and then some things that are very very different. So from a gender split, it's about sixty forty male to female, but female participation growing certainly on the athletic side. Many of our most well known and successful athletes have been women, and that's been the case for decades, which is really cool to see.
00:22:38
Speaker 2: It is so interesting as you're saying that, I'm like, with the exception probably of Sean White, only female athletes come to mind in this territory. How are you seeing the next generation shape there? And are they bringing new audiences with them using social media et cetera.
00:22:52
Speaker 1: Absolutely yeah, I mean I think they've become a lot more savvy. Again, it's where our partnership with our athletes I think has really benefited because of them need the support of our social content creators and brand experts to help them build their narrative and who they want to be. They don't have big teams of agents and managers and what have you around them, so we're really in it together, which has been great and helps us to kind of shape it and makes us more valuable to each other. But yeah, there's Savvian especially within some of our sports. They get their inspiration and they push themselves to new levels by being creative. So for example, on the snowboard free skiers, they compete regularly, but in their downtime they're going to the out back furthest points you away from sort of civilization in the mountains to capture the most amazing scenery and tricks and try these never being done before things that they do. And that's all about filming, and they travel with a filmer before they'll travel with a coach or a physio and then capturing that content and bringing it to life. So they really are creative. But if they don't have that, they can't perform competitively. They need to be inspired in that way, which again for me was a bit of a head twist. I'm like, wow, I thought you had to go to the gym and you know, do more sprints and lift more weights. I mean it's a little bit similar in surfing as well, which is where I work before. But you know, that's been so cool to sort of appreciate and just understand how they're wired in a different way. I mean, they're incredibly professionally also in how they train, but you know, they achieve new things. Oh, Lindsay Vaughn's workout videos are insane. I'm like, I'm just so in awe of this woman and everything that she's been through and continues to accomplish. Yeah, and has totally transcender the sport obviously in so many ways.
00:24:31
Speaker 2: But she gets me out of bed. I'm like, well, if she's doing that, the least I could do is do it thirty minute peloton walk.
00:24:35
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:24:35
Speaker 2: Seriously, talking about these athletes and their storytelling, thinking about the next generation, how do you start to think about perhaps the media package? Right, I know you talked about NBC and obviously such a critical partner in and around Olympics and storytelling, but are you starting to explore new and differentiated ways to get the word out about who these athletes are? Where the World Cup is happening, anything you're excited by with respect to amplification, Yeah, I mean.
00:24:59
Speaker 1: Looks social we've been across of many of us have for a long time, and our athletes have certainly leaned into it and are getting savvier by the day with it all. There's also some longer form content projects that we've done. We did one around our snowboard athletes this year. We're actually just finalizing our deal to come out with our version of sort of Drive to Survive, which I think is going to be really cool, which will drop leading up to the Olympics. We've got an amazing cross country documentary that we're working with a production team on focusing on So Jesse Diggins is currently the world's best cross country skier. She's the only non Scandinavian to have ever won that title and she's won it now three times. I mean, this woman is superhuman and has been through you know, some real hardships with mental health and eating disorder, etc. And it's very honest about it and just a role model for so many. So yeah, figuring out sort of what are the right verticals, what are the right partners, How can that investment model work the podcast business in congrats to you or launching this. It's amazing. Again, these stories can sort of take different shapes and formats, so we're very open minded.
00:26:06
Speaker 2: I'm totally bringing slop side to one of your toy like, this is going to become a thing. We're greenlighting it now.
00:26:11
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're going on the road absolutely. So yeah. Look, I like to think of ourselves as being guinea pigs because we don't have the same kind of oversight sort of bodies that some organizations have, and we need to punch above our weight. We need to be creative to begin to compete with some of the other leagues. We're open for business and our athletes are very flexible. The way we control our rights we actually quite a big thing for us. So working with FISTS, which is our global governing body sort of our FIFA, we negotiated a really big strategic partnership to now centralize all our rights. So in the US we'll be going to the market with our domestic rights as well as all the international rights, so all the inbound rights coming from Europe, which at the moment we've had to sell separately. So from a fan perspective, it's going to be much easier to watch us.
00:27:07
Speaker 2: Obviously, there's so many different places brands can show up. Is there anyone who's doing it different, doing it unique thinking about the space, Like I'm like cowas Lubitan not come in and done red Ski bottoms. But are there creative use cases that are starting to take shape?
00:27:23
Speaker 1: Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think we've really pushed to be honest to our partners, to activate more broadly and just make sure we're constantly also giving them ideas and making it easy because a lot of the big ones, you know, have many different partners that they're trying to activate around, So how can we kind of cut through and become even better to work with Actually, recently got a great compliment for NBC who said, your athletes and your organization is just so user friendly. You need to know that like you are the best to work with them. Like that is exactly what I want every partner to say. We're available and willing to do pretty much anything. I think one partnership that I'm really proud of that we signed recently is with Jake, So it's the first time they've done something sort of significant like this in sports. It's very much focused on the connection with lifestyle, and again, having worked in a lot of different sports, these are the ultimate lifestyle sports, you know. I said it when I was working tennis and golf and surfing and all of that, and for sure they cross over, but we're much more deep rooted than the fact that we're multi generational. I think it's one of the few sports that a grandpa loves doing with a grandchild. And again it's because of that time on the chairlift and having fun, being bad together, falling over and then who doesn't love to sit around a fire and have a cocktail or a mocktail at the end of the day. So I think that crossover into lifestyle are really interesting demographic. So for them, you think about Kashmir and sort of the luxury off the slopes and how they're repositioning their brand and the places that they're going to take us to. We're actually going to be doing some stuff at canl and hopefully with you as well. You're on my book, so I'll be seeing you there soon. And brands like that, you know, love those opportunities, you know. Our performance partner, interestingly is Kappa, the sort of more heritage based Italian brand which is very retro lifestyle. So again you think of a prey. They're all about that and music and djaying, but they have this performance heritage. They actually sponsored the US track and field team back in the days in the eighty four sort of La Olympics. So that was a really interesting way for us to again branch out of being just a more traditional, high performing sport, but taking that away from the mountains and really to the street. What are you looking to see more of?
00:29:27
Speaker 2: Right as obviously you've gotten Alan Quartina in front of us, seeing just the overall explosive awareness and attention, particularly around the women's sports industry of late, what would you like to see more of from the media, marketing, advertising community as it relates to your circuit.
00:29:42
Speaker 1: I think just still a little bit more open mindedness, you know, I think we're still while the sports have been around for decades, we're still sort of seen as somewhat new and maybe untested. So look, give us, give us a chance. We're willing to be creative. You know, our audiences are growing, participations growing. Very few can say that, and we've actually got pretty clean slate. You haven't got, you know, dozens of brands already involved or certainly not. You know, multiple brands from the same sector, so you can really carve out a position and a voice where you can differentiate yourselves. And our fans are very, very loyal because these are lifestyle sports. Yes, it's the way they stay in shape and get fit, but it's a way of life.
00:30:21
Speaker 2: Look.
00:30:21
Speaker 1: I have only really ever lived in big cities before moving to Park City, London, LA, New York on my last three stops, and I'd been to Park City a bunch to ski, so we knew we'd like it enough. But I love it here. It really is a way of life without making it sound like a cult. And I think, you know, that's what the world's ready for, and I think brands can lean into that and just have a much deeper conversation. But I think, yeah, think out the box and be more creative. Test some of these things, because that's how you can really cut through Observationally.
00:30:50
Speaker 2: If we were doing court side, but make it slope side, and you were on that chair lift looking down, not just literally but figuratively over what you've experienced to one's since you took over.
00:31:01
Speaker 1: Are there things that have surprised you?
00:31:03
Speaker 2: Takeaways that you're like, Wow, had I not been on the inside of this, I wouldn't have known to be able to take this into the mainstream, into the zeitgeist, to be able to bring new fans, new partners, new media into the space.
00:31:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's multiple things. I mean, first of all, the athletes. I had no idea how brave they were and really what they were putting their bodies through. I mean, I would say on average, our athletes go through at least two to three what would be career ending injuries in any other sport. I mean a leg break, Multiple leg breaks is nothing, you know, multiple acls, I mean career defining kind of injuries in other sports. And they come back and their resilience and their work ethic and just talk about love of the sport when you're putting yourself through that, but the adrenaline rush. So I have a whole new appreciation for what these athletes really stand for and what they do. I think the deep connectivity with our sports and I see this a little bit so for the first time working for this not profit type structure. A big part of our revenue comes from philanthropy, which is where we have this very interesting high net worth influential demographic who are so invested in what we do. Some of them have been giving for decades and significant sums and if I ever need anything for all them, many of them, you know, managing some of the biggest companies in America, if not the world. They respond within five minutes because they care so much and they're passing it down. It's multi generational. So I think just that intrinsic, deep rooted love for these sports is unlike what I've experienced, and I think it is this is multigenerational at Prey, anyone can be part of it. It's not just about performance and elite sort of sport. It's much more well rounded than that. So that I just I've sort of beginning to figure out why they're so passionate. It comes back a little bit to the sharelift too. When does a grandpa get to spend five minutes every six minutes with their grand kid and they can't be on a phone because it's so freaking cold and you can't you know, type away. It just builds connectivity. And then I'd say the other thing that surprised me because I was told these are very traditional, sort of male, white dominated sports. Good luck, you know, trying to transform things. They've been incredibly open minded and we've changed a lot and they've embraced it, and we certainly haven't got everything right, but they've been willing to, you know, have that attitude and approach. And I think I would say a little bit of me being an outsider has helped with that, which I wouldn't have thought would have been the case. I would have thought it would take me longer to build the confidence and then we'd make the changes. But because I was an outsider, they kind of took me more at face value. So that's been a pleasant surprise, and I think that's a benefit for our brands, Like there's a lot of things we're open to doing that haven't been done yet, and a brand or you know, marketing visionary can take credit and be, you know, the one that sort of gets the value out of that.
00:33:49
Speaker 2: How many different steps are on the tour in the season.
00:33:53
Speaker 1: Oh, I mean dozens? I mean just in alpine or alone, and alpine is four disciplines, downhill, super giant, Slala, giant slalom, and slalom. They would have over really stops between men and women.
00:34:07
Speaker 2: So do you inherently have eighty different audiences or one umbrella audience that has eighty different cuts.
00:34:11
Speaker 1: Again, it depends what you're looking for. Is it just age range, is it income? Is it other demographics? Is it country? I mean one thing, a couple of our recent partners have partnered with US more for Europe than they have for the US. They love that, you know, we're an American brand and team, but interestingly also for our sports. I didn't think we'd translate so well into Europe. But unlike in most sports, in our sports, people love the US team. We're like everyone's second favorite team. Like when I go to these events, everyone's sharing for the US and I'm like, wow, this is really fascinating. It's sort of used to everyone sort of not hating the US but rooting against them. And you know, maybe that's because we're the underdog a little bit. But we're dominating in some sports. I mean, Mackaya's different. People love she gets more, she can't and she competes in all four right, I think I learned this from you. That will dominate in all four? Yeah, which like how imprecedent and it is that. Yeah, it's like doing four different sports. I mean, yeah, little on skis, but it's yeah, technically very different. So you can imagine her training schedule. It's like four times as much as anyone else.
00:35:13
Speaker 2: Last year we were fortunate to have Mikayla Schiffrin with us, and she was talking about the amount of skis she goes through per season. I mean it's incredible the amount of equipment and just overall support these athletes need to just compete are season long.
00:35:29
Speaker 1: Yeah no, I mean she will travel with thirty ish pairs of skis and be changing them out regularly as long with God knows how many pairs of boots and yeah, backage expense is one of our larger cost items, which.
00:35:42
Speaker 2: Is a great partnership opportunity. I mean, when I think about the amount of shoes I travel with, I have nothing on her. But of all the stops, which one's your favorite? I know Park City has a special place in your heart, But of all the places you've gone, if you're a first timer who's like, you know what I want to get out on the circuit. I want to stop and really experience the World Cups, where would you do me? Oh?
00:36:01
Speaker 1: Well, I'm going to give a plug for the US ones. I mean Deer Valley here in Utah is amazing. We have it's the best actually World Cup for locals and aerials. It's super fun. Beginning of February Killington. Actually we're taking a year off from Killington because they're putting a new lift in, so we're going to be at Copper Mountain in Colorado for men's and women's alpine, which will be awesome. But Killington has built something in only sort of seven or eight years. It's the most attended women's alpine event in the world now, even beating out the Europeans, so that's pretty special. Sun Valley, where we had the World Cup finals, was amazing. We're back in Aspen now with a snowboard free ski event. An Aspen in the spring is not a bad place to go.
00:36:41
Speaker 2: I learned this from one of my former mentors, Beth Comstockets. I have I need in this idea of like what you have to give the marketplace, but something you're you're also looking in return. If you can round us out before I let you go, what would you say I have and what would you say you need?
00:36:55
Speaker 1: I say we have the product. Our athletes, not sports are incredible and there's so much more potential. We're just getting going. Oh I could be doing this job for decades and not get bored, which hasn't normally been the case. I'm very grateful for all the supporters that we have, but yeah, I think what we need is to get we're just getting going. You know, we want to support more athletes, We want to get these stories out there, so we're looking for really active partners that share those core values. We don't get any government funding, unlike all of our European counterparts, about fifty percent of their budget would come from the government.
00:37:29
Speaker 2: We get zero, which we make up for with. When you say fifty percent, like, what are we talking about. This is not a couple hundred thousand.
00:37:36
Speaker 1: No, No, this is like tens of millions of dollars every season, and this is all sponsorship dollars coming in. Yeah, and in Europe, half of that's from the government. And then the athletes are competing in Europe in their backyard, so it's cheaper as well. So it's kind of like a double whammy. So those baggage fees, yeah, exactly, baggage fees and just yeah, flights and all of that. But when you're giving to us you're giving to a not for profit, you're helping the next generation great athletes. What does it cost to sponsor an athlete for a year? What would be the average if a brand wanted to come in and make a meaningful impact. So yeah, look again, depending on the agent level of an athlete, you can get in for ten twenty thousand dollars and that would be very meaningful for an athlete, and then it obviously goes up to significantly more than that. Sure, but yeah, there's a lot of athletes that need these supports, and they're the greatest people to work with. I mean a lot of them sort of are adopted by these brands and families that want to look after them because they're just so well rounded. They're great to hang out with. But yeah, they definitely need more support than they deserve it.
00:38:37
Speaker 2: Well, I can't wait to see your slope side on a chairlift or app ry skiing. Maybe you'll be the one to help me get back up on those skis and get back out. But I'm certainly rooting for you, and you know we are here to support you every step of the way. I can't wait for Milan, but more importantly, I can't wait to check out some of these World Cups in between. It would be really fun to experience it, and I totally invite the advertising community to get involved and check it out for themselves.
00:38:59
Speaker 1: Thank you, Thanks for all you're doing. You've made quite a monk in a short space of time, but your execute the energy and visionary that we need.
00:39:08
Speaker 2: I'm your host Laura Crenti, founder and CEO of Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Our executive producer is Jesse Katz, and this show is produced by Ryan Martz along with associate producers Meredith Barnes and Rachel Zuckerman. Court Side is an iHeart Women's Sports production and partnership with Deep Blue Sports and Entertainment. Listen on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
00:39:30
Speaker 1: Want more, follow, rate.
00:39:32
Speaker 2: And review port Side wherever you get your podcasts, and stay in the game by following us on social media at Iheartwomen's Sports, and don't forget to subscribe to our newsletter. In the show notes, thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. Court Side
