Putnam Investments Now Sponsoring U.S. Ski Team
USSA
Andy Newell speaks during the Putnam Investments announcement in Boston in October.
Putnam Investments has announced a four-season sponsor-
ship commitment to the U.S. Ski Team.
Putnam Investments chief Bob Reynolds, has served on the
U.S. Ski Team team’s board of directors for seven years. The
firm has also been a personal sponsor of Ted Ligety for two
seasons. For the next four seasons not only will Ligety, but also
all members of the national ski and snowboard teams, sport a
Putnam logo.
The ski team, says Reynolds, reminds him of his own firm. “It
is an unbelievable success story,” he said at the Putnam Boston
headquarters last month. “You need a great team to have suc-
cess. Like the ski team we have been working very, very hard to
put together the right group of people, put the right incentives in
place. But all of our success is predicated on performing.”
Reynolds indicated the international scope of the sponsorship
was among the ingredients for making the commitment. Likening
World Cup ski racing in Europe to American football in the U.S.
he said: “With our brand and scope, we think the leverage of this
partnership is so great because of the exposure outside of the
U.S. That led us to be more excited to be associated with a great
group of people and knowing how hard these people work to get
to where they are. ... we can relate to that sometimes.”
A skier himself, Reynolds
said he got a late start at
the sport “and my ability
shows it,” but it heightened
his understanding of the dif-
ficulties of reaching the gold
medal level of the sport.
“The goal is performance.
... What the [USST] stands
for is a perfect market for
us. There are organizations
out there that have national
and international exposure
that you’d like to put your
name with. The U.S. Ski and
Snowboard teams were on
the top of that list. Eighteen
hundred associates today
are very, very proud.”
Putnam Investments will
serve as the exclusive mu-
tual fund sponsor of the ski
team.
Olympic Hoops
The U.S. Ski Team has released the selection-system in-
formation for the newly created Youth Olympic Games. For
the 2012 Games, scheduled for Innsbruck, Austria, from
Jan. 13-22, the team has set standards for all its disciplines.
In alpine, the international requirements include having FIS
points in any event to qualify for slalom and GS; and to have
points in downhill, super G or slalom in order to participate
in the super G.
Up to two men and two women will be named based on
FIS quotas. Team performance at the 2011 World Junior
Ski Championships will establish those quotas.
Using the USSA points list of May 26, 2011, USSA will
establish a list of age-eligible athletes for both men and
women, selecting the athletes according to ranking in their
best two of three discipline points from lowest sum to high-
est. The third discipline points will be used as a tiebreaker.
Discretionary criteria is listed as “not applicable.”
Cross country quotas will be established by the FIS based
on team performance at the World Junior Ski Champion-
ships at Otepaa, Estonia, from Jan. 25-31, 2011. Selections
will be based directly on rankings from the USSA cross
country overall NRL published April 14, 2011.
Selections for both ski jumping and nordic combined will
be based on performance at the 2011 Flaming Leaves Fes-
tival at Lake Placid set on or about Oct. 8, 2011.
Freestyle selections will be based on performance in spe-
cific events including 2011’s U.S. Halfpipe Championships
at Stratton on March 26 and the Boreal Mountain Revolu-
tion Tour Skicross competition on Feb. 7.
Snowboard halfpipe and slopestyle will be filled from riders
nominated via events Dec. 11-14, 2010, at Copper Moun-
tain, Colo., and March 4-6, 2011, at Mammoth Mountain,
Calif.
In all cases, American competitors will be required to hold
U.S. citizenship, a valid passport, a valid and active FIS
license and meet FIS minimum eligibility standards with at
least one FIS point in the event concerned. Additionally,
the athlete must have been born between Jan. 1, 1995 and
Dec. 31, 1996. — Hank McKee
