Candi Murray
I took this off rbr
I wonder how much of the shortfall is from state organizations doing there
own things and their members not joining. U hear that the USAC membership
dues will go up again next year and for the first time they will charging
juniors more.
Oh well ;-)
Candi
Fellow r.b.r. Freds -
I got the following from:
http://www.rgj.com/news2/stories/sports/967439246.html
Henry
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Buddy, can you spare $200,000?
That's how large USA Cycling's budget shortfall is this year, which just
happens to be an Olympic year, which is also part of the problem.
Because some sponsorship funding fell off, USA Cycling had only about $1.9
million to fund its programs, which range from hosting training camps to
paying the travel and competition expenses for dozens of junior- and
senior-level elite cyclists.
Compare that to the approximately $6-$9 million spent by the U.S. Postal
Service team, which has only 16 members, the most famous of which is
two-time Tour De France champion Lance Armstrong.
"It goes pretty quick," said Sean Petty, USA Cycling's director of athlete
performance.
But not everyone agrees it's going in the right direction.
Cyclist Marcelo Arrue, a member of the 2000 U.S. Olympic cycling team, is
angry because USA Cycling had to eliminate athletes' stipends this year as
part of its budget crunching.
Arrue, who won gold medals in the match sprint at the Pan American Games and
the national championships last year, was receiving a $1,250-a-month stipend
in 1999. This year, he's gotten no stipend from USA Cycling, only a one-time
$2,500 grant out of the "Venture" funds allotted to USA Cycling by the
United States Olympic Committee.
The Venture program was initiated about two years ago to target athletes
with medal potential in Sydney and provide them with more money for training
and other pre-Olympic preparations. Many cyclists survive on funding from
their own sponsors.
"You'd think we'd get more from USA Cycling, and not less, during an Olympic
year," Arrue said.
Petty doesn't like the situation any more than Arrue.
"It seems contrary and contradictive, and it hurts," Petty said. "The only
consolation is that we pay for a lot of training and camps and travel to
(international) races. But it's hard for them between the camps and the
races."
Petty said this year's funding shortfall was caused by changing sponsorships
and that USA Cycling had no choice but to eliminate the stipends, as opposed
to making cutbacks in the number of junior and senior cyclists it sends to
national and international races. Also, the budget took a $100,000 hit just
to pay for the trip to Sydney.
Petty believes that the formation this year of the U.S. Cycling Foundation
will create a perpetually self-renewing source of funding for USA Cycling
and its programs. Petty is also hoping to attract more dollars from the
USOC, once representatives from both organizations map out a strategy for
increasing cycling's medals count, as per the overall "money-for-medals"
plan being instituted by Norm Blake, the new head of the USOC.