Word: colbert
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This isn't some kind of prank, right? "We're not viewing this as a joke at all," says Crowley. Colbert really is throwing U.S. Speedskating a lifeline. The Dutch bank had been the U.S. team's most generous benefactor (speedskating is huge in the Netherlands), but a run on the bank caused DSB to go under in mid-October, leaving U.S. Speedskating with a $300,000 budget shortfall. "The Olympics are our Super Bowl, Masters and Tour de France combined," says Derek Parra, a 2002 speedskating gold medalist who is now one of the coaches for the U.S. team...
...Then Colbert's staff saw a story on the DSB sponsorship fallout and pounced. To them, the irony was too delicious: the tentacles of the financial crisis have stung the innocent athletes who aspire to Olympic glory. Plus, the sport offers comic material. "We must ensure that it is America's 38-inch thighs on that medal platform," Colbert said in a release announcing the sponsorship. (See a video of Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents Dinner...
...Speedskating office in Salt Lake City and the parties quickly hammered out a deal. "My gut reaction was, 'Great,' " says Crowley. "It's a unique sponsorship opportunity, and you know what? It's going to be fun." The market price for sponsorship logos on speedskating suits is $100,000. Colbert will get a logo on the leg and hood of the long-track skaters; on the short-track athletes, the Colbert Nation mark will be stitched on the leg and chest. "A bit embarrassing that our leadership couldn't secure other sponsors three months before the Olympic Games," short-track...
...skaters should probably temper their enthusiasm, because Colbert isn't exactly cutting a check to U.S. Speedskating for $400,000. Over the next few weeks, the show will plug the sport regularly and feature speedskating in a few bits. The team is counting on the generosity of Colbert's audience, in both a down economy and around the holidays, when spare change goes to stocking stuffers. "It's a gamble," Crowley concedes. U.S. Speedskating was in preliminary discussions with a few sponsors, but none were willing to pay $100,000 for the suit space. And with the Olympics just...
Luckily for speedskating, Colbert's audience tends to adopt his causes. He has raised at least $240,000 for the Yellow Ribbon Fund, which assists injured service members and their families. But even if the economics work out, the Colbert stunt could backfire. After all, if your sport becomes too intertwined with a comedy program, does it become a joke? "We talked about that," says Crowley. "We stressed to the Colbert staff that we have exquisite athletes who have trained their entire lives for that Olympic platform. They can't minimize that. They get it, and they recognize that...