By EDDIE PELLS AP National Writer
The U.S. Olympic team received its biggest donation ever — $100 million — to fund $100,000 payments and matching life insurance benefits for anyone who earns a spot on Team USA starting next year.
The donation to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation is from Ross Stevens, the founder and CEO of Stone Ridge Holdings Group, a finance firm that focuses on “nontraditional” investment options such as crypto and fine art.
“I do not believe that financial insecurity should stop our nation’s elite athletes from breaking through to new frontiers of excellence,” Stevens said in a statement announcing the deal Wednesday.
The U.S. is among the few countries whose government does not fund its Olympic program or its athletes. The U.S. team is dependent on sponsorship and media deals (for around 75-80% of its revenue), along with fundraising (for between 10-20%).
It leads to a system full of Olympians who live near the poverty line while chasing their sports dreams, and can end up there in retirement, as well. The foundation’s president, Christine Walshe, said last year that 57% of U.S. athletes earn $50,000 or less a year.
“You don’t want athletes being destitute when they finish a long, storied career,” USOPF chair Geoff Yang said, calling the gift “transformational.”
The Stevens donation alone is worth more than double the $47 million USOPF raised in 2023, the last year for which tax records are available. His donation provides the starting money for a program that:
— Will pay a $100,000 grant, divided over four years, to every U.S. Olympian, starting with those on next year’s Winter team competing in Italy. That money can be used for any purpose and can be accessed 20 years after their qualifying Olympics or once they reach 45, whichever comes later.
— Will pay a $100,000 benefit to a designated beneficiary upon their death.
— Will duplicate these benefits for every Olympics an athlete makes, so someone who goes three times would get a total of $600,000 in benefits.
— Will be restricted to athletes who make less than $1 million a year, so as not to divert funds to, say, well-paid NBA players or top tennis stars who also compete for America.
— Is funded through at least 2032 with a goal of going beyond that.
The foundation, launched in 2013 as the chairtable arm of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, raised around $230 million in the four years ending in 2024 to fund direct support to athletes. It is shooting for $500 million for the four-year period ending with the LA Olympics in 2028.
The USOPC’s chair, Gene Sykes, called the Stevens donation “the biggest thing that anyone’s ever done to address” the need to help Olympians past their retirements.
He said in addition to the money itself, a donation of this size by a donor with Stevens’ background is a symbol of what the Olympics truly stand for.
“It signifies that this is something that’s valuable for the country, and valuable to people who have the greatest amount of resources in the country and take responsibility for other people who need them,” Sykes said.
___
AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games