TEAM USA’S ATHLETE MARKETING PLATFORM

In the Fall of 2020, the USOPC, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties (USOPP; the joint venture with LA28 and the USOPC) and Team USA introduced the Athlete Marketing Platform (AMP), re-engineering how the properties work together and solve for critical needs of its athletes and partners. From white paper to launch, the 1.5-year innovative AMP build included the input from athletes, IOC, IPC, NGBs, agents and other experts.

AMP was born out of two key insights; (1) that Team USA athletes lack direct access to sponsorship opportunities; and (2) that the role of all athletes is evolving. As athletes become both the medium and the message in sport, properties must evolve too. AMP is a first-of-its-kind program that packages Team USA athletes’ name, image and likeness rights to allow partners access to Group Marketing of Olympic and Paralympic athletes in a digital marketplace, democratizing and significantly scaling how athletes access and sign marketing deals with brands. AMP solved for a need that existed for both Team USA athletes and commercial partners, balanced with the invaluable role that athletes play in representing Team USA and a priority on building sport. Made possible by a tech platform (think: Team USA merges LinkedIn with Cameo) to create a booking engine for Team USA sponsors and athletes, AMP is a critical investment to ensure athletes have the right brand building resources and opportunities to help the entire Movement grow. It’s a true testament to the value of test-and-learn, innovating with incremental program changes and feedback as it evolves, benefitting from the collaboration of multiple stakeholders who share in a vision to co-create, think differently and re-write the playbook on how properties serve their key constituents.