U.S. Ski & Snowboard today announced that Delta Air Lines, the U.S. global airline leader in safety, innovation, reliability and customer experience, is returning as its Official Airline Partner through 2023. Through this partnership, Delta will support athlete training and competition travel, as well as launch a series of female empowerment initiatives as the founding partner of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Women’s Mentorship Program.

U.S. Ski & Snowboard first teamed up with Delta in 2007, delivering athletes, coaches, staff and equipment to competition and training grounds for seven years. Delta’s involvement with the Olympics originated in the 1990s as a sponsor for both the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City.

“Delta has been a key asset to our team throughout our history together and we are thrilled to have rekindled our relationship with them ahead of an important Olympic season,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief Revenue Officer Michael O’Conor. “We are looking forward to our new activations with this partnership, including our new female empowerment initiatives. We are excited to collaborate with Delta to help maximize overall sport inclusion, athlete support and advocation for women’s equality within the sports industry.”

A significant part of the partnership will be the implementation of several female empowerment initiatives embodying spirit, strength and inclusion. Delta is the founding partner of the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Women’s Mentorship Program, which pairs women from the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team with women at Delta to meet monthly.

Delta will also collaborate with U.S. Ski & Snowboard to create content with athletes and host community events. Additionally, Delta is supporting individual athletes, including 7-time World Cup podium alpine skier Breezy Johnson, as well as five other Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls. 

“We are thrilled to rejoin U.S. Ski & Snowboard ahead of the Olympic Winter Games 2022 to assist with athlete travel and the Women’s Mentorship Program,” said Molly Battin, SVP, Global Brand Marketing at Delta. “With years of experience working with the team under our belt, we know that each year will be better than the last in improving athlete experience as they go for gold.”

Along with its partnership of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, Delta is the airline partner of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) and will commute Team USA athletes to the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 directly to and from Beijing on charter flights.

For more information on Delta, please visit delta.com/teamusa.

About Delta
Delta Air Lines is the U.S. global airline leader in safety, innovation, reliability, and customer experience. Powered by our employees around the world, Delta has for a decade led the airline industry in operational excellence while maintaining our reputation for award-winning customer service.

Today, and always, nothing is more important than the health and safety of our customers and employees. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Delta has moved quickly to transform the industry standard of clean to ensure a safe and comfortable travel experience for our customers and employees.

With our mission of connecting the people and cultures of the globe, Delta strives to foster understanding across a diverse world and serve as a force for social good.

About U.S. Ski & Snowboard
U.S. Ski & Snowboard is the Olympic National Governing Body (NGB) of ski and snowboard sports in the USA, based in Park City, Utah. Tracing its roots directly back to 1905, the organization represents nearly 200 elite skiers and snowboarders in 2021, competing in seven teams; alpine, cross country, freeski, freestyle, snowboard, nordic combined and ski jumping. In addition to the elite teams, U.S. Ski & Snowboard also provides leadership and direction for tens of thousands of young skiers and snowboarders across the USA, encouraging and supporting them in achieving excellence. By empowering national teams, clubs, coaches, parents, officials, volunteers and fans, U.S. Ski & Snowboard is committed to the progression of its sports, athlete success and the value of team. For more information, visit www.usskiandsnowboard.org

On the eve of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games, the impact of the U.S. Ski Team’s first coach is still being felt over a half-century later. U.S. Ski & Snowboard, the governing body for Olympic skiing and snowboarding, has launched the final phase of its Bob Beattie Athlete Travel Fund, which has already raised $17-million to support athletes since its launch in 2017, with a final phase target of $20-million.

The fund is named in honor of Coach Beattie, who led the U.S. Ski Team to its first men’s alpine medals in 1964 and was a tireless supporter of athletes up to his passing in 2018. The launch of the fund in his name five months earlier was one of his proudest moments. When fully endowed, it will fund nearly $1-million each year direct to athlete travel costs.

“I was fortunate in the early days of my career to have most of my athlete travel costs supported by the team. But I watched the impact that travel expenses had on my young teammates who were struggling to make it to the top. The Bob Beattie Athlete Travel Fund has created a much more positive environment on the team thanks to the generous support of donors.”
        — Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety. 

While it was established relatively recently, the roots of the Bob Beattie Athlete Travel Fund go back decades. Named in honor of the late Bob Beattie (1933 – 2018), he was an icon of the sport of alpine ski racing, one of its most passionate pioneers, and an outspoken advocate for athlete travel funding throughout his life. The fund was created to specifically close the gap on funding of athlete travel costs to training camps, and domestic and international competitions. While in the past most of those expenses were covered by the team, in recent years a gap in funding created scenarios where athletes were paying $25,000 or more just to travel with the team.

“Increasing funding and decreasing costs for our athletes is a top priority for U.S. Ski & Snowboard,” said U.S. Ski & Snowboard Chief Development Officer Trisha Worthington. “The support provided by the Bob Beattie Athlete Travel Fund helps our athletes focus exclusively on their training, performance, and competitions, without worrying about how they’re going to pay their way. We’re proud of this fund and the progress it represents.” 

The Bob Beattie Athlete Travel Fund is unique in the sports world - no other national governing body has an endowment that provides financial support specifically for its athletes’ travel needs. 

A New Hampshire native, Beattie stumbled into the national team role in the early 1960s but went on to become its first full-time coach. He was an ardent promoter of ski sport, leading Billy Kidd and Jimmie Heuga to silver and bronze in the slalom on the last day of the 1964 Olympics in Innsbruck. He was one of the originators of the Alpine World Cup tour, which began in 1967. Beattie went on to pioneer NASTAR, start World Pro Skiing and become a legendary broadcaster with ABC and ESPN. He remained an active trustee with the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Foundation for a half-century and was well known for his impassioned speeches at board members imploring more support for athletes.

The fund supports athletes across alpine, cross country, freeski, freestyle, and snowboard. The foundation hopes to reach its $20-million target during this Olympic season. The goal of the fund is to eliminate the athlete travel funding issue permanently. As a non-profit organization, U.S. Ski & Snowboard has limited annual resources to allocate across multiple sports. Endowments like the Bob Beattie Athlete Travel Fund are a great way to augment athlete support while maintaining core operational funding. 

Interested supporters can check out more information on the Bob Beattie Athlete Travel Fund here.