AUDIO & TRANSCRIPT: April 2026 USOPC Leadership Press Briefing

Below is the audio recording and transcript from the U.S Olympic and Paralympic Committee leadership press briefing on Wednesday, April 15, following the board of directors meetings via teleconference.

AUDIO

Hello and welcome everyone to today's USOPC board briefing. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. Later, you will have the opportunity to ask questions during the question and answer session. To register to ask a question at any time, please press star one on your telephone keypad. Please note this call is being recorded and that we are standing by if you should need any assistance. It is now my pleasure to turn the meeting over to Jon Mason. Please go ahead. 

Hi, thank you, Chelsea. Hi everyone. It's great to be here today following the first meeting of the year for the USOPC board, and I'm pleased to be here with USOPC board chair Gene Sykes and USOPC CEO, Sarah Hirshland. We will start with both of them offering some opening remarks and then after that we'll open the line to questions for the time that we have remaining. I know we're eager to get started, so I think I will stop there and pass the line over to Gene. Go ahead, Gene. 

Thanks, Jon. Good afternoon, everyone. We had a great first board meeting of the year and another valuable opportunity to discuss the work of the organization and the Olympic and Paralympic landscape. It was an opportunity to recap the Milano Cortina Games, evaluating the performance of the teams, the USOPC, and the experience of our entire community. We all certainly came away feeling great about the excellence of Team USA athletes and heartened by the performance of the USOPC and the NGBs. The exceptional amount of work that goes into the games by the organizing committee, the IOC and the NOCs can be lost because it can seem ordinary. The truth is that the mechanics of the games are anything but ordinary. It was a remarkable event and from the organizing committee leadership to the volunteers, to the fans, and the people of Italy who welcomed the world, I want to give a sincere thanks. 

To Sarah and the USOPC staff and to our NGB partners, I want to say thank you and well done. Team USA showed up in profound ways on and off the field of play. And of course, and foremost to the athletes, simply outstanding. You carried yourself with a talent that makes us stand up and cheer, sometimes almost in disbelief at what we're witnessing. And you also carry the pride of your community and the entire nation. For that, we're eternally grateful. Looking further out, we have the incredible honor and opportunity of serving as the host NOC twice in one decade, in fact, twice in the next eight years when we welcome the world to LA28 and Utah 2034. The LA Games are growing ever closer and the work to support Team USA and to be a great partner to the NGBs and the organizing committee is in full swing. 

It's an exciting time in the Olympic and Paralympic movements in the United States. I'll start things off today by providing you with a short overview of what we discussed in the board meeting, and then Sarah will give some more details. As always, we appreciate you taking the time to join us. The board did take two actions on matters of NGB certification today. The first action was to certify USA Lacrosse as the National Governing Body for the sport, which will make its Olympic debut at the LA28 games. Lacrosse has been great to work with, committed to being a good partner for the athletes, to the community and the Olympic movement. We're very pleased to continue partnering with Lacrosse moving forward and to celebrate this incredible fast growing global sport. The second action was certify USA Surfing as the National Governing Body for the sport of surfing in the United States effective June 1st. 

Surfing is a sport that has deep roots in Southern California and will no doubt be a highlight of the LA28 games. The obligation of the NGB is significant, and the process by which we determine capabilities in the long and short term is one we take very seriously. USA Surfing's new leadership and new approach has made this moment possible, and we look forward to a positive and collaborative working relationship as we deliver on the promise of LA28 and beyond. We also had an update from the LA28 leadership team. Reynold Hoover, CEO of LA28 and John Slusher, CEO of the commercial operations of LA28, both made very encouraging and extensive reports to us. LA28's making tremendous progress. Operationally, they have done a number of things in the community. They released their look of the games based on the Super Bloom. In Southern California, you're beginning to see evidence of it all over the place, both in the city and in sponsor activation and so forth. 

They have built a team that is now quite a large team and will be as many as 5,000 full-time members by the time of the games with tens of thousands of volunteers. Their big, complicated project now feels very near and they've made very impressive progress. Quite substantively on the revenue side, John Slusher and the commercial team have done incredibly well with commercial sponsorship sales, having $900 million or more in commercial sponsorship commitments in 2025, and they're well on their way to a very, very good 2026. So we're quite excited about the progress from that standpoint. And then of course, many people know they're in the process right now of their first ticket sales draw, if you will. And there was a registration process over a month. They had a tremendous number of registrations. They've shared with us the number, which they haven't shared publicly, but it's incredibly impressive, and they've been selling tickets at a remarkable rate. 

I would also say they've taken great efforts to make sure that tickets are available at all prices. Over a million tickets will be priced at $28 per seat. So we were quite encouraged to hear from them and quite confident in the direction of LA28 from an operational standpoint. We also had a report from the Team USA Athletes Commission, which is now served by a new executive director, Olympian Funmi Blakemore. She gave us a report and we were very happy to both meet her for the first time and have a report from the leadership of the Team USAC. Before I close today, I want to extend congratulations to Declan Farmer on being elected to the International Paralympic Committee Athletes Council. Declan made his Paralympic debut at just 16 years old at the Sochi 2014 Games, where he won his first gold medal. And he just won his fourth gold medal in Milano Cortina, continuing incredible legacy of both team and personal success in Para Sled Hockey. 

In fact, in addition to his medal win at Milano Cortina, he also became the all- time leading point scorer in Paralympic Winter Games history. Declan has set the standard for excellence in sport, a leader on and off the ice, and now he has the great opportunity to extend that leadership into the governance of the Paralympic movement. The athletes of the world are lucky to have him as a strong and principled voice. Congratulations Declan and thanks to the Team USAC and the USOPC staff for helping Declan achieve this honor. I might say Declan joins Paralympic triathlete, Brad Snyder, who was already a member of the USOPC board and was elected late last year to join the governing council of the IPC. To have two members of the US community engaged in senior leadership at the IPC is a real achievement for us and I think demonstrates our commitment to the Paralympic movement. 

As always, I want to give my thanks to my fellow board members and honor and respect the time and effort they give to making the USOPC the best it can be in service of Team USA and the Olympic and Paralympic movements. We have a busy year ahead and will rely on the expertise and experience of this group. To my friend and colleague Sarah, who continues to lead this organization with a great skill and focus, I also offer my deep appreciation. We have every reason to be excited about the road to LA and beyond, and the many exciting moments ahead for Team USA. Now over to Sarah. 

Sarah Hirshland:

Thank you, Gene, and good afternoon everyone. Let me add my thanks for taking time to be with us this afternoon. It is clear that this year will be anything but a quiet year. As soon as we landed back from back in the US from our time in Italy, we have hit the ground running. I suspect this will be the busiest stretch of activity potentially in our history as we work in parallel paths to advance Team USA and to host both the 28 and 34 games. Lots going on and lots of fun to be had in the future. I want to take a few minutes just to cover off on some important work and share a few updates as we're still celebrating Milano Cortina, as you can imagine. Put very simply, it was a wonderful games. I am incredibly proud of the athletes who never ceased to amaze us in tough circumstances and against increasingly stronger competition across the board. 

I want to highlight some points that are particularly meaningful to us as we look back and as we learn and assess our performance for future planning. The 2026 games will really be characterized for us by the breadth of Team USA. We had stars and they were masterful under great expectations and we also had medals spread across 85 Olympic athletes and 28 Paralympic athletes, and Team USA medaled in 11 of 16 sports more than any other nation and in four of five Paralympic sports. In Italy, 58 athletes stepped onto an Olympic podium for the first time. This is proof that competition to make Team USA is alive and well, and that there is a current generation that aspires to the great heights of the athletes that came before them. We are incredibly pleased to see this great depth and a maturing high performance system in winter sport. 

That system is informed by a commitment and cooperative plan led by our sport performance team and in cooperation with all of the winter NGBs that really kicked off in 2020. The goal then was clear, compete across the entire winter sport program and be a consistent podium nation at the winter games. From an NOC perspective, that reflects a team that showed up focused, supported, and ready across the board. I am incredibly proud of this organization for the strong collaboration with the NGBs, from the groundwork of sport performance, to the innovation we undertook, to the hands-on support in Italy, and for the attentive and superb care of the sports medicine team. And of course, for the work of games operations, you know the logistics were challenging, an extraordinarily complex games environment, and our community across the board really was at its best. And while I could spend ample time going through athlete by athlete and moment by moment from a sport perspective, I'm not going to do that. 

I know you've all been there, you've seen them, you've watched highlight videos, and many of you reported on their incredible success. So I will simply say thank you for that attention. Thank you for helping us celebrate these athletes. And I'll turn my attention to the incredible success that we saw in engagement of the community. Whether you look at NBC and their viewership numbers from the most watched opening ceremony in 12 years, through the closing ceremony, Milan Cortina averaged 23 and a half million viewers across NBC's properties. An incredible achievement up 96% from the Beijing games four years earlier. We're thrilled to see that level of engagement. And working in concert with the broadcasts, our Team USA social and digital channels also worked together to create a real flywheel effect, driving engagement across the web, social channels, email, and certainly tune in. Nearly all of our social and brand metrics surpassed our growth targets, which were really developed from a Paris versus Tokyo growth rate. A couple of numbers, 62.3 million engagements with our channels, which was an increase of 296%. 1.4 million new social followers, which was an increase of 271%. 

And maybe most importantly and certainly near and dear to myself, to our staff and to our purpose, Team USA content featured every single Olympian and Paralympian on the Team USA roster. We are incredibly proud of that, and it's really important that we honor the athletes and promote and celebrate each and every one of them who make Team USA. We're thrilled we had a chance to do that in Milan Cortina. And as such, we find ourselves, the momentum we have heading into LA 2028 is real. Paris and Milan results are evidence of a system that is working hard in support of athletes. Add in some home soil and home crowds, and we feel the conditions for something very special are coming together quite nicely. 

Let me turn my attention to college sports. You know this has been a priority topic for us here and frankly across the country. Between Paris and Milan, and we're celebrating performance built specifically on the collegiate sports pipeline. At Paris, 75% of Olympians, 53% of Paralympians had collegiate affiliations representing 231 schools and 71 different conferences. In Milan Cortina, 20 colleges had athletes on the Olympic podium. As we know, as football economics force universities to spend more to stay competitive, Olympic sport programs can often be the first budgets to be cut. When those programs disappear, the pipeline shrinks and the ripple effects that reach all the way to the Olympic and Paralympic games. This is where that impact hits home for us here at Team USA, and not just for the current generation, but we're very focused on future generations as well. 

Sitting in my seat, I want to be clear that this threat to the pipeline here in the United States is occurring at the same time the global competition is intensifying, with many nations investing aggressively in centralized athlete development. On March 6th, I was invited to attend and speak at a White House roundtable convened to address the college sports issue. My goal was straightforward, clearly state the case that the college system is the backbone of Team USA's success and that it cannot be taken for granted if we expect continued success 

And to call on Congress to pass legislation stabilizing collegiate sport before the crisis fully arrives. Bipartisan congressional legislation to lock in sustained long-term investment is critical. Rest assured, we are outcome focused and a partner to all who wish to address this very real and timely issue. And I want to shift gears again because we have other exciting news. Last week, the USOPC officially transitioned management of the U.S. Para Nordic Ski team to U.S. Ski and Snowboard, ending a 12 year period in which the USOPC directly managed that program. The transition comes off the program's best ever games performance. Team USA's Para Nordic skiers won 10 gold medals and 15 total medals in Milan Cortina, both US records for the sport. 

This is a great solution as we are entrusting U.S. Ski and Snowboard with the most successful Para Nordic team in the world, one led by all time greats and with plenty of up and coming talent. It's important to note this is part of a broader Para sport strategy. This move follows U.S. Ski and Snowboard's integration of Para Snowboard and Para Alpine, a deliberate USOPC supported effort to embed Paralympic programs within established NGB infrastructure, rather than manage them centrally or here in our shop. And we're thrilled to be making this commitment to giving Paralympic athletes the resources, structure, and ambition they deserve. I want to offer my thanks to Sophie Goldschmidt and her entire team at U.S. Ski and Snowboard for their partnership and their commitment to making this wildly successful. And thanks to the staff here at the USOPC who has given a ton to building and supporting this program over more than a decade. 

Thanks again for being here. And with that, I'll hand the line back to Jon. 

Jon Mason:

Great. Thank you, Gene. Thank you, Sarah. I think we can hand the line back to Chelsea who will come for questions. Go ahead, Chelsea. 

Moderator:

Thank you. At this time, if you would like to ask a question, please press star one on your keypad. To leave the queue at any time, please press star two. Once again, that is star one to ask a question, and we do ask that you please limit yourself to one question only, and you can re-queue for follow-ups. We'll pause for a moment to allow questions to queue. Our first question will come from Lisa Roche with Deseret News. Lisa, your line's open. Make sure you're not muted.

Lisa Roche:

Thank you. This is for either Gene or Sarah, with all that's on your plate with LA being as close as it is. I'm wondering what goals you have for the Utah Organizing Committee for 2034 in the coming year. They've discussed that, and talked about things like possibly even signing a sponsor, an existing sponsor to a renewal contract in the coming year. Could you talk about the larger goals and whether or not we may actually see some sponsors come on board? Thank you. 

Sarah Hirshland:

Hi, Lisa. Great to hear from you. And you are right, we are certainly focused on LA28, but there is so much overlap and so much to learn and so much to be done for Utah that we are in constant touch and certainly have a great partnership with the now forming and still quite small organizing group there. The reference to sponsorship is relevant. Starting in January of 2027, we have the opportunity to begin renewal discussions that would take effect after the LA Games in 2029. So that's probably what you're referencing, that there is some relatively timely work being done with us and with the Utah organizing group to prepare ourselves to start to have that partnership come into play and renewal discussions to start to happen. Whether there will be a renewal this year or not, I don't know, but certainly as we start in 2027, our expectations is that we will begin to focus in earnest on the 29 and beyond period of time, and we'll do that in close partnership with the Utah Organizing Committee for sure. 

I would say in addition to that, there's a lot of work being done in Utah. I hope you had an opportunity to attend their recent parade. It's an incredible community that celebrates Olympians and Paralympians, whether the games are in Utah or not, and they will continue to do that. They continue to host World Cups, world championships, competitions, and an enormous number of athletes, Team USA and otherwise in training. So there's always plenty going on in Utah. 

Thank you. Our next question comes from Rachel Bachman with the Wall Street Journal. 

Rachel Bachman:

I want to ask about Casey Wasserman. He found his appearance in the Epstein files to be so disruptive that he apologized his employees and clients and put his talent agency up for sale, yet he's still in charge of LA28. What do you and the USOPC board believe his role should be with LA28 going forward? 

I'll take that one. Thanks very much. There have been recent reports regarding Casey Wasserman. They've raised concerns across our community. We take the concerns seriously. We're stewards of the Olympic and Paralympic movement in the United States, and we're committed to upholding and consistently demonstrating the values that define it. The USOPC board has actually had many discussions on this topic, and we've actively engaged and listened to our stakeholders, including athletes, and we're closely monitoring the impact on our community. We've also shared our concerns directly with the LA28 board, which is responsible for determining who serves as its chair. But separate from the LA28 board, as I think we indicated or I indicated in the opening statement, LA28's leadership, Reynold Hoover and John Slusher, but many other people among the hundreds of people who work for LA28 have continued to assemble a very strong team and show measurable progress on all the fundamental things that they need to do to make the games a very, very strong games and have a remarkable experience. 

We remain very confident that that progress is both evident and very solid, and that will involve the planning with partners, athlete engagement, public support, and corporate interest, all of which remain very strong and I think very encouraging. The ongoing committee is executing effectively, and we're very happy to work with them. 

Moderator:

Thank you. Our next question comes from Rich Perelman with the Sports Examiner. 

Rich Perelman:

Yes, good afternoon. Thank you guys for doing this. I'd like to follow up on Rachel's question, whether this is for Gene or for Sarah, could you address what appears to be a rising level of anger by the LA City Council, especially at a hearing yesterday and people in the Southern California area who have been very unhappy about the ticket sale performance of the technical system and the 24% service fees attached to the ticket prices. Thank you.