Following the debate that Matt Margetts fundraising campaign brought up, I think this article has some interesting stuff about sponsorship, and where the money is going.
I'll pull out some quotes here that I thought were interesting, full article here:
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2013/10/07/olympic-athletes-sponsorship-sochi-games/2939975/
"Lesser-known athletes or those in less popular sports can draw small amounts — from $7,500 to $30,000 — from sponsors, while superstars can earn low- to mid-six figures, said Evan Morgenstein, an agent who has represented several Olympians. A range of athletes can fall in between, and they sometimes accept less cash in exchange for widespread exposure from USOC sponsors."
"Figure skater Evan Lysacek, Alpine skier Ted Ligety and women's hockey player Julie Chu have each added three sponsors. They all have medaled in previous Games."
I think this is pretty telling of what will happen in skiing, with just the very top athletes seeing the majority of the money that is predicted to be coming into skiing, a point that was definitely argued in the thread about Matt.
"At the end of the day, if you don't have a story, a sponsor can't spin that another way."
"The interest from the sponsors is exclusively because of the Olympics."
I just think this is an important discussion and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
