Utah Governor Gary Herbert Announces Winter Action Sports Partnership

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – Utah will remain one of the nation’s leading destinations for winter action sports with today’s announcement of five major on snow events leading up to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Utah Governor Gary R. Herbert, Utah Sports Commission President and CEO Jeff Robbins and U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association President and CEO Bill Marolt made the joint announcement at the Utah State Capitol that the Olympic governing body will bring some of its most important World Cup and Sprint U.S. Grand Prix events to Utah’s Canyons Resort, Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resort, including the official naming of the first ever U.S. Freeskiing Olympic Team. The events are a partnership between the USSA, the Olympic governing body for skiing and snowboarding, and the Utah Sports Commission.

With this morning’s  announcement, Canyons Resort will remain the home of the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix for 2013 (March 1-3), one of the biggest events annually for American skicross and snowboardcross athletes.

Faye Gulini, a native of Salt Lake City and a snowboardcross athlete and 2012 Spring U.S. Grand Prix medalist said competing at Canyons Resort brings out her best performances. “It was such a highlight of my season to be able to get on the podium in my home state,” Gulini said.  “It is indescribable to explain the pride and support I feel when I compete in front of hometown fans at Canyons.”

“There is no better way to showcase all of the investments we have made in our resort than by bringing the world’s top athletes – and America’s leading medal hopefuls – to Canyons,” said Mike Goar, Managing Director of Canyons Resort. “We look forward to another exciting, action-packed weekend of competition.”

“This action sports series will provide an estimated $15 million in economic impact and $5 million in media value to Utah, and is a welcome extension of Utah's success in continuing its Olympic legacy,” said Gov. Herbert.  “The event again underscores why Utah is The State of Sport.”

HIGHLIGHTS

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, together with the Utah Sports Commission, jointly announced a schedule of five major winter action sports events in Utah leading up to the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi.
Utah’s Canyons Resort, Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resort will host events in freestyle skiing, freeskiing and snowboarding with events in both the 2012-13 and 2013-14 competition seasons.
The series will culminate with the announcement of the first ever Olympic Freeskiing Team in January, 2014.
The events will attract hundreds of the world’s top Olympic competitors to Utah for a mix of International Ski Federation World Cup and Sprint U.S. Grand Prix events.
Global TV and digital broadcasts of the events will include NBC, NBC Sports, Universal Sports and others with a mix of live, taped and streaming coverage.
Economic impact of the events is estimated at $15 million with media value of $5 million.
The events will have a mix of sanctions at the highest levels of the sport including FIS World Cup, Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) Platinum level and TTR World Snowboard Tour Five Star level.
The core of the freeskiing and snowboarding events is based around the Sprint U.S. Grand Prix tour, now entering its 17th season.