The U.S. Biathlon board of directors voted Wednesday to push back a planned merger with U.S. Ski & Snowboard in order to review the details after facing opposition from its community.
As part of the motion, the board said it supports the principles of a rare consolidation between two Olympic sport organizations. But the board also wanted a “definitive agreement that more specifically defines them and ensures governance autonomy for U.S. biathlon.”
A working group is being set up and will present a draft by late August.
The board’s decision followed a long closed-door meeting to decide whether to remove the board’s chair, Bob Hall, over an ethics claim. It was dismissed.
The integration became necessary, officials said, to boost biathlon’s revenues and performance. It also drew concern among athletes who felt it might hurt the sport. Hall said the alliance means a $3 million improvement to its budget over the next four years.
Athlete representative Jake Brown said the board recognizes there could be good opportunities with the merger, but added, “we also need to do it right and do it with the membership, the community, athlete support.”
U.S. Biathlon Association’s board of directors began working on the proposal in March after the U.S. again failed to win a biathlon medal at the Winter Olympics, and told members in May.
Leading into the vote, U.S. Biathlon CEO Jack Gierhart told members the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee was cutting 22% of its funding and sponsors were pulling back. That led the board to consider an offer to join USSS, where biathlon would have access to more money and could add athlete services and expose more skiers to biathlon.
But the effort has sparked pushback and ethics complaints from longtime biathletes and supporters, who spoke out during town halls and started an opposition website, saying the board has fast-tracked a plan that threatens the sport’s future. The concern was biathlon would get lost among larger, more popular sports like Alpine skiing, they said. Decisions would be made by people who don’t know the sport and many fear losing financial support for the national team.
“I don’t want to see biathlon disappear into another organization,” said Art Stegen, author of the book, “Unique and Unknown: The Story of Biathlon in the United States.”
Merging Olympic sport organizations is rare. USSS CEO Sophie Goldschmidt tried to take over USA Surfing last year but dropped the bid after opposition from members. She's now in talks with USA Skateboarding, she said.
In April, USSS brought the U.S. Para Nordic ski team — cross-country skiing and biathlon — under its umbrella. The move continued the expansion of Para sports within the U.S. ski team.
Gierhart said USBA worked carefully to comply with federal law and ensure US Biathlon’s independence while taking advantage of a USSS collaboration.
USSS is a powerhouse in winter sports, overseeing 11 sports and 250 elite athletes, including Alpine ski champion Mikaela Shiffrin and snowboarding superstar Chloe Kim. They have a budget of $70 million and 40,000 members, compared with biathlon's $4 million budget and 1,407 members. Biathlon, which combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting, has never won an Olympic medal. It's wildly popular in Europe.
Cross-country ski Olympian Kikkan Randall, who's on the USSS board, said the collaboration would benefit both groups.
“There's a recognition of how big biathlon is in Europe. Being able to tap into that popularity and marketability is really intriguing," Randall said.
But some biathletes feared USSS would cut the sport's funding, as it did for U.S. Ski Jumping in 2010 and Nordic Combined in 2014. Longtime biathletes Jon Schafer of Colorado and Marc Sheppard of Montana conducted interviews with people in biathlon and cross-country ski communities and produced an analysis of the merger that concluded working with USSS should be a “last resort.”
“The overwhelming consensus is that everyone is terrified of destroying the long-term future of the organization for possible short-term financial gain," they wrote.
U.S. Biathlon has held town halls, athlete meetings and working groups to discuss the merger. USSS has not reached out to clubs or members but has had board discussions, Goldschmidt said.
Stegen, sports lawyer Ed Williams and Olympian Joan Wilder filed a complaint Friday with the USBA ethics committee against Hall, saying he improperly hosted meetings on the merger without notifying members.
An ethics complaint was also filed against Dexter Paine, because he sits on the USSS and USBA boards. He recused himself before the merger vote.
Steven Bank, a law professor at University of California, Los Angeles, who specializes in sport law, said USSS has more diversified revenue sources, so it’s not surprising that the USOPC would want biathlon connected to it.
But a federal law could be an obstacle, he said.
Under the 1978 Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act, a national governing body, like USSS and U.S. Biathlon, can’t be overseen by multiple international federations. USSS is under the International Ski and Snowboard Federation, while biathlon is under the International Biathlon Union.
The law was created to avoid legal disputes that can arise over things like picking national teams, governing standards and rules, he said.
Biathlon's funding would stay with its programs. Biathlon's board, which would expand to include USSS representation, would keep making decisions about governing the sport. Biathlon staff would transfer to USSS and biathlon would have two seats on the USSS board.
Biathletes who oppose the plan say there are other ways to grow the sport, pointing to existing programs that already are attracting more skiers.
Gierhart said the alliance could bring in more resources so they can help clubs get equipment and expand existing programs.
“The long-term implications of what this could bring is really profound from a growing-the-sport perspective and pushing support out to the communities and clubs that need it," he said.
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EDITOR’S NOTE — Martha Bellisle is an amateur biathlete who has won several U.S. national and world championship gold medals in the master’s division. She is a member of the U.S. Biathlon Association.
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