US Sailing develop commercial strategy

Good news for American Olympic sailors

US Sailing have launched a new Commercial Strategy for the Olympic and Paralympic Sailing Program, which includes new partnership opportunities for sponsors, a new commercial agreement for US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics members and, for the first time, the hiring of a full-time commercial director.

“This is the next step in the evolution of U.S. Olympic Sailing,” said Olympic Sailing Chairman Dean Brenner. “We’re proud of our progress over the last four years, but we are truly excited for what the future holds – for our athletes, our program and for Olympic sailing in this country.”

The Commercial Strategy consists of several components: the launch of a tiered program of Gold, Silver and Bronze level partnerships that have been constructed around the team’s title sponsor AlphaGraphics; a Commercial Agreement opportunity for the athletes on the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, the result of which will include Gold sponsor branding on hulls and sails and branded clothing for Gold and Silver sponsors of the team; and the first-time hiring of a Commercial Director to orchestrate the strategy.

“Our goal is to support our athletes and give them the best chance to succeed on the water, while at the same time, create a total program that everyone in our country can be proud of,” said Brenner.

The Olympic Sailing Committee has named Dan Cooney (Marion, Mass.) to fill the role of Commercial Director. Cooney joins the established executive team of Brenner, Olympic Director Katie Kelly and High Performance Director Kenneth Andreasen. Cooney’s responsibilities will include managing all sponsorship fulfillment elements, as well as developing new partners for the Olympic Sailing Programs and leading the execution of the entire commercial strategy.

“As a lifelong sailor and club competitor, this is a great honor and I couldn’t be more excited to join this winning team,” said Cooney, who played a critical role in signing AlphaGraphics as the first-ever US Sailing Team title sponsorship in his former role as Marketing Director of US Sailing.

“We’re particularly proud to have Dan Cooney come on board as our Commercial Director. We’ve been working with Dan for several years in his role at US SAILING and are thrilled to have him join our program,” said Brenner. “We also believe that the decision to bring on a Commercial Director is proof positive of our commitment to building this program and supporting our athletes.”