Industry News
Innovative, multi-revenue-stream partnership will bring Olympic athletes, domestic World Cup events, and instructional content streaming to 250 million active users
In a move that links America’s snowsports governing body and the country’s largest creator of outdoor recreation media and services, U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Outside Interactive, Inc., today announced a long-term strategic partnership to create and broadcast snowsports content. For the first time, FIS World Cup alpine, cross country, freestyle, snowboard, and freeski events held in the United States will be available to stream on all Outside platforms, including OutsideOnline.com, SkiMag.com, the Outside App, and Outside Watch. The partnership will also launch a bundled Outside+ and U.S. Ski & Snowboard consumer membership, as well as business partnerships in competition registration, photography services, Web3 innovation, and sponsorship sales.
As part of the partnership, Outside becomes the streaming broadcaster of domestic U.S. World Cups, with more than 90 hours of competition in the 2022-23 season. The season’s eight alpine, freestyle, snowboard, and freeski domestic FIS World Cup events include the Killington Cup, Xfinity Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek, Aspen World Cup, Palisades Tahoe World Cup, Freestyle International at Deer Valley, the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth and Copper, and the Visa Big Air at Copper. The coverage will also feature never-before-televised snowboard and freeski qualifiers at the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix and Visa Big Air. In addition to these events, Outside will air new and archival non-event programming.
“We are delighted about this new partnership with Outside. It enables the passionate fans of skiing and snowboarding in the United States to watch our major domestic events and to combine the U.S. Ski & Snowboard and Outside communities in an innovative multi-platform partnership. We have the most FIS World Cups on U.S. soil in history this winter, and we are proud to showcase those incredible events with Outside to inspire new and seasoned ski and snowboard fans. Outside is more than a distribution partner with incredible channels and scale; what really attracted us was the opportunity to build a strategic alliance to allow our community to more deeply engage with our athletes, content and other new offerings.”
– Sophie Goldschmidt, U.S. Ski & Snowboard President and CEO
“First and foremost, we’re honored to support the Olympic movement and help U.S. Ski & Snowboard nurture the next generation of American medal hopefuls. Nothing could be more inspiring for a young skier than to watch champions come up through the ranks, dominate and take gold with the national anthem playing. This partnership will bring those special moments to more eyeballs, along with hundreds of hours of exciting video content from Outside Watch, Warren Miller and our brand partners. With U.S. Ski & Snowboard, we’re creating a one-stop resource where skiers and snowboarders will find motivation along with the world’s richest archive of gear, travel, and instructional content.”
– Robin Thurston, CEO of Outside
The partnership will also lead to the creation of a unique membership bundle for U.S. Ski & Snowboard members, one that provides access to Outside+ premium content, educational videos, SKI Magazine content, GPS mapping services, outdoor industry gear discounts, and NASTAR, the largest public grassroots ski racing program in the world.
In addition to airing races, Outside will have access to an extensive archive of ski and snowboard footage, as well as the opportunity to produce original content franchises with the team’s athletes, coaches, and other experts. U.S. Ski & Snowboard will also utilize Outside’s expertise in competition software and Web3 to develop innovative services for its members and fans of the sports.
Further streaming and televised coverage of international FIS races in the United States will be announced in the following weeks leading up to the FIS World Cup season.
2022-23 Domestic World Cups
Alpine
- Nov. 26-27: Killington Cup, Killington, Vermont; women’s slalom/giant slalom
- Dec. 2-4: Xfinity Birds of Prey, Beaver Creek, Colorado; men’s super-G/downhill/downhill
- Feb. 25-26: Palisades Tahoe, California; men’s slalom/giant slalom
- March 3-5: America’s Downhill, Aspen, Colorado; men’s super-G/downhill
Freestyle
- Feb. 2-4: Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle International, Deer Valley, Utah; men’s and women’s aerials/moguls
Freeski and Snowboard
- Dec. 16-17: Toyota U.S. Grand Prix, Copper Mountain, Colorado; men’s and women’s halfpipe
- Dec. 16-17: Visa Big Air Presented by Toyota, Copper Mountain, Colorado; men’s and women’s big air
- Feb. 2-4: Toyota U.S. Grand Prix, Mammoth Mountain, California; men’s and women’s halfpipe/slopestyle
