Our sponsorship ensures that this proud tradition will continue. It is the first major sponsorship for speedskating, which has generated more U.S. medals than any other winter Olympic sport but has been beset by financial burdens. Milwaukee is the home base for the U.S. speedskating team, which includes world sprint bronze medalist Chris Witty. Earlier this month, Nick Thometz, program director for U.S. Speedskating, bemoaned the lack of funding for American skaters.
Every sport is.
We get X amount of money from the USOC, and they're our major sponsor. We need to find resources outside of that to develop more opportunities. Thometz said he had to take about a 10 percent budget cut this year. I don't want to see that continue in the future. I want to take a step forward, not a step back.