dimpy.handa
Dimpy Handa
The funding squeeze unfairly affects sports that are not considered commercially attractive by sponsors. At inter-competition level this has the effect of creating a significant disparity in funding between the Olympics and the Para-Olympics due to differences in media coverage and sponsor exposure. At an inter-sport level, less popular Olympic sports such as Taekwando have access to a significantly smaller sponsorship pot than Baseball or Basketball although the elite athletes across most sports have to shoulder similar training costs. Softball, for instance involves 70mph pitches and a similarly rigorous training regime to Baseball but National Softball Federations preparing for the Olympics receive only a fraction of the sponsorship received by a single US Baseball franchise in one year. State funding would create a level playing-field at both inter-competition and inter-sport levels and prevent corporate sponsors for determining the quality of the sport we can enjoy