Bill Marolt Gets Pwned

[concretejungle]

Well thought out piece by Bryon on how the US Ski Team Athletes get the shaft. Check it.

http://www.yardbarker.com/skiing/art...t_again/267646

[nufenstein]

Thats f'ed up...i cant stand overpaid CEO's and their ridiculous bonuses...as a lower echelon member of corporate America, i can agree that this is completely f'ed up. Bump for awareness...

Team America F YEAH!

[BallsDeep]

Y'all have a much too myopic view of the situation. It's not as easy as Bill Marolt getting paid too much.

First, Marolt is a CEO, and as a CEO, he gets paid well and it's warranted given his set of specialized skills (USSA does operate in a market economy, after all). If he was so moved, he could go be CEO of another nonprofit (or private) organization and would likely make even more money than his current (supposed) $1 million compensation package.

Just because a CEO works for a nonprofit doesn't mean that he shouldn't be paid like a CEO. I serve on the board of a nonprofit organization, and collectively as a board, we choose to pay our CEO quite a bit of money, more than most would expect. But this is because this individual is highly talented and capable of moving the organization forward, not something just anyone can do.

Second, USSA is an amazingly complex organization. From the elite athletes down to junior racers, the org. is managing hundreds of events, hundreds of coaches and thousands of participants. And that's only on the performance side. Look at the revenue portion of the business -- USSA has to negotiate huge and complex deals with corporate sponsors (Visa, Chevy, etc...not small companies), maintain relationships with large donors and foundations, manage a branded merchandise business and then maintain a highly complex budget and execute operationally. Marlot is not just ultimately responsible for planning these operations, but tracking performance and making tough business decisions.

Are you really telling me that you want some $50K per year person managing this organization as CEO? Simply not going to happen. Or if it did, USSA would fold within months and we'd have no Olympic program whatsoever.

And don't even get me started on the demand side. Think for a moment about the olympics and cyclical business cycles. And about the overall demand for sports such Nordic and disabled skiing. Not too many eyeballs there. Similarly, have you considered costs? Surely you’ve noticed an increase in gas prices and the impact it’s having on airline transportation. Flying teams of athletes around the world isn’t a cheap proposition.

Now, perhaps there's a limit somewhere where executive compensation packages cross the line, but this isn't one of those cases. Not by a long shot.


(I should mention that I have no affiliation with USSA...just had to call out some poorly thought out bitching.)