More on Colbert Nation’s sponsorship of the US Speedskating team

As you might imagine, the announcement on Monday’s TCR that the US Speedskating team would be sponsored by the Colbert Nation was big news. The story has been showing up everywhere – I can’t tell you how strange it was to see Stephen’s name on the Sports Illustrated web site during my lunchtime reading yesterday – which means more publicity for a sport that only seems to get any attention every four years during the Olympics. I’ve pulled together some of the better articles to provide more background on this unusual and unprecedented partnership between the US Speedskating team and Colbert Nation, and how it came together so fast.

• Colbert to the Rescue: Can He Save U.S. Speedskating? – Time.com

  Colbert really is throwing U.S. Speedskating a lifeline. The Dutch bank had been the U.S. team’s most generous benefactor (speedskating is huge in the Netherlands), but a run on the bank caused DSB to go under in mid-October, leaving U.S. Speedskating with a $300,000 budget shortfall…

  Then Colbert’s staff saw a story on the DSB sponsorship fallout and pounced. To them, the irony was too delicious: the tentacles of the financial crisis have stung the innocent athletes who aspire to Olympic glory. Plus, the sport offers comic material. “We must ensure that it is America’s 38-inch thighs on that medal platform,” Colbert said in a release announcing the sponsorship.

  So the show’s producers called the U.S. Speedskating office in Salt Lake City and the parties quickly hammered out a deal. “My gut reaction was, ‘Great,’ ” says Crowley. “It’s a unique sponsorship opportunity, and you know what? It’s going to be fun.”

• Speedskaters Get Unlikely Hero: Stephen Colbert – New York Times

  “We’re very excited,” Crowley said. “It’s a unique opportunity and great for our team. The P.R. component that comes with this, you just can’t measure that. We need money to sustain our team, but the P.R. is great for the sport and for our athletes.”
  . . .
  In place of the DSB logo that used to adorn the hoods of speedskaters’ uniforms, there will now be a “Colbert Nation” logo. Crowley said speedskating officials and the show’s producers were working out other appearances and other ways to promote the team.

  He also said it had lifted the mood in his organization, which was stunned by DSB’s announcement.

  “We all said we can’t let this impact our Olympic team,” Crowley said. “We weren’t going to let this fall apart before the Games.”

• Comic Colbert saves team – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

  It all looked seamless when speedskating gold medalist Dan Jansen and Robert Crowley, executive director of USA Speedskating, appeared on “The Colbert Report” Monday on Comedy Central to talk about the sport’s dire financial condition.

  On the show, faux conservative talk-show host Stephen Colbert announced that he was asking his fans to donate to USA Speedskating. USA Speedskating ran out of money after DSB Bank of the Netherlands, its primary sponsor, went into bankruptcy. The team was out $300,000, months before the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

  That all changed overnight, [spokeswoman Peri] Kinder said. USA Speedskating has been inundated with offers of support, she said.
  . . .
  Kinder said the show’s producers met with team officials last week about a possible alliance. By coincidence, Jansen, the former Greenfield Olympic hero, was to be on the show to talk about running in the New York Marathon. Crowley was in Philadelphia for the World Series.

• Little-known sport gets a comedic and financial boost from Colbert – Canadian Press

  …[T]his sport that draws little attention in the United States other than a couple of weeks every four years has a chance to really shine in the months leading up the Vancouver Olympics, thanks to an unlikely lifeline.
  . . .
  In exchange for becoming the new primary sponsor of the sport’s governing body, Colbert agreed to put up a fundraising link on his popular website – a tactic he used to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for wounded military members and their families – and provide unparalleled media exposure for this underexposed sport.

• ‘The Colbert Report’ becomes main sponsor of U.S. Speedskating – Yahoo! Sports

  The length of the partnership wasn’t announced, but you definitely won’t be seeing The Colbert Nation logo on uniforms at the Olympics as there are separate sponsorship deals in place for the Games. But expect to see The Colbert Nation emblazoned on the skin-tight uniforms of our nation’s speedskaters through at least the first two World Cup events and, possibly, in the national championships at the end of December. (I’m not completely certain about this, but I believe that commercial logos aren’t permitted on team uniforms during the Olympics anyway.)

• Stephen Colbert Joins American Speedskating Team – Spike.com

  Last night, the popular talk show host announced that the Colbert Nation would throw their support behind the team as they head into the Olympics to try to steal some medals from those smug Canadians who couldn’t get a single late night comedy show to endorse them. (Hah!)

• And finally, the speedskater who “modeled” the uniform with the new Colbert Nation logo on Monday’s show was Trevor Marsicano, who is writing a blog to chronicle his journey to the Vancouver Olympic games.

(h/t Ms I)

• Speedskating “sugar daddy” Stephen Colbert ready to report from Richmond Oval
• Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist – February 15, 2010
• Stephen Colbert heads to Vancouver, talks about Olympics and his Canadian roots
• Shani Davis opens up about his ‘Colbert Report’ race