The U.S. Olympic Committee and Northstar Travel Group announced that beginning in 2018, the annual Olympic SportsLink and National Governing BodyBest Practices seminar will be held in conjunction with the TEAMS Conference & Expo. The Olympic SportsLink is an opportunity for the organizations that make up the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movements to network with destinations, venues and other event suppliers that want to host sport-related events. The multi-year agreement is set to begin with TEAMS ’18, October 1-4, in Louisville, Ky.
“This agreement is a win for all of the Olympic and Paralympic sports organizations in the United States because SportsLink and the NGB Best Practices Seminar will now be held in conjunction with the preeminent annual sports-specific business conference,” said Lisa Baird, chief marketing officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee. “The strength of the Team USA brand, coupled with the return of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to the United States in 2028, makes this a great time to showcase the importance of the Olympic and Paralympic movements at the TEAMS Conference & Expo.”
“We are pleased to provide a new home for Olympic SportsLink and the NGB Best Practices Seminar and to support the team behind Team USA,” said Tom Kemp, chairman and CEO of Northstar Travel Group, which organizes the TEAMS Conference & Expo. “The largest annual gathering for sports-event organizers will now also be the home of one of the largest annual gatherings for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movements.”
Effective with TEAMS ’18 both Olympic SportsLink and the NGB Best Practices Seminar will be scheduled so that Olympic and Paralympic sports organizations can participate fully in the TEAMS Conference & Expo.
“Our support of the USOC and Team USA runs long and deep, and we’re delighted that our friends from the Olympic Movement are coming home to TEAMS,” said Timothy Schneider, founder of both SportsTravel magazine and the TEAMS Conference & Expo, and chairman of the Sports Division of the Northstar Meetings Group, a division of Northstar. “This new partnership will serve the interests of all of the Olympic- and Paralympic-related sports organizations as well as the TEAMS Conference exhibitors and sponsors who want to do business with them.”
In addition to providing logistical support for the annual Olympic SportsLink and NGB Best Practices Seminar, Northstar also plans to provide regular news updates for destinations on behalf of Team USA.
“This is a multi-platform opportunity for both parties,” said David Blansfield, executive vice president, Northstar Meetings Group. “Our event, media services and content teams will work closely with the USOC to create innovative programming and services designed to aid in the organizational development efforts of NGBs and other Olympic and Paralympic sports organizations.”
The U.S. Olympic Committee was founded in 1894 and headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colo. The U.S. Olympic Committee serves as both the National Olympic Committee and National Paralympic Committee for the United States and the USOC is responsible for the training, entering and funding of U.S. teams for the Olympic, Paralympic, Youth Olympic, Pan American and Parapan American Games, while serving as a steward of the Olympic and Paralympic Movements throughout the country. For more info, visit TeamUSA.org. For info on exhibiting at or sponsoring TEAMS ’18, contact Shalise DeMott at (561) 251-9846.
Northstar Travel Group is the owner of well-known brands including Travel Weekly, TravelAge West, Business Travel News, Successful Meetings, Meetings & Conventions, Travel Weekly China, Incentive, M&C China, and Web in Travel. Last year, Northstar merged with Schneider Publishing, the leading provider of events and conferences, media and information products and services to suppliers and organizers for sports, associations and corporate meetings and events through its leading brands SportsTravel and Association News magazines, and its TEAMS Conference and Meetings Quest trade show series. The company produces more than 75 face-to-face events in 13 countries in retail travel, hospitality, corporate travel, travel technology, sports travel and the meetings industry. In addition, Northstar owns Phocuswright, a leading research, business intelligence, and event producer serving the fastest growing segment of the travel industry, online travel distribution. Northstar is also the majority shareholder in Inntopia, the leading SaaS e-commerce software, CRM database marketing and predictive analytics business serving the mountain destination, activities, and specialty destination travel markets.
