Last edited Tue Feb 18, 2014, 10:13 PM - Edit history (1)
to the point that many foreign competitors train in the US for them.
For those other countries to increase spending on 1 sport will likely result in them cutting funding for others. The US has funding for all these sports to a competitive level, and more popular sports tend to get more funding, but some of it is also the athletes you attract to even try your sport. In countries where a certain sport is part of your culture, it's FAR easier to get people attracted to it, I see what your saying, but it's not as simple as just creating a national program.
In the Netherlands, speed skaters are "rock stars" for example, so it's easier to get top athletes into speed skating there. In Norway, it's cross country skiing. In the US, it's a hard sell to get top athletes to go into Winter sports at all, when the professional sports dry up so much of the talent pool. If you show a 10 year old kid cross country skiing, speed skating, and half-pipe in the US, which one do you think is going to spark their interests the most (in a country that doesn't glorify it's cross country or skating starts)? Chances are, that child is going to say "I want to be Peyton Manning / Lebron James / Miguel Cabrera" rather than wanting to do something they only see on TV once every 4 years, but MAYBE the extreme sports spark their interest. It doesn't matter how much the US spends on training if they can't attract the best talent, and in the US, winter sports in general are a hard sell for many. THAT is the problem in the US. Building and sustaining a sport in the US is very difficult because of all the options, and it takes a long time. They've been trying to get Americans hooked on soccer for more than 20 years now and most people only seem to care about it twice every 4 years (Olympics and World Cup). Yes, soccer is making progress, and Americans now may start playing it as young as 4 or 5 years old, but when they get older and more options open up, many leave for other activities.
And if you think pipeline and moguls are eventually going to be boring to watch, how boring must it already be to watch speed skating, curling or nordic combined? (BTW, I love watching curling)
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