Does the US government fund any of your sporting federations / bodies?

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screenaholic@reddit

I remember when I watched Hajimee no Ippo, and they talked about how he had to take a government test to become an officially licensed professional boxer by the national sports administration. It felt so strange and weird to me.

No, we don't have that here.

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DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit

That is handled at the state level in the US

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Sooner70@reddit

Not being a boxer or really into the sport at all... WTF is a boxing license anyway?

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DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit

There are boxing commisions in various states that require a license. You need one to box professionaly. Its to ensure that people competant in the sport are fighting because a trained boxer against an untrained person is very, very dangerous

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budgie02@reddit

Olympians usually have to fundraise on their own. They have to find sponsors and pay for themselves. It’s a huge reason why up until recently (since its become easier to reach potential sponsors and even fundraise online) may American olympians came from wealthy backgrounds.

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DrMindbendersMonocle@reddit

Nope, not even olympic atheletes

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No-Lunch4249@reddit

No. The US Olympic Committee has basically a federal stamp of approval but gets its money from corporate sponsorships and tv rights and the like, rather than government funding.

You're welcome BTW, basically a self-nerf on our Olympic performance lol

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SabresBills69@reddit

USOC gets money from the fed govt

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No-Lunch4249@reddit

At least according to Wikipedia, the US Olympic abd Paralympic Committee does not recieve federal funding

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SabresBills69@reddit

They get special rights and privileges and are under congressional oversight. Thry are just like many small pseudo govt agencies.

https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47850

to-may-to or to-mah-to.

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harpers25@reddit

Do the rights and privileges include federal funding?

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No-Lunch4249@reddit

They get special rights and privileges and are under congressional oversight

I alluded to that in my first comment but didn't feel like laying out all the details

to-may-to or to-mah-to

Can't disagree more, in the context of OPs question, the US federal government takes a significantly less active role in the development of sports than many other countries, especially with regard to the Olympics. More like To-May-To Po-Tah-To

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Cinisajoy2@reddit

Well some local governments just add a "temporary " sales tax to fund their project. Then they find a reason to keep getting that tax.

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Fickle-Aardvark6907@reddit

Federal government: no.

State and local governments however love to hand out tax payer money to billionaires for sports teams and not in the usual tax incentive way that they do for things like film production. They will straight up give them money for things like new stadiums to keep the team in the area.

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Proof-Emergency-5441@reddit

Those aren't for Olympic sports.

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Classic_Cash_2156@reddit

Depends on the Olympic sport. Some team sports are in fact Olympic Sports. (Like Soccer)

Also don't forget School Sports. School Sports, especially in like highschool are a much bigger thing here in the US than in most other spaces, and that's government-funded for public schools.

In fact Title-IX is a big part of why the US does really well in Women's Sports in particular, including some Olympic Sports such as Soccer and Hockey. Because what Title-IX helped do is give US Women and Girls more access to participate in sports through academic institutions (such as highschool and college teams), when many other countries have generally been behind on getting women into sports.

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Fickle-Aardvark6907@reddit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_United_States_men%27s_Olympic_basketball_team?wprov=sfla1

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the-quibbler@reddit

In America we often don't trust the government with our money. So, we support our sports leagues with advertising and merchandise revenue.

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kmoonster@reddit

The federal government plays only a limited role in support of sports/athletics in the US.

There are a few other factors, though:

- States can, and do, support athletics in many ways

- Municipal parks systems usually have sports facilities with standard sized fields/courts for at least one sport, even if it's just a tennis court that doubles as basketball & volleyball. That alone won't get you to pro-level but it will get you 80% of the way there if you put in the time and practice. This is a random town in the middle of cornfields, I know nothing about it. One entire park of this tiny town is all baseball fields, for example: Giffin Fields - Google Maps

- Schools usually have several sport options even at the lower-grade levels. Most counties or cities also have children's sports programs as well as adult sports programs. My high school gymnasium had the floor striped for several sports, you paid attention to whichever particular color/style of lines for the sport of the moment. School leagues are very competitive, and many adult leagues have people who are borderline pro-level.

- Speaking of community leagues, it is very common for leagues to be both very competitive and very casual. The police department will field a baseball team, the factory workers will recruit a team of factory workers, churches are common ways for teams to organize, people with dogs who frequent a dog park can all join and form a team. But you have to be mindful of which league you sign up to, because some are just for fun and others are VERY competitive.

- College and high school sports are very serious/competitive. Very competitive, in many areas college coaches are among the highest paid public-employees, and high school sports are big social events in many towns.

- Back to the "community" aspect, this is a great example: Meet Scott Foster, accountant-turned-goalie for Blackhawks | NHL.com. The guy is an accountant and plays hockey in a community league. He sometimes "plays" for his local pro-team as a "practice" goalie taking shots while the regular goalies are doing other drills or scrimmage (or on rest) or whatever, but that's not his job -- it's just a hobby. But wouldn't you know it, he was called up to play in an actual NHL game and he won the game! Bob from accounting was tagged in an emergency and won the freaking game against a pro-team. And the most telling part? That didn't even make national news as far as I can recall -- and he's not the only one to have done that, this kind of thing happens in most sports at some point or another...and we just call it "Tuesday".

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cryptoengineer@reddit

No.

However, city governments frequently give huge tax breaks to corporate sports franchises to get them to move to town and build a stadium.

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Current_Poster@reddit

No, Olympic sports are sponsored.

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AwarenessGreat282@reddit

The government does not directly fund sports organizations, but it often does indirectly. For example, local governments assist private teams in the construction of stadiums for the private teams to play. The government earns money from visitors so it's mutually profitable. Large sports leagues like the NFL are operated as non-profit businesses so no tax is collected from them.

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Practical-Ordinary-6@reddit

Latest info:

While the league office was previously a tax-exempt 501(c)(6) non-profit, it voluntarily relinquished that status in 2015. Additionally, all 32 individual teams are for-profit entities and have always paid taxes on their income.

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Frito_Goodgulf@reddit

No, the federal (US) government doesn’t directly fund sporting federations. Significant funding comes from corporate fundraising via the US Olympic Committee and specific sports federations.

But. Various governmental levels, including the federal, state, and municipalities (cities) levels, do provide indirect funding.

Federal and state money helps support universities (tertiary education), and many Olympic and other athletes receive scholarships that allow them to train and compete at high levels. In addition, this includes building and operating training and competition facilities.
Many stadiums are not owned by the sports teams or federations, but are paid for by various levels of governments.

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CupBeEmpty@reddit

And to your last point a lot of privately owned stadiums and teams get tax breaks or other incentives from state or local governments which indirectly fund the teams.

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Arrival_Departure@reddit

The one thing that hasn’t been mentioned yet is that there is a small Sports Diplomacy office in the State Department.

Most of the funding for American sports is private, but this office is often involved in coordinating the government side of things for mega-sporting events (World Cup, Olympics, Paralympics, Pan-American Games, etc.).

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RobotShlomo@reddit

No. The United States government does not fund any sports leagues or federations. The US Olympic committee funds Olympic teams largely through corporate sponsorships.

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nvkylebrown@reddit

The NCAA gets indirect funding from the government, in that colleges and universities get a lot of money from the government and some of that goes toward athletic programs.

Some local governments work deals with teams on stadiums/facilities. The local governments perceive this (possibly mistakenly) to be a benefit to the local community, or even money-making (an investment).

But, for the most part, no, government isn't involved in sports.

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Combat__Crayon@reddit

Medals won is a poor metric, we're the 3rd most populous country and have the money to throw at sports. Like if you look at medals per capita from the last Winter Olympics the US finished 2nd to Norway, however if you run that per capita Norway still finished first, but the US dropped to 23rd.

We dont have direct federal funding. For the Olympics, its TV rights and corporate sponsorship at the USOC level, but a lot of athletes come through the university system which gets some federal but mostly state funding. However, getting to collegiate level usually means parents paying for their training especially for the olympic sports. Its the same for football, baseball, and basketball, but those also have school programs generally starting in junior high.

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Ok-Growth4613@reddit

Indiana state government gives funds to thier NBA and NFL teams.

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ITrCool@reddit

Nope. Fully privatized.

The only thing that MIGHT have government involvement is sometimes a city government will foot the bill for a new sports stadium or give a generous tax break or subsidy for the building, but that’s not always the case.

90% of the time it’s all privatized funding and work.

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capsrock02@reddit

No

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Admiral_AKTAR@reddit

No, but they get a LOT of tax breaks and other benendits. For example, all of those patriotic flyovers and flag waving events are all paid for by the government. Though they are listed at "training missions"...

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Proof-Emergency-5441@reddit

I'd love to know what tax breaks you think the US Olympic curling team is getting.

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TillPsychological351@reddit

The pilots need a certain number of hours to stay certified. They're going to be flying anyway, whether it's over a sparsely populated farmland or over a stadium.

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El_Polio_Loco@reddit

Gotta get flight hours, might as well maximize the PR while you’re at it.

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SufficientProject273@reddit

Nope

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manicpixidreamgirl04@reddit

Sports are integrated into our education system. College sports get state funding, and high school sports are funded by local property taxes.

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SabresBills69@reddit

only the Olympic group that focuses on the non professional/career sports

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notthegoatseguy@reddit

No. The NFL and NBA organizations themselves are privately operated.

Many of the stadiums are built with state/local tax money with state/local government ownership, and the teams get incredibly generous deals on the stadiums, often low rent and a cut of even non-game revenue.

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Most_Pangolin_7395@reddit

No, its just a bunch of old rich white guys.

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Hillbillygeek1981@reddit

Thankfully that's one end of the bread and circuses axis we're not funneling federal tax money into. It's one of the few positives arising from our obsession with sports and our fixation on rampant capitalism, somehow the combination of the two negatives has canceled out and created a positive.

Mind you, the cities that host major athletic franchises tend to dump an obscene amount into facilities for those teams, spending on everything from stadiums to parking and civic projects providing better access to said facilities, but as far as the federal government goes there's not some national athletic fund.

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