I'll paint a picture...

The budget for Olympic sailing RIO this summer was around 25 million dollars (from what I have heard). And advertising investment was 5-10x that amount for NBC. Other Olympic events have far, FAR, larger budgets (obviously) and the network makes a fortune. Think about that. The media investment (and in turn sponsor investment) in Olympic coverage can be enormous. With that kind of money focused on soaring, even a fraction, Olympic Sailplane Competiton coverage would be like nothing we have ever seen before. Chile and New Zealand would look like child's play in comparison. It would probably be broadcast live from the cockpits in addition to improvement everywhere else. If that happened, and based on the history it has a snowballs chance in hell, Olympic Soaring would gain enormous exposure.

And this attention would be more than "just the Olympic event." The bid process for the sport alone would be major news. The media around each countries qualification process (trials), the test and pre-Olympic events leading up to the Olympics, the glider design/manufacturer drama deciding what gliders will used for the Olympics, etc would all begin to play out years before the actual Olympic event. A whole new level of potential interest would be created on a scale we can not really imagine. Sponsors may even become interested outside the Olympics which could carry into domestic events, national organizations such as the SSA, etc.

We might even grow again.

FAI where are you?

By the way, there is a great article on this very subject in gliding international this month.