Podcast Alert: USOPC – Katie Bynum

Transcript

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Katie Bynum Aznavorian: [00:00:00] We have been planning for LA well before these games, and definitely the attention and momentum and inertia has kicked up a gear now that it’s officially next. And there’s no breather for sure. We have to answer a lot of questions and define a lot of plans this year which we’re excited to do, but there’s no rest for the weary here on this one. 

AJ Maestas: Welcome to the Navigating Sports Business podcast, where we uncover insights from the most prominent leaders in our industry. Today, I’m happy to be joined by Katie Bynum Aznavorian, Chief Strategy and Growth Officer at the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee. I think we all know about the Olympic movement, people listening to this, people in our industry but imagine balancing what she has to balance between the Olympic movement and all the intention with that, with bringing people together and global peace, but legitimate, ethical, competitive games, and obviously supporting the United States in effort to win as many medals as you can and, serve as many generations of people, children from here and beyond. 

So it’s so complex, I don’t even like thinking about it. [00:01:00] But I’m excited to learn how you do it, Katie. So congratulations. 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: I’m excited to be here. Thank you. Thank you. 

AJ Maestas: Yeah. Yeah. I’m so happy to have you. So I’m gonna start by saying congratulations on Milan-Cortina. It was super impressive. The storytelling from NBC was beautiful. 

It felt engaging and real. I think anybody who pays attention to sports saw your ratings bump. I think it was about 100% growth over the prior Winter Games. Congratulations. How do you think you had so much success in Milan? What happened? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Everyone always asks the question, “What do you do in between games?” And I’m gonna say you or we as the broader USOPC and Team USA, there’s ton of planning and intentionality that takes one, to support the athlete journey. So the sport performance is not happenstance. These medals are won or lost on milliseconds and inches and millimeters and centimeters. 

Our team did a great job with our NGB partners to prepare this team to perform the way it did, and that definitely took years. And then our fan [00:02:00] engagement and content teams in partnership with NBC started a journey pre-Paris to really think differently about how we meet fans and engage with fans. 

And we took that momentum and those plans from Paris and adapted them to Milan-Cortina, and thankfully, saw the success we saw from both games and continued that momentum going into LA. So we’re very pleased. But it definitely takes years and years of planning for sure. 

AJ Maestas: Is there anything that you could quantify for me as far as, oh, our social engagements were up X, or, we made these kind of investments and got these outcomes? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Yeah. We recognize just by scope and scale the, Winter Games are smaller than the Summer Games, so it’s hard to compare it- To Paris. But we set out and said, “Look, Paris was defined as a resounding success for all the reasons you said, performance, engagement, and otherwise. How do we keep the same momentum?” 

And so we looked at the proportional growth that we saw from Tokyo to Paris and said from [00:03:00] Beijing to Milan Cortina, we should see that same proportional growth. And by all measures, when you talk about conversations, sentiment, fan acquisition r- viewership and ratings, we all saw that growth that we saw from Paris. 

So we have a number of different measures under kind of consumption and engagement, but those were all b- by way, I don’t have them, off, known off the top of my head, but exactly what you said, AJ, two X, three X, four X growth type measures between those games. So I think everybody feels really good about what these Winter Games represented for us. 

AJ Maestas: Yeah. It was noticeable. It was visible. How much credit do people give Snoop, by the way? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: They should give a lot, but I will tell you I don’t– We’ve talked to NBC about this and all of the things we do. I think it’s hard to pinpoint one thing that moves the needle as much as the composite of a really thoughtful plan that drives all of this. 

But Snoop is great. He was an honorary coach for Team USA, and he did a great job. 

AJ Maestas: Yeah. Yeah. I think most people have heard that story or understand, what [00:04:00] he’s done with, different generations of viewership and engagement and yeah, very cool story. 

Very cool story. I know we’ve worked with NBC over the years, and I remember there being like a crisis mode moment in Tokyo where at the games a longtime friend and client of Navigates, kinda got called into it. “What’s happening?” “Where are our numbers?” Like in the moment, what can, should be done, et cetera. 

So it’s really nice to I don’t know, fast-forward to today and look back and say, “Oof.” Just recovering lost ground would’ve been a success, I think, in a lot of people’s eyes, to have this leap forward, so just amazing. And the US just killed it as far as medals. 

What do you think happened there? We set a record, if I’m not mistaken in, in winter? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: We did. We did set a record. Yeah. But I will say, you’re right, just on the NBC piece, the type of results they’re reporting are comparing viewership, like the men’s hockey game, to 2010, right? And comparing viewership numbers to 2014, when TV consumption was a very different place. 

And so… yeah all credit to that effort, ’cause you’re right. While we looked at comparisons to Tokyo and [00:05:00] Beijing, we’re starting to see the results from Paris and Milan Cortina that set records in consumption from games past just recovery, which I think I would call the pandemic was hard for sports across the board, and I think there was a pretty awesome reflection and inflection point To recover from those games, but then also to meet the modern fan, if you will, and NBC’s done a great job of that. 

So on the performance side which certainly drives a lot of this engagement and viewership too couple of interesting data points I like other than knowing where we fell on the me- medal table which is second overall and second in gold medals. We did break a record, most gold medals in Team USA history in a single Winter Olympic Games, which is amazing. 

And the other interesting data point I like is we were first on the podium for medal diversity. So I think we medaled in 12 of 17 sport disciplines. So when you think about overall performance and, not [00:06:00] being focused on one sport more than another, and you talk about the breadth and diversity of Team USA, I think we really delivered in performance in that way, and that’s pretty special, and also means you have more medalists and you have more Team USA athletes who are pleased with their performance and experience. 

AJ Maestas: Yeah. I agree. That’s a wonderful measure of success because, there’s some of these sports where you can medal in very similar things. When you see the same athlete. I always think of Michael Phelps in the Olympics, and obviously what he did was incredible, but, it’s wait a minute. 

He’s doing the same thing in the same location in the same way, and having all these different medal events. So yeah, I agree. The diversity of performance is a really healthy measure of overall success. It’s it’s really impressive. So congratulations. 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Yeah. Thank you. 

AJ Maestas: So how about you personally? You have a baby at home. You’re on the other side of the world. Like, what’s the experience like being you in Cortina? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Yeah, I did just recently have my second child, so it was an interesting thing to balance being at the games. My first was also with me in Paris. 

And [00:07:00] look, there are a number of m-mom competing athlete stories out there when you look at Kaylee Humphries, Alana Meyers Taylor, and a number of them across winter and summer sport. So I feel inspired by them balancing it all. I was at the games for a portion of the games, and my time spent there, with any games, and I’d say broadly with the team, you’re doing two things. 

You’re living in your traditional live sports environment, so issues and opportunities come up in the moment. But for the most part… you’re trying to deliver the best experience that you can and enjoy the moment. And then at the same time, because of the nature of our business and the cycles that the games happen, you’re also building relationships and thinking about what’s next, whether you’re testing and refining or talking to folks about how we continue to improve this amazing thing that we’re responsible for stewarding. 

It’s a little bit of forward thinking during the time at the games, and it’s a little bit of, e-either enjoy the moment or triage what you have to [00:08:00] ’cause we know what live sports is it’s never a dull moment, for sure. 

AJ Maestas: Yeah. Do you get a moment to breathe before pivoting to LA or is this just is there gonna be a little sabbatical here? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Yeah, no. No. I can wish, but we importantly have the Paralympic Games coming up soon. In March, the Paralympic Winter Games kick off importantly, and look, I mentioned this when I said, what does it look like for me in Milan? I was spending time on LA at the same time you’re spending time on Milan-Cortina. 

I think that’s the nature of, planning in sports sometimes. We have been planning for LA well before these games, and definitely the attention and momentum and inertia has kicked up a gear now that it’s officially next. And no, there’s no breather, for sure. We have to answer a lot of questions and define a lot of plans this year which we’re excited to do, but there’s no rest for the weary here on this one. 

AJ Maestas: Do you mind just for the folks listening, help us understand the Winter and Summer Games, economically. What does it mean? What does it look like financially? What are the key revenue sources? Where do we spend our money?[00:09:00]  

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Sure. So somewhat unique to the US market is, the NOC/NPC, so Team USA and where I work the National Olympic and Paralympic Committee is funded privately through donors and sponsorships, right? 

We’re not funded by the government or other forms the way some other countries are funded, and I’d say the same thing about the games we host. So Utah ’34 and LA ’28 have committed to a privately funded games, not using taxpayer dollars. The government does have to support those events in some capacity given the scope and scale, right? 

Security and things like that require government support. But for the most part, the business and financial structure around the games and Team USA are different than the rest of, how other countries host the games and how other countries send teams. So for us, I mentioned our revenue sources are largely philanthropic and commercial and those costs go to sending the team to the games. 

So [00:10:00] for the LA games, I think we’ll have maybe 1,000 to 1,200 athletes or something that go to those games. We typically have 800 or so for an international Summer Games and about 300 or so for a Winter Games. And so that’s the medical support, performance support, operations support that goes into security, all of that goes into making sure the team goes, has a good experience, a safe experience, performs at their best, and goes home, right? 

It’s that entire logistical operation. Those are all of our costs. And then we also have some costs to ensure we’re driving the storytelling that we’re talking about that drives fan engagement revenue stewardship on the philanthropic and commercial side. So that’s our business model. 

And then a Games is very different, right? Their venue operations, rental, transportation, security, their revenue streams are similar. They’ve got sponsorship revenue some [00:11:00] philanthropic revenue, but largely ticketing and hospitality is a big revenue stream for organizing committees like LA and Utah ’34. 

But similar model, right? You’re looking at commercial or philanthropic revenue, and your expenses are either sending the team and delivering a team to the Games or conducting the event operations of those Games in order to make everything feel safe and enjoyable and, you execute the world’s largest sporting event is what LA ’28 is looking at. Does that help answer your question? Obviously there are a lot of details to that, but that’s the best way I could do it succinctly. 

AJ Maestas: Yeah. Yeah. No, I appreciate it. And I just want folks listening to say, “Oh, how big is this compared to a one-off s- a, a single season of an NFL team or something like that financially?” 

In fact, I’d love for you to correct me on some of these things. I think the Winter Games earned and spent about $400 million, I’m guessing. Summer Games are usually like 30, 35% more expensive. So let’s say if LA was typical, which I don’t think it will be, but if it was typical, it would be $550 million or something like that, [00:12:00] total cost. 

The revenue sources for the IOC, the International Olympic Committee, they tend to be majority is television, right? 60% TV or something like that, and then it’s the tickets and hospitality, like you said, and then 10, 9%, something like that would be, s-something in that minority share as far as actual ticket sales. 

So again, that would be 60-ish percent television, 30% sponsorships, 10%, let’s call it ticket sales. But for the USOPC, it tends to be closer to a third, right? Sponsorship dollars- A third and maybe like.. 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Yeah. 

AJ Maestas: Yeah. Okay. Yeah, and the donation part I think is really interesting for people. I didn’t even quite understand the magnitude of it. 

We started working maybe five, six, seven years ago with the US Ski and Snow And the whole, medallion gold pass kind of thing. There’s almost like a donor club, like a university where people pay a lot of money, and it’s much more than the proportion of benefit they get just to be good stewards of U.S. 

Ski and Snow, right? I think it’s 100 million or something like that, right? For quadrennial or… Yeah. Okay. So it’s like a lot of [00:13:00] money. Anyway, correct me if any of that was, like, off, but I think it’s fascinating because a normal person thinks, “Oh, usually ticket sales is the number one revenue source.” 

For some sports, TV’s now becoming number one, and then on down the line, right? And the Olympics, here you are operating, to your point, zero government support, and I don’t think there’s another country that does the same. Is there anyone else that gives zero federal support to their Olympic team? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: I don’t know ’cause there’s a lot of nuance to that and how things are funded, but I’d say we’re one of a few, if not the only one. The costs, you raised very significantly by games, but I’d look at it like this. If we have a billion dollars in revenue over a four-year period, that is going to performance preparation directly to NGBs and athlete stipends in both performance preparation safety, delivering the games, mental health resources, things like that, for both winter and summer games, Olympic and Paralympic, as well as the Pan Am and [00:14:00] Para Pan games. 

And so that’s a billion dollars to send Team USA to those games and help them prepare and ultimately qualify, and that’s the storytelling and revenue stewardship around it. By games, I don’t have off the top of my head, and also does vary based on where it is how many athletes we send, all of that. 

There’s a number of variables that ultimately change some of those numbers. But I will just comment quickly on the philanthropic piece ’cause it’s grown significantly for us. I’m not sure if you saw, but we had a very generous donation and a momentous one. Milestone-wise, $100 million given in order to establish a retirement fund for Team USA athletes, starting with the Milan Cortina Games. Some pretty impactful work happening there we’re very grateful for. 

AJ Maestas: Yeah, pretty incredible. Unbelievable generosity. I’m getting a little off topic on this, but just I care a lot about giving back. It’s a big part of my life. There’s this, we’re finally gonna have an annual, charity party type thing that we’re gonna do this spring, which I would love to get you out for, and here in Scottsdale. But it’s really not about how much money it’ll raise. [00:15:00] It’s trying to it’s about the community effect and, giving along with others and hopefully inspiring giving and things like that. It’s a pretty exceptional thing that in the US I think people give about three and a half percent of their income to philanthropic initiatives. 

That’s more than double the next most generous nation in the world. It’s a pretty incredible thing that, we’re good at what we do with corporate partnerships, right? The, this very expensive Olympic program, significantly being funded by sponsors and then- just straight philanthropy, just like our university system. 

I think it’s a pretty cool noteworthy thing to think about what other sport is able to pull this off other than universities, right? Can you imagine- someone making a donation to their favorite NFL team, and it being, a double-digit percent line item. It’s pretty cool. 

But I think it’s honestly, it makes sense. For those that don’t understand, I think everyone listening to this will know what the Olympic movement is, but a lot of folks- … when I’m just talking to family and friends I don’t think they understand, the actual intent behind the Olympics, like why it is done, that there’s a mission there that is greater than just sport and winning and losing. 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: And it will be our job, you’re so [00:16:00] right, and it will be our job to continue to make that more well-known on the road to LA ’28. I talk with our, the head of our foundation all the time about building a culture of philanthropy and that understanding because I think we are unique in sport in that way. 

You show up a little bit like a professional sports team, multi-sport team but also an important thing that this country can get behind and support philanthropically if they want to. And there’s a way to do it that’s, whatever you’re able to do, $5, $10, what have you, versus it needing to be a $100 million gift in every instance. 

So you’ll definitely see us spend a good bit of time making sure more folks know about that and can feel a part of and connected to Team USA on the road to LA ’28 if they want to. 

AJ Maestas: You’re selling naming rights in LA for the first time ever, to the venues. I’d love to hear how that’s going. 

I’d love to hear yeah, success so far. How are partners feeling? ‘Cause some names are already on those buildings. So some people have probably already– I know they’ve already made [00:17:00] a commitment to you, and now they’re asking themselves, “Oh, there’s this, flagship piece of visibility.” 

So yeah. How does that work? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: LA ’28 is certainly leading that efforts. We’ve been very supportive. I think it demonstrates good and important progress and an evolution of the commercial model across the, Olympic Games. Brands, rightfully are asking for more value and opportunities to be authentically integrated, and I think this helps deliver against that. 

There was a lot of praise on progress for what this represents. I don’t know at the moment how they’re doing, but I think look, this is one of many examples of the way LA’s evolved the commercial program and the way the IOC has demonstrated, that they’re listening to feedback and open to thinking about things a little differently. 

That being said I think differently doesn’t mean do it the same way the rest of sports does. I think the [00:18:00] Olympic movement is thinking pretty thoughtfully about what is the right way to drive commercial value in an authentic way that makes sense for these, games and the movement versus just, “Oh, they do this over here, let’s kinda do it here.” 

There’s a lot of thought and attention that was put behind this one, and it represents good progress, so we’re excited. 

AJ Maestas: What would you do if you could invent the Olympic brand from scratch? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: What I think I’d keep which is so special about the Olympic movement, is this notion of global solidarity, and it transcends sport. 

It is global sport. It transcends sport. It’s a cultural phenomenon. So I would keep the magic that is that ’cause there’s nothing like it. But I think if I rebuilt it I’d want to make it, take the premise of that and make the rings or the marks more accessible to everybody to participate in celebrating and telling the story. 

We talk about the license marks is the funding mechanism that you talked about, AJ, is critical commercial value proposition. [00:19:00] I wouldn’t wanna impact that in any way and I wanna keep that. But there’s gotta be a way to figure out how you make the marks and participating in the Olympic brand during the games and lead up to the games. 

There’s so many people that make this ecosystem go. NGBs, right? Youth sports organizations fans, donors definitely partners. But what is the different way that we can make this an invitation and participation mechanism to live and breathe that special community that I was just talking about that it is. 

It is that but I don’t know that the marks and the brand quite lives up to the community creation that happens. And so how do we make those two meet each other will be incredibly powerful. And we’re trying to start to solve for that for the LA Games, because our goal is to make sure that everybody in this coun-country feels a part of Team USA in some way. 

It’s the first digitally native games, if you think about it. The [00:20:00] last home games in Atlanta, I don’t think there were really cell phones, or other than that StarTech thing you’d put in your car maybe. Which I’m dating myself, but 

AJ Maestas: ’96, right? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know. 

But all to say, I think we have an awesome opportunity between these home games to maybe engineer our way back into that answer and have it be what we really hope it can be. 

AJ Maestas: You know what? I’m gonna ask our team at Navigate to think about that a little bit, because I love that. I agree. Why wouldn’t you? Think to your point, youth participation. You wanna increase participation in sports and introduce people to health and wellness and the overall, Olympic movement, as we’ve repeatedly said here today. But the sad part is we also discussed today how the whole thing is funded. 

And the value of those marks are we know, we have a number of, Visa is a longtime client. You think of the premium people pay to have access to hospitality to use those marks and the way they do business, and you can’t just give them away otherwise they wouldn’t have that value. 

But it does kill me, you’re right. You should be arriving to the airport, any youth participation program for years leading [00:21:00] into a domestic games, you could be saying, “This is your pathway to the Olympics.” And those rings this isn’t about the Olympic rings, but I’ll give you an example just cause it came up t-today in stuff that we do. 

Just picture super nerds getting into digital attribution of what makes someone buy a product, and the IP of sports associated with something, and I’m not saying something as valuable as the Olympic rings, just any old sports logo, is a 15% to 25% lift in whatever. Picture direct response mail, digital campaign. 

That logo’s on there you know how much marketers would pay to have a 20% lift in any, it’s ridiculously valuable. Yeah. So boy, not that there’s diminishing returns and it becomes worthless if you give it away, but ugh. Anyway, if you can tell from my rambling, I hate, I love and hate what you just said because I know the exact force that we have to balance. 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Exactly. It’s hard work. I think… you have to think about those two dynamics as you solve for this. I don’t think they’re in complete conflict. True. I think there’s a way to do this. I actually, I think it’s hard work though. It’s finding value it’s thinking [00:22:00] about use cases and context, and it’s finding value in new ways to make sure that balance is still achieved. 

But I gotta think what’s special about this movement that we all feel and experience just now can be empowered and enabled a little bit more through some of this. 

AJ Maestas: Okay. We’ve been working with you and your team on Making Team USA, which I feel like has great momentum for fandom and financially. Do you mind sharing a bit about that program? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Sure, and you guys have been very helpful to us in helping us ultimately stand up a program from scratch and think about it as a marketing proposition and a commercial proposition. So this came out of some research we did in post-Beijing part of that inflection point that I was talking about, which is how do we engage fans better in this market, and how do we improve our commercial value proposition? And out of that became an interest to understand more about these athletes earlier. And ultimately, before [00:23:00] we created Making Team USA, the fan experience was go find out who qualified where from what NGB, and it was a disparate experience. 

What we’re trying to do with Making Team USA is create a clearer, more streamlined with the clutter and attention and where your kind of consumption can go across the board. It’s hard to follow the Olympic Games until you get there, right? And then everybody goes… “oh, I wish I knew this, and this.” 

So for those that want to know more earlier, we’re making it easier to follow. And what I love about this, other than solving for a fan need and pain point and creating a better marketing proposition, what we’re also doing is creating a stronger partnership with NGBs in how we go to market, right? 

Because we’re not doing this on our own, we USOPC, we’re partnering with the NGBs to package and sell this story and bring commercial partners in to be a part of it. And that I feel is the crux of something that we haven’t cracked in this movement yet, but is really important on a go-forward basis. 

We need to show up as a community [00:24:00] together. It’s a cliché, one and one equals three, but I gotta believe that’s true here. And right now, look, a lot of brands look at the fragmentation of the Olympic and Paralympic ecosystem. So the more we can solve for that for the fan and for the brands investing, I think the better, and that’s the gist of what Making Team USA is. 

It’s a mix of all the qualifying stories and journeys on the road to a games, not just the trials, which I think most people would be familiar with. 

AJ Maestas: Yeah, and I appreciate you sharing that, and not just selfishly, because of our involvement but ’cause I feel like you could see it In Milan, the storytelling was so beautiful, right? 

And that’s meaningful. People are crying when they watch these games, and it goes so far beyond sport. Watching a mom squat weights with the children lingering, almost hanging onto her while she’s working out at home really puts in perspective. She looks like a hero right now, going 90 miles an hour, having a gold medal strung over her neck. 

But, what does it take to get here? And as you and I know, these athletes, they don’t get to compete [00:25:00] if they’re not sponsored. The, you’ve gotta fund yourself. You gotta, it has to be visible in the way the world’s going. It’s just, that’s just the reality of it. 

So it’s really cool, and I think that those stories are meaningful. I love the callbacks, to some of that history. Even though you’re watching a condensed time delay version when you were over here in the US I actually really appreciated the ability to storytell on point with that person to and you see the conclusion, you see the competition. 

It was, yeah, it was much more meaningful stories in my opinion, and it was pretty cool. And critical. Critical for us to compete. Critical for, the mission to be served. One more comment if I can about college athletics, just ’cause it, it feels so similar to me, tugging at the heartstrings and the connection and the philanthropic element and what have you. 

I’m sure you’ve paid at least a little attention. I know you’ve been a consultant before in sports, so enough to be dangerous if not an expert, that the college athletics landscape is changing, the way it’s funded, athletes being compensated, what have you. It’s widely believed from the administrator side of this, from the school side of this, that eventually something’s gonna run out and they [00:26:00] won’t be able to fund Olympic sports. 

A disproportionate amount of our athletes and really athletes from all over the world are getting free and paid, training and experiences in college. I’d love to hear if you have an opinion or, is this a threat to our Olympic movement? It feels like despite Title IX, despite all the progress, that Olympic sports are under threat, that funding’s under threat, that the sponsorships, the sponsorship of so many Olympic sports are under threat, and that is one of the ways in which we are, able to be so successful. 

Yeah, so any thoughts any fears about what the whole changing collegiate landscape means for the Olympics? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: We are definitely watching and paying attention, and I would say actively involved in both a partnership with the NCAA to make sure we tell the story of that pipeline and pathway. 

You’ve probably seen as you’ve been watching, March Madness, the Olympians and Paralympians Made Here, so everyone knows that it’s a critical pipeline and pathway to Olympic, the [00:27:00] platform and Team USA, but as you noted, international athletes competing as well. I think that awareness play and partnership is super important, and then advocacy, right? 

In DC and beyond, we’ve gotta let people continue to know the critical role that the NCAA plays as important infrastructure, training and development for future Olympians and Paralympians. So we’re certainly an advocate in that way too. And for other, pathways and pipeline. But NCAA is definitely the biggest for the the global movement fol- so we are leaned in and paying close attention and definitely actively involved in, keeping the health of that ecosystem going for sure. 

But we also recognize too it’s going through an evolution. And that’s important too, so right? We’re staying close on that one. 

AJ Maestas: Yeah. Yeah. I’m not sure if I actually believe it’s the threat that people have told me it is, but these are wise people, who know more than I do. 

So I keep wondering what I’m missing, about the threat too. I just haven’t seen the willingness of presidents or universities to [00:28:00] abandon these sports programs and even though they require a great deal of subsidy, they serve a greater mission. I love these little rapid-fire questions at the end if you’re willing. 

Just looking for quick instant reaction from you. Okay. Your favorite place to travel? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Anywhere new, but if I have to go back, Africa all the time. 

AJ Maestas: Oh, where in Africa? That’s a favorite of mine. 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Yeah, East Africa. 

AJ Maestas: Okay. And anywhere specific Kenya, Ethiopia Tanzania? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: So went to Rwanda. There’s actually an Olympian that runs Kids Play International there. 

Encourage you to look it up if you wanna go to Rwanda and also give back tied to the Olympic movement. It’s great. I spent some time there while I was on my honeymoon. But love Rwanda and I was up in the mountains. And then also spent some time hiking Kilimanjaro, different trip. 

Certainly love, I’m a avid photographer by hobby, so love the safari. And then they have some great scuba diving off the coast of East Africa. So they hit all of my passion points, [00:29:00] if you will, outside of sports business. 

AJ Maestas: All right. I’m pretty passionate about the continent and trying to make a difference there also. 

I did Kilimanjaro about a year ago now, actually. 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Oh, congrats. Is there still snow up there? Is the glacier still there? 

AJ Maestas: Barely. Yeah. Frozen ice barely. Really, truly. Actually, you know what? The day I descended it snowed in a pretty meaningful way. But no it’s pretty clear that there will not be snow on top of that at some point in the not too distant future, and it was close. 

Three feet of ice on either side of the trail, maybe five acres, of covered at only the summit. Pretty incredible if you think about it. And Rwanda just we don’t have to go down a rabbit hole, but I’m sure you’ve read or paid attention given you spent time there, the role women play in corporate governance, in the government. 

The federal government overall. It’s a very interesting story from where they were so not so long ago in the past to a country that yeah, it’s pretty incredible that women have a pretty significant and meaningful role in the complete turnaround of that country and lack of corruption. 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: It’s a massive cultural shift because of [00:30:00] the reset, unfortunately yeah, that recent genocide had on that country. It’s call it an a good outcome of that, but you never want that to happen. But because it did the country’s in a very different place because of women. Yeah. It’s amazing. 

AJ Maestas: Favorite Olympic sport to watch? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Oh gosh. I’m gonna answer this one probably not the way you’re asking it. 

I love the mixed gender disciplines they introduced- in the last couple games. Fun to watch. So that’s a all sport answer, but focus on the mixed gender disciplines, and they’re gonna introduce a few more here like in golf for the LA games. 

AJ Maestas: What’s one sport you’d wanna see added to the Olympics? You can give me summer and winter if you want. 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: A funny and serious answer, because this comes to mind. One, because I’m a mom of a toddler right now, I love the memes out there that saying being a mom to a toddler is an Olympic sport. That’s just for a joke. That doesn’t take away from the elite athlete expectations that happen. 

What the Team USA and Olympians can do and Paralympians is amazing. [00:31:00] Like all kidding aside I actually think I’m really excited by the LA Games. I can’t think of anything to add at the moment that they haven’t. The introduction of flag and lacrosse and cricket squash and obviously baseball and softball coming back. 

But I’m excited to see what those new sports do and I can’t think of anything else to add. That’s why they’re the experts at assessing that program. 

AJ Maestas: It’s still fun to do this kind of stuff. I remember years ago doing work for Red Bull where we’re looking at like emerging sports because, they like to invest and make a positive difference in them. 

And there’s things that we just as an American, it just, it’s what we do. We tend to be ethnocentric, biased people and the, I think the number two country for ratings in cricket globally for, World Cup is the US consistently. 

Even when it’s a giant match, it’s India versus Pakistan, US will be the second largest, television market. So there’s some, some of these things are in my mind are like why wasn’t it already there?” You got countries like, what teeny countries like Australia, as they always do, outperforming their [00:32:00] population and competing in World Cup in those sports and things like that. 

So anyway, I agree. I agree. Okay, last question, I promise. Your top life hack. Like what’s one thing that’s made the biggest impact in your life relative to the time or money investment? 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: I’d say following the rule of three, which sounds ridiculous, but it’s about prioritization, communication, keep it short and sweet, forces you to let things go. 

So if my team listens to this, they’ll laugh at it because they know how perhaps religiously I follow the rule of three, but I love it. 

AJ Maestas: I won’t even pretend to be a succinct communicator. But and my apologies for that and for those of you who have to listen to me. Yeah. But that’s good. That’s good. 

It’s good to have a perspective and it’s good to have a guiding force. Katie, I’m so grateful for you joining and sharing all this stuff. It’s such a meaningful moment wrapping up the Olympics and now turning our attention toward the United States. So it’s such an honor and a pleasure to have you here and to be able to serve the mission with you all, and I’m just grateful that you joined us. 

So thank you for being a part of this. 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Thank you for [00:33:00] having me, and thanks for your support for Team USA and the broader Olympic and Paralympic movement. We need everybody in this to make it work. So thank you. 

AJ Maestas: It’s pretty meaningful compared to your average sport and entertainment experience and client. 

That’s for sure. For those listening, if you have feedback for me or you want to get a hold of Katie, write me at AJ@NVGT.com. You can also find me on my LinkedIn page or the Navigate LinkedIn page. And with that said, wrapping up and saying goodbye to Katie Bynum Aznavorian, head of strategy for the USOPC. 

And I think she’s probably open to feedback and everything other than ticket requests for LA. So yeah. 

Katie Bynum Aznavorian: Always. You nailed it.