ORDA Chooses a New CEO

[Milo Maltbie]

Scuttlebutt is that when FIS's John Alberg visited Mt van Ho and saw the view beyond the stadium, he flipped: it's wicked telegenic. Biathlon World Cup coming to the Ho, 2026. Gonna bring TV revenue for ORDA. In my wildest dreams, I can see a cross country world cup schedule with stops in Quebec and LP.

Somewhere I saw a prediction that by 2050 Lake Placid and 3 other spots in Japan and Norway would be the only viable venues for international competition. I think ORDA is buying into that, but winter sports without winter is gonna be sad thing.
I also think it’s a mistake to drag Gore into that. Are athletes really gonna want to come to North Creek? Oh wait, they gotta bus in from Lake George village.
OTOH maybe international events are necessary to justify the investments needed to keep the venues open for the rest of us.

mm

 

[tirolski]

Ashley reads and later does a Q&A about WUG planning.

Town Hall Kick Off | Lake Placid World University Games 2023

www.youtube.com

Said WUG athletes are planning to stay at a “community development” place. Was it ever built?
Ya can buy some or all of it.

Peaks at Lake Placid property now for sale | News, Sports, Jobs - Adirondack Daily Enterprise

LAKE PLACID — A property on Barn Road where a local developer planned to build a large-scale housing complex is now for sale. The property, which housed t

www.adirondackdailyenterprise.com

Experience with delays for UMPs FTW.

 

[Peter Minde]

Somewhere I saw a prediction that by 2050 Lake Placid and 3 other spots in Japan and Norway would be the only viable venues for international competition. I think ORDA is buying into that, but winter sports without winter is gonna be sad thing.
I also think it’s a mistake to drag Gore into that. Are athletes really gonna want to come to North Creek? Oh wait, they gotta bus in from Lake George village.
OTOH maybe international events are necessary to justify the investments needed to keep the venues open for the rest of us.

mm

In Europe, [nordic] World Cup races are generally organized with state support. Not so in the US, I wrote about this a few years back:


https://fasterskier.com/2012/12/no-races-for-you-challenges-of-organizing-a-u-s-world-cup-race/

 

[tirolski]

Said WUG athletes are planning to stay at a “community development” place.

Looks like the WUG alpine skiers stayed at The Northwood School.

Northwood School houses FISU 2023 Winter Games Alpine Skiers

“Having the space to do your training or stretch and have some time to be biking or stuff, it's pretty amazing that we don’t have to jog outside in the cold,” one athlete said.

www.mynbc5.com

 

[x10003q]

Kinda funny that the leader of the FISU disaster is now the new Queen of ORDA

So on brand for ORDA.

She was the Executive Director of the Adirondack Sports Council that has about 10 employees and a couple of million $ in revenue and was responsible for the lack of visitors and revenue during the WUG. ORDA had roughly 3400 employees and $80million in revenue last fiscal year. It seems she might lack the right experience to operate ORDA.

I guess there was nobody else available.
What a joke.

 

[tirolski]

Kinda funny that the leader of the FISU disaster is now the new Queen of ORDA

Somebody gotta take the rap.

Hope she can keep the worker bees happy and it snows a lot.

 

[not2brite]

I love Gore but it’s really just a big locals’ mountain with just enough PITA stuff to keep the tourist crowds away. A CEO focused on international competitions is probably not the right fit.
Does anyone want to see more WUG?

mm

I skied Gore midweek during WUG on competition days and it was outstanding. Midweek is never really crowded, but it was significantly fewer people than usual. Weekends probably aren't going to be much different either way as far as crowds. I understand the concerns about concentrating snowmaking on trails needed for the games, and how this past year that had a fairly significant impact on getting other terrain open, but I think as long as they are going to keep pushing for competition and prestige, the money train should keep rolling. Agree 100% with your statement above about crowds, but personally I'm perfectly happy with constant improvements/upgrades that likely will not increase crowding. Kind of feels like the best of both worlds as long as you can ignore the state dumping more money than they should. Their going to dump it somewhere anyway, so we may as well reap some of the rewards.

 

[tirolski]

Ashley talks with NPR.

Can ORDA's new CEO make NY's billion dollar investment in Olympic venues pay off?

The next CEO of the Olympic Regional Development Authority says she’ll be looking into new ways to make ORDA profitable. Ashley Walden is joining at a time when Olympic facilities have benefited from nearly a billion-dollar investment over the...

www.northcountrypublicradio.org

If ya don’t wanna read, there’s this.

.

 

[Cork]

Ashley talks with NPR.

Can ORDA's new CEO make NY's billion dollar investment in Olympic venues pay off?

The next CEO of the Olympic Regional Development Authority says she’ll be looking into new ways to make ORDA profitable. Ashley Walden is joining at a time when Olympic facilities have benefited from nearly a billion-dollar investment over the...

www.northcountrypublicradio.org

If ya don’t wanna read, there’s this.

.

Her quote stating that the fisu games were never intended to be an economic windfall is such a load of crap...
Tell that to all of the business owners in LP and NC that were counting on the games to bring people in, and the reality was that the games scared people away!

As I have said previously, Lake Placid was the only winner of the games with all those new shiny venues...

 

[tirolski]

Her quote stating that the fisu games were never intended to be an economic windfall is such a load of crap...
Tell that to all of the business owners in LP and NC that were counting on the games to bring people in, and the reality was that the games scared people away!

As I have said previously, Lake Placid was the only winner of the games with all those new shiny venues...

Yup.
The part about,
"Obviously, Mike and I each bring to the table a different set of skill sets. You know, Mike has done a phenomenal job to complete all the renovations for the venue's and really paved the way for the next chapter of ORDA's history. I come from a sport background, so I have a lot of deep connections in regional, national and international sport, which I think really is a nice transition for the organization as they're in the space where they're now up to international standards and looking to bring back some of the prestigious events that have previously been here.” (emphasis added)
kinda makes one think...

ORDA’s never hosted an Olympics ...yet.