You want to put on a big competition, say the World Championships (or maybe the nationals). You make some promises to some possible sponsors that you can do it, and they extract some promises from you, like you'll launch from near our town on one of the days. Or the Nationals will be held in a certain spot.

Pretty soon you are making decisions based not on what is best for the pilots and best of the competition but what is best the sponsors because they are the ones that are going to make it so that you can realize your dream (and now commitment) to pull off a big competition. In the end the competition sucks, the pilots are short changed and you know just how cheaply you sold your soul.

Let's see. What might a "major sponsor" want and who is in charge here? This from the USHPA Competition Committee report:

Similar to the Paragliding Nationals, it was decided that if the major sponsor at King Mountain were agreeable that King Mountain would share the National Moniker with Big Springs, with a potential weighting of 2/3 to 1/3 for the purpose of picking our national champion. The King Mountain organizer also has the ability to change this weighting to 50 -50 if the major sponsor is agreeable. For clarification it should be noted that Big Springs was not approved as a Nationals unless the major sponsor of the King Mountain event is agreeable.

Hmmm?! Looks like the nationals was chosen to be at King Mountain because there is the possibility of a "major sponsor." Maybe, maybe not. Some unknown major sponsor.

Seems to me I remember something like this a few years ago when a certain meet organizer was promising a certain major sponsorship, but it was all very vague and looked so golden behind the gauze.

I'll have more to say on the issue of splitting the nationals soon.

Lisa at the Competition Committee is reported to have said:

We have been working to incorporate a national sponsor for years and I came here to make a proposal with these national sponsors and media exposure, we wouldn't get the level of sponsorship if it were not the nationals.

We don't need the sponsorship to do it, but that isn't what I came here with.

So sponsors first, pilots second. Have fun there folks.

Want to talk personally to Lisa and ask her why she has done what she has done? You can contact her here: <email>.