I was about to post a You Tube of Michael Phelps swimming the 200 back at Nationals seemingly filmed by a guy in the stands but the Wasserman Group, LLC made You Tube pull it.
It's ironic that they complain about copyright infringement and I will go into detail about it in another post but for now, swimmers who follow USA swimming, or post videos of it will soon become overly aware of who this group is. According to their press release at USA Swimming here is a carefully worded summation of their intentions:
"...USA Swimming has entered into a long-term exclusive partnership with Wasserman Media Group, which will see WMG represent the NGB; [NGB means non-profit], in the marketplace for sponsorship, events and marketing opportunities, and develop digital platforms to broaden distribution and original programming. Through this partnership, the organizations will work together to promote the sport, attract commercial partners and better serve athletes, coaches and fans... [Link]
Hearing words like 'marketing opportunities' and 'original programming' didn't mention how coaches, and athletes will profit but they sure made it clear that USA Swimming and Wasserman would. That short paragraph above smelled of money to me and not promotional activities to make swimming more popular. Also the line about commercial partners to better serve coaches, athletes, and fans summarily reads to me as, Swimmers provide the content, and they keep all the money. Athletes, swimmers like us, and fans can just enjoy the fleecing.
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