USA Shooting went from practicing inside an abandoned Macy’s to landing a partnership worth millions.
The national governing body’s deal with Hillsdale College, a conservative Christian school in Michigan, will help offset its COVID-19 losses and further its Second Amendment agenda.
The college is investing over $15 million in a wide-ranging partnership that includes upgrading its facilities and permission to call itself “the home of the USA Shooting.”
“We believe in developing not just world-class athletes but also world-class citizens that are going to be supporters of the broader shooting sports and our Second Amendment rights going forward,” USA Shooting CEO Matt Suggs told The Wall Street Journal.
The partnership is unusual, as Olympics-related entities typically shy away from political ties.
USA Shooting, which has an annual budget of $6.5 million, wound up practicing in a Macy’s when COVID-19 shut down its Olympic training center for weeks. Under the deal with Hillsdale, which was recently extended for 10 years, it will relocate three major competitions a year to the college and hold various team training camps there.
USA Shooting has dominated the Olympics, winning twice as many medals as China, the next most-decorated country. It will compete in 15 medal events across the rifle, pistol and shotgun disciplines at this year’s games.
