Bubba Cunningham Named to U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee College Sports Sustainability Think Tank

University of North Carolina Director of Athletics Bubba Cunningham was named to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee College Sports Sustainability Think Tank on Thursday. The think tank, which will begin later this month, will identify innovative solutions to help sustain Olympic and Paralympic varsity programming opportunities within college athletics.

The USOPC think tank will initiate three working groups focused on the areas of partnerships, sport economics and regulations. The partnerships working group will explore options to drive national alignment around Olympic and Paralympic sport structures and examine innovative collaboration opportunities across a variety of stakeholder groups, while the sport economics working group will review sport-specific and nationwide sport economic management models to promote sustainable behaviors for lasting sport sponsorship. The regulations working group will explore regulatory adjustments to allow schools more flexibility to manage their sport profiles in a meaningful and sustainable way.

Cunningham has been serving on the USOPC Collegiate Advisory Council since September, 2018, and will serve on the Regulations working group as part of the think tank.

"This think tank is an outstanding opportunity to explore new ways to support youth sports, college Olympic sports, Paralympic sports – and the healthy lifestyles that come from opportunities to participate in sports,'' Cunningham said. "The working groups are comprised of smart, innovative thinkers from across the country, and I look forward to brainstorming and finding solutions with them."

Each working group will explore both short- and long-term initiatives that encourage and support broad-based sport sponsorship of Olympic and Paralympic sport opportunities. The working groups will spend time in November and December ideating on the stated charge.

Feedback from the think tank working groups will be formalized into recommendations that will be shared with the USOPC CAC in Q1 2021. Final recommendations will be brought forward to the NCAA/college leaders and USOPC board of directors as appropriate. Recommendations may involve specific action items and/or best practices and may organically evolve as work begins.

University of North Carolina Athletics

Bubba Cunningham Named to U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee College Sports Sustainability Think Tank

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