Increasing Revenue for USMS

At last year’s annual convention it became apparent that USMS must either reduce the benefits it offers members or find ways to increase revenue. Most members of the House of Delegates would prefer to increase benefits rather than reduce them. I’d like to explore ideas to increase revenue so that we can continue to offer more benefits to our members. Perhaps it is time to tap what I consider a huge potential market. I have often heard swimmers say that they compete so that they can see their name in print. Certainly with the growth of the internet there are more possibilities for publishing names. Records are a largely untapped market. Another swimming organization has expanded the number of records available by narrowing age group ranges from 5 years to 1 year. Numerous other possibilities exist. Why stop at one year? Why not establish records based on day of birth instead of year of birth? In the first half off the 20th century records were kept in what are now considered odd lengths such as 220 yards. We currently avoid odd-length pools. There are numerous 20 meter and 33 and 1/3 yard pools in the U.S. If we kept records for such pools, meets hosted in them would be very attractive as chances of setting records would be great. We could also consider records for shallow and deep pools Lot’s of other possibilities exist. We could establish records based on occupation, height, or weight. Perhaps I can post the fastest 60 meter butterfly time in a 20 meter pool by an electrical engineer, over 6 feet tall, born in August of 1954. Fastest times aren’t necessarily the only records that we should keep. How about fewest strokes used while swimming a legal breaststroke? Or lowest score in swimming golf (add the number of strokes to your time to establish a score)? Once we determine whether we should establish “alternative” records, we will need to agree on an appropriate fee. Probably over 10,000 swimmers compete in at least one Masters meet each year. If we can establish enough records so that everyone can claim at least one, USMS could generate significant revenue. One option would be to charge a fixed fee for a record application. If we charge $10 per application and have 10,000 records claimed each year, USMS would receive $100,000. I expect that that figure is conservative. We could easily establish 50,000 records each year. Lot’s of other possibilities exist. Please add your ideas to this thread. What other types of records do you think are practical? How much do you think people would be willing to pay to see their name next to a record? Swimmers can benefit from this proposal. We can spend a few weeks brainstorming ideas, then draft a proposal to submit to the USMS House of Delegates. In the spirit of brainstorming, don’t hesitate to post any ideas, no matter how outlandish.