[News & Views]
that growth consolidated in the top 1 per- cent of earners. The remaining 80 percent of Americans saw their share of wealth decline, according to Federal Reserve data. The 60 percent of earners between the top and bottom quintile—i.e., the mid- dle class—have seen their total share of wealth fall from 37 percent to 26 percent in the last three decades. What does that mean for the ski industry? Rowan asked the same ques- tion in 1996. “It is hard to say definitive- ly,” he wrote. “If truth be known, the sport was probably always fueled by the participation of people enjoying incomes in the top quintile, or 20 percent, of the spectrum. … As pointed out, skiing has always been expensive. But there may have been an attitudinal difference when the middle class was alive and well.” We know the economy affects con- sumer confidence. Rising costs, driven by inflation, were top of mind for voters in November. And while the consumer con- fidence index (CCI) has been mostly on the rise after taking a dive early in 2024, consumers remain wary about the future and their economic prospects, according to the most recent (at press time) Consum- er Confidence Survey . With looming economic concerns, will folks still spend money to ski and ride? It’s true that our high-income partic- ipant is better insulated than most against economic flux, people still spend on luxu- ry items even in a downturn, and, usually,
snow plays a bigger role in our skier visit numbers than the economy. The risks. But, as Rowan noted, “… there are probably some downsides to becoming so dependent on the super- rich.” The super rich, he said, often prefer work to play, and have many choices com- peting for their cash. “Our industry will also have to be alert to whatever downside there may be to having the sport increas- ingly identified as an elitist sport,” he IF WE ARE RELYING ON THE 1 PERCENT TO FILL THE TILL AND OUR PARTICIPANT PIPELINE, THERE ARE SOME RISKS TO THAT STRATEGY. warned. “It is a gnarly image to manage.” Are we managing it? That’s up for debate. Visit any snowsports-obsessed corner of the internet to find a litany of consumer complaints and talking-head thought pieces about the cost and acces- sibility of U.S. skiing and riding. (Is this one of them? It’s sure looking that way.) While Covid gave us an opportunity to increase spending ( interestingly, wealth for the typical U.S. family surged during the pandemic, although that growth has since reversed, according to the Pew Research Cen- ter ), the rising cost of a day ticket is pricing out the everyman. And if we are relying on the 1 percent to fill the till and our par- ticipant pipeline, well, as Rowan suggest- ed, there are some risks to that strategy. Signs of change are on the horizon, with some operations making moves that might indicate a growing concern about pricing as a barrier to entry. Jay Peak, Vt., froze or rolled-back pric- ing on hundreds of products this season. “There’s something to be said, we think, to acknowledging the problems our guests are facing and responding in a way we’d want a business that we consider part of our lives to act,” said GM Steve Wright. Jay Peak-owner PGRI has also done a price freeze for Ragged Mountain, N.H.,
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MIND THE WEALTH GAP
By Katie Brinton
In a 1996 issue of SAM , founding pub- lisher David Rowan opined, “As we struggle to understand our industry’s future—the mandate for NSAA’s con- vention ... in May—we must grasp more than the mechanical projection of eth- nic and other demographic statistics. We must also come to grips with the things that are shaking up a lot of the comfort- able assumptions we grew up with and assumed almost as our birthright.” The comfortable assumptions he refers to are those that have long under- pinned the middle class: “the surety that you would earn more next year, that your kids would do better than you, just as you had done better than your parents.” The gap. Only, the middle class, which boomed in the post-war period (1947-1973), has been in decline since the ’70s. From 1973-1994, the rich got richer while everyone else got poorer: only the top one-fifth of the population saw their share of wealth grow in that period. And, well, here we are again. Or rath- er, here we remain. The wealth gap has continued to grow. From 1990-2022, the top 20 percent of Americans saw their share of wealth increase, with much of
sam industry calendar Find more events and details at saminfo.com/industry-calendar
Jan. 14-16
NSAA Western Conference
Palisades Tahoe, CA
nsaa.org
Jan. 22-26
ACCT Conference & Expo
Cleveland, OH
acctconference.com
Feb. 4-5
NSAA Eastern Conference
Mount Snow, VT
nsaa.org
April 22-24
Mountain Works Conference
Bend, OR
pnsaa.org
April 28-May 1
CWSAA Spring Conference
Penticton, BC
cwsaa.org
May 5-9
Cutter’s Camp
Timberline, OR
cutterscamp.com
May 6-9
Interalpin
Innsbruck, Austria
interalpin.at
May 11-14
NSAA National Convention
Marco Island, FL
nsaa.org
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