Hardgoods suppliers urge FIS to make financial support of alpine World Cup viable

By Published On: May 27th, 2007Comments Off on Hardgoods suppliers urge FIS to make financial support of alpine World Cup viable

FIS World Cup hardgoods suppliers sounded an anxious alarm at the international governing body’s spring meeting, saying the FIS must increase the value of its World Cup competitions or the industry may elect to not support competition in the future. The hardgoods association, known as Ski Racing Suppliers — or SRS — spent 40 minutes explaining to committee members and FIS members the difficulties the industry is facing.
    Spokesman for the association, Gregor Dietachmayr, the managing director of Fischer Ges.m.b.H, which manufacturers Fischer skis boots and bindings, among many other products, told the audience that, "action is needed without further delay." He pointed out that the SRS had made the same complaints to the FIS Council in 2005 but little has been done to alleviate the costs of supporting World Cup competition.


PORTOROZ, Slovenia — FIS World Cup hardgoods suppliers sounded an anxious alarm at the international governing body’s spring meeting, saying the FIS must increase the value of its World Cup competitions or the industry may elect to not support competition in the future. The hardgoods association, known as Ski Racing Suppliers — or SRS — spent 40 minutes explaining to committee members and FIS members the difficulties the industry is facing.
    Spokesman for the association, Gregor Dietachmayr, the managing director of Fischer Ges.m.b.H, which manufacturers Fischer skis boots and bindings, among many other products, told the audience that, "action is needed without further delay." He pointed out that the SRS had made the same complaints to the FIS Council in 2005 but little has been done to alleviate the costs of supporting World Cup competition.
    Dietachmayr was accompanied by representatives from, Volkl, Head, Salomon, Rossignol and Dynastar. In its presentation, the association stated SRS members spent between  €80 and €100 million annually supporting all of the FIS World Cups. In addition, equipment companies dedicate a thousand employees to aid athletes on the various circuits.
    FIS President Gian Franco Kasper reacted positively, saying that this past winter "costs us kids because kids could not train for most of the winter year." He told the members of the SRS group that he would appoint a working group comprised of members of the FIS, members of national federations and members of the media.
    The presentation, which was factual but not shrill, continually stressed that there must be a greater return on investment and expenses be reduced. "The industry is no longer prepared and able to finance the system," Dietachmayr said. "We must increase the value of ski competition.”
    In his closing remarks, Kasper emphasized the fact that national associations must take a long look at their stance on World Cup events. The FIS does not own World Cup events. The ownership belongs to the national ski association whose nation hosts the event. Over time, this has led to a number of very narrow and self-serving decisions on the part of some national ski federations to the detriment of the whole.
    The SRS had a number of suggestions, including centralized marketing to increase the number of spectators at events, the creation of "World Cup" Web pages for fans to go to, and communication activities addressed specifically to young people. The SRS also asked for the FIS to look for ways to increase media exposure, particularly television, and for the FIS to centralize television rights. Kasper responded to the suggestion by saying that the FIS had looked into centralizing television rights and that it was impossible for the near term.  
    The association also asked the FIS to reduce the number of competitions and to better manage the various discipline calendars, as travel is one of the larger expenses hardgoods companies have to deal with.
    Prior to the industry presentation, both Guenter Hujara and Atle Skaardal, the directors of the alpine World Cup, proposed a three-year calendar which specifically limited the number of races and attempted to ease travel costs. Dietachmayr said that the industry would like to review all pool relations in the spring of 2008. He also said that the industry had a great desire to cut overweight costs, which were particularly high for alpine skiing. However, Wolfgang Meier, a German committee member, said he did not believe industry technicians needed to fly 30 to 40 pairs of skis per athlete to summer training sessions in the Southern Hemisphere.
    There was concern in many quarters. "The industry is right to be worried," said Bill Marolt, president of USSA. "The system as it is today is not working." For instance, the alpine World Cup has little television exposure in the United States. Beyond the two events USSA controls, there was no World Cup skiing broadcast in the United States. Two years ago, Versus, then OLN, broadcast more than 25 tape-delayed races.

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About the Author: Pete Rugh