The FIS and Swiss-Ski have announced that all important national federations except Austria have agreed on the centralized marketing of the World Cup. The agreement is valid from the 26/27 season.
20.12.2024, 10:01
20.12.2024, 10:38
SDA
An eight-year contract has been concluded - valid from the 2026/27 season until spring 2034. In addition to Switzerland, Germany, Finland, France, Italy, Canada, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the USA have also signed the agreement. Switzerland and Germany in particular, like Austria, once fought against the centralized marketing system envisaged by FIS President Johan Eliasch.
In the meantime, only the Austrians are still against it - and are fighting the FIS single-handedly. Six months ago, the Austrian federation filed a lawsuit against the FIS in Vienna. The Austrians fear a loss of revenue of at least one million euros.
Swiss federation is very satisfied
The Swiss Ski Association no longer harbors such fears: "We are very satisfied with this agreement and firmly believe that this is a first major step towards further developing the FIS World Cup and thus snow sports in such a way that we gain additional appeal," says Diego Züger, Co-CEO of Swiss-Ski.
This new "Media Rights Centralization Agreement" is in line with the Swiss federation's vision of centralized marketing, Züger continues.
And so - with the exception of the Austrians - everyone seems satisfied. "Snow sports are now in control of their own destiny," said Eliasch, the FIS President, in the international federation's press release. Eliasch speaks of a groundbreaking step that will make it possible to further develop the product and ultimately increase the prize money for the athletes.
Changes to the original proposal
The national federations are also of the opinion that everyone will now benefit from the new agreement after the long negotiations. Changes were recently made to the original FIS proposal. Many of these changes were also introduced by Swiss-Ski.
Infront", the leading sports marketing company based in Zug, will be responsible for the central marketing of all FIS World Cup events, with the exception of those in Austria.
The letters of complaint sent by athletes to the FIS in recent weeks were also ultimately about central marketing. A financial company (CVC) is said to have offered the FIS 400 million euros to take over central marketing.
