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- Jun 16, 2010
True. I dont think Evan's comeback was ever going to be a success anyway. The only possible benefit would be boosting TV ratings, ticket sales, and interest to the U.S public, but I am not sure he would have even done that.
How important are wins to popularity of US skating?
- Thread starter CanadianSkaterGuy
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True. I dont think Evan's comeback was ever going to be a success anyway. The only possible benefit would be boosting TV ratings, ticket sales, and interest to the U.S public, but I am not sure he would have even done that.
This is very true. Now that I think about it, I've known many figure skaters in my life. Nobody that's a huge name, but many who took lessons in their childhood. In school, we would always go on field trips to skate at the rink. Maybe once a month. Basically everybody knew how to skate, and if you didn't, then people would help you around the rink until you could, too.
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- May 7, 2008
Americans are impressed when athletes win a ton of Olympic gold medals, which is how Ohno and Phelps managed to become popular even though people don't watch their sport regularly. Skaters don't have that option, so they better be extremely dominant over many years.
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- Feb 19, 2014
Agreed. Example - Katie Hoff was held up as the 'female Michael Phelps' during Beijing. She didn't even make the London team, and Missy Franklin took her place. You have to have longevity in whatever sport if it's not the core four (basketball, football, hockey, baseball) or no one will remember your accomplishments.
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- Jan 19, 2014
i agree with whoever said success + longevity
if evan had stuck around for 2014, even if he didn't repeat, he'd be more well known just because he's a familiar face
if evan had stuck around for 2014, even if he didn't repeat, he'd be more well known just because he's a familiar face
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People got way more excited for Skate America this season when Jason was announced as Evan's replacement than they had when Evan was announced in the first place. I even heard of people rushing to make last-minute plans or buy tickets when Jason was named, and they hadn't been going before. If that confused the USFSA at all, then their PR is in an even sadder place than I thought.
I've long maintained that part of the issue is with their persistence that ONLY a girl can be a skating superstar. Find me one of the current US Ladies that has over 4 million hits on Youtube. I'll save you the search: you can't.
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- Feb 19, 2014
Exactly. The Shibs do their own thing and only have 1,000,000 viewers at this point, and the majority of that is fun behind-the-scenes type stuff. And I would say D/W's Bollywood OD in Vancouver has been one of the most successfully received programs outside of the bubble that is the figure skating world, and even they don't reach a million viewers.
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d/w's bollywood program would have more views if the concept of the viral video and twitter were more established in 2010, imo
also maybe if whoever has the rights to the olympics weren't such dicks about their videos being up on youtube
also maybe if whoever has the rights to the olympics weren't such dicks about their videos being up on youtube
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Who has 4 million hits on Youtube??
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- Jan 19, 2014
jason's riverdance
jason B.
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Oh I thought they meant a woman (as in a non-US female skater)!
I think performances that go viral are helpful but wins/results are still the most important. Even if a US lady had that many hits on youtube but only finished 5-10th at the Olympics, it wouldn't really mean much.
I think performances that go viral are helpful but wins/results are still the most important. Even if a US lady had that many hits on youtube but only finished 5-10th at the Olympics, it wouldn't really mean much.
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Newbie here, (newbie to forum, not to figure skating), and I need to disagree about the importance of wins. I am old enough that I have actually watched Toller Cranston and Janet Lynn when they skated competiively (notice whose names I remember: not OGM winners, but artists and crowd pleasers). Anyone here remember Trixi Schuba? Watched her do figure eights too. I have not watched skating in some ten years, but this year ... actually even joined some skating forums. Why? Jason Brown.
If USFS has a brain in their collective heads (which they probably don't), they will market the heck outta Jason B., I don't care if he ever medals anywhere, anyplace. Do you how many comments are on the internet, "I could care less about skating, but I love watching this kid"? The general public could care less about the quad or the 3A. You can teach technique. You can't teach personality.
That said, we Americans do love our gold medalists...if Jason ever does medal, figure skating might actually get huge audiences again.
If USFS has a brain in their collective heads (which they probably don't), they will market the heck outta Jason B., I don't care if he ever medals anywhere, anyplace. Do you how many comments are on the internet, "I could care less about skating, but I love watching this kid"? The general public could care less about the quad or the 3A. You can teach technique. You can't teach personality.
That said, we Americans do love our gold medalists...if Jason ever does medal, figure skating might actually get huge audiences again.
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- Jan 19, 2014
they never won an ogm, but toller crantson and janet lynn both won olympic medals and world medals. medaling at a worlds or olympics counts as 'winning' in my book. granted, jason is young and has a bright future ahead but he hasn't won sh!t yet and if he continues to not win sh!t, it really won't matter what a crowd pleaser he is. look at shawn sawyer.
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Because people like to see joy. It makes them feel good. That's why putting the emphasis on rotations and not clean programs is a death knell for men's skating in terms of the general public. I'll bet this last Olympics LOST a large number of potential fans for Men's skating, because it seemed like one giant splatfest. Which it was.
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- Mar 22, 2004
I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Sports need stars. Especially in the US. In the US it's the USFSA's job to help create stars and they mostly do a pretty bad job of it.
They did not make enough of an effort back in the 1990s (when they had a golden once in a lifetime opportunity) to wean the sport away from the olympics. And they've squandered a bunch of chances since. Weir was a natural star but too swishy and so they sunk all their promotion in Lysacek who despite some good qualities is ultimately kind of blah.
For the US, figure skating has gone back to the 70's as a 'once every four years sport' which means the main way of becoming a star is through the olympics and they didn't really deliver this year.
Not counting the retirees (cause if they're not stars yet they won't be)
men : the Japanese guy (see? I can't even be bothered to remember his name) is kind of odd and has some potential but... meh, Brown has real potential but it's not clear if he's more than a one program skater.
ladies : Lipnitskaya made a very big splash and could have a big NAmerican career if this was the late 90's or early 00's. Sotnikova's win was a little too fishy and stunk of a judging agenda (I really wonder how she would have scored if her SP was before Lipnitskaya). She's an appealing (if kind of anonymous) figure but the judges gave her too much too quickly (like Baiul) and I don't see much happening for her outside of Russia. Gold could be (pre-whack) Kerrigan II cashing in more than the winners.
Sports need stars. Especially in the US. In the US it's the USFSA's job to help create stars and they mostly do a pretty bad job of it.
They did not make enough of an effort back in the 1990s (when they had a golden once in a lifetime opportunity) to wean the sport away from the olympics. And they've squandered a bunch of chances since. Weir was a natural star but too swishy and so they sunk all their promotion in Lysacek who despite some good qualities is ultimately kind of blah.
For the US, figure skating has gone back to the 70's as a 'once every four years sport' which means the main way of becoming a star is through the olympics and they didn't really deliver this year.
Not counting the retirees (cause if they're not stars yet they won't be)
men : the Japanese guy (see? I can't even be bothered to remember his name) is kind of odd and has some potential but... meh, Brown has real potential but it's not clear if he's more than a one program skater.
ladies : Lipnitskaya made a very big splash and could have a big NAmerican career if this was the late 90's or early 00's. Sotnikova's win was a little too fishy and stunk of a judging agenda (I really wonder how she would have scored if her SP was before Lipnitskaya). She's an appealing (if kind of anonymous) figure but the judges gave her too much too quickly (like Baiul) and I don't see much happening for her outside of Russia. Gold could be (pre-whack) Kerrigan II cashing in more than the winners.
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- May 7, 2008
The 80s-90s benefited from many foreign skaters making a splash in the US too. Nowadays that wouldn't happen simply cause these skaters have no reason to promote themselves in the US when the sport is more popular elsewhere. The Russian and Asian skaters in particular, have so much more going for them at home.
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- Jan 19, 2014
lol what, you severely overestimate the clout of dancing with stars
can you name who won last year?
exactly
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