The Decline of Figure Skating

CzarinaAnya, thanks for welcoming!

I chose other. Figure skating has always had a small audience- majority of people watch it once every 4 years, then forget about it. The scandals, deals, unfair judging, etc. are factors fed by our media - who don't tell us the whole truth- to make it more 'interesting' but it may have backfired.

I would add other factors:

1. Financial- as someone already mentioned. Ticket prices for shows and competitions have skyrocketted while incomes of general public have plummetted.

2.Poor marketing- I see this as the most important factor. Our media fed off the 94 Nancy-Tonya story for years, without doing anything to promote the right things about the sport. A good marketing strategy would have been to build for the future. The meaningless shows we were bombarded with made even me- a devoted fan- not want to watch FS on TV. Fortunately as a devoted fan I was able to discern the difference between what was worth watching and what was not. An average viewer may not want to watch anything at all.

3. Lack of education of the public about the sport. I hold the media and the commentators accountable for not doing this very important function. The focus on Nationality rather than the sport itself has hurt the popularity. If Americans are not doing well, the sport gets even less attention. People watch Tennis or Golf even when non-US athletes are winning because they understand the sport. Figure skating has done a poor job of ditstributing the knowledge of the sport to the public.

4.Unfortunately at least in the US figure skating is perceived as something that women like to watch. Again, it has not been sold as a sport, but rather as beautiful young women in scanty outfits flirting with the audience. With the negative stories the media have focused on, especially in the last several years, FS may appear more like a soap opera that appears once every 4 years.

Vash

Interesting points, Vash. Although I would say it's the sport's responsibility to educate about the sport -- not the media's. That's all part of marketing.

The focus on Nationality rather than the sport itself has hurt the popularity.

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Excellent point. And I think that is a result of going for the short-term gain without considering the long-term consequences. For casual viewers, rooting for the home country is a short-hand way to become invested in the competition. But, it never truly hooks those viewers into the sport.

People watch Tennis or Golf even when non-US athletes are winning because they understand the sport.

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Folks in tennis and golf -- especially tennis -- complain about this very thing. That when a non-U.S.er is at the top interest drops way off. Roger who?

Again, it has not been sold as a sport, but rather as beautiful young women in scanty outfits flirting with the audience.

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This gets to something I've been thinking about. One of the things a lot of skating fans enjoy is that it involves both athleticism and artistry. OTOH, emphasizing one at the expense of the other in "selling" the sport to the public can easily cause dissatisfaction. Say, for example, that a non-fan's interest is caught by watching an artisitc performance. But that skater's scores are low because he has no triple jumps. That viewer could be turned off. Permanently.

I do think skating needs to do a better of "selling" the duality aspect of skating. To make it a great plus that captures people's imaginations.

PatriciaMcLinn said:

Interesting points, Vash. Although I would say it's the sport's responsibility to educate about the sport -- not the media's. That's all part of marketing.

This gets to something I've been thinking about. One of the things a lot of skating fans enjoy is that it involves both athleticism and artistry. OTOH, emphasizing one at the expense of the other in "selling" the sport to the public can easily cause dissatisfaction. Say, for example, that a non-fan's interest is caught by watching an artisitc performance. But that skater's scores are low because he has no triple jumps. That viewer could be turned off. Permanently.

I do think skating needs to do a better of "selling" the duality aspect of skating. To make it a great plus that captures people's imaginations.

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I'm not overwhelmed with that description of figure skating having 'artistry'. to me figure skating is judged for 'the manner of performance". Much of the so-called artistry one sees in figure skating is just an attempt at mimicing a true artist who is in the Arts and not in sports. The young skaters come off as cute at best. JMO.

When a skater's scores are low for 'presentation' certainly not artistry. Oops I digress. I believe the commentators should be in a position to explain the scoring of the sports. What turns off people is the lack luster of the performance by most of the skaters. JMO.

Joe

How's this for timing Michael Wilbon's column in Monday's Washington Post echoes my earlier point about tennis.

"Men's Game Has A Long Rally Ahead"
The popularity of men's tennis is lagging because American tennis fans are slow to embrace foreign players.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/07/AR2005080701038.html

Lindsey Davenport has a tough time winning a tournament, but she still makes a lot of money as does Roddick.

I don't know how far you go back but there was plenty of admiration from American tennis fans for Ron Laver and Bjorn Borg, Steffi Graf, and that gorgeous Gabriella Sabatini.

Like figure skating, TV fans are saying been there, saw that. It's just a lull in the the sport but when I go to Arthur Asche Stadium, the crowds are all there.

Joe

I don't know how far you go back but there was plenty of admiration from American tennis fans for Ron Laver and Bjorn Borg, Steffi Graf, and that gorgeous Gabriella Sabatini.

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WAS being the operative word. U.S. tennis fans used to be as interested in non-U.S. players at U.S. U.S, fans used to follow Borg, Lendl, etc. But few now follow Federer, although he's an amazing player. So now ratings dip if it's not one of the big U.S. players. Attendance can also dip at the more routine events. The Grand Slams are still going to draw, but they're more equivalent to skating's Nationals/Olympics. Such competitions draw a lot of Big Event Only fans.

I see parallels to skating in all this. A broader audience new more foreign skaters in years past imo. And that made all of skating more interesting to people (rather than strictly cheering for the home-nation skaters.)

Not sure how that can be remedied. Marketing can certainly be part of it. Something dramatic that catches the interest of folks who aren't regular skating fans can help, too ... Ah, well, this is circling back to my earlier post and repeating.

Good points, Patricia. I would add the media both in the USA and in Europe who play up the nationality of the athlete. I can only say, if one likes the sport, one should like all the players (and not be influenced by phony patriotism).

Joe

I can only say, if one likes the sport, one should like all the players

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Absolutely.

I know less about the European media. You do find that they hype the nationalistic view?

PatriciaMcLinn said:

Absolutely.

I know less about the European media. You do find that they hype the nationalistic view?

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I was in Dortmund for the Worlds in 2004 and Eurosport was primarily hyping German athletes. Kat was all over the TV. It didn't bother me. I thought they should. However, Eurosport did show many of the competitions complete. I loved that. I could watch the compulsory dance in my hotel room.

Joe

Figure skating has a very limited audience to begin with. Many sports enthusiasts like to identify with an athlete, or team. How many figure skaters can one identify with?

Add to that the Olympic judging scandal, the increase in ticket prices for live touring shows, competitions moving to cable networks from the tradtitional broadcast networks, and we have declining interest.

And more--Figure skating is seen by many males as ballet on ice, which somehow makes it effeminate. The sheer athleticism is overlooked.

Plus, figure skating has failed to capture the imagination of youth. Young people have camera phones, iPods, wireless laptops, plus other technology to hold their interest. Figure skating, in other words, needs to be hyped to the hilt in order to seize popular imagination.

Too much talk about artistry

The commentators go on and on about artistry and emotion, and there aren't any marks for that. This is confusing to many fans, and because they don't understand why the most artistic and emotional skaters don't win all the medals. Why don't they talk about the elements that the marks are given for?

In addition, there has been a lot of pre-judging under 6.0, you know, marking by reputation. Also, some judges are just plain dishonest, always holding up their favorite. If you add the crooked deals they make, you can see the judging has been a mess.

Then top it off with $peedy, who leaves us all in disgust, knowing things will only get worse, if he retains control of the ISU.



tripleflutz

Let's face it, the judging has been a joke. Who would take skating seriously as a sport when time after time we see deductions that should be mandatory, that are not being made. There is no such jump as a flutz! If it is off of the inside edge, it is a flip. Viewers hear flutz and know that the skater did something wrong, but then still see the skater get 5.9's (under the old system). They get credit as if they landed a lutz when they clearly did not. They also do not get the deduction for performing 2 triple flips in the program, when neither was done in combination. Could you see this happening in any other sport? Gee, the Dallas Cowboys made an oopsie near the goal, but they are so perky and have such nice uniforms! We'll give them the touchdown anyway!

mmscfdcsu said:

Let's face it, the judging has been a joke. Who would take skating seriously as a sport when time after time we see deductions that should be mandatory, that are not being made. There is no such jump as a flutz! If it is off of the inside edge, it is a flip. Viewers hear flutz and know that the skater did something wrong, but then still see the skater get 5.9's (under the old system). They get credit as if they landed a lutz when they clearly did not. They also do not get the deduction for performing 2 triple flips in the program, when neither was done in combination. Could you see this happening in any other sport? Gee, the Dallas Cowboys made an oopsie near the goal, but they are so perky and have such nice uniforms! We'll give them the touchdown anyway!

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mmscfdcsu - So glad to read someone besides me sees a flip when there is no bo take off. It's the only sport that rewards an element that wasn't.

There is such a thing as a flutz. It is when the skater takes off on the flat, i.e., the edge is neither back outside or back inside. That was the original definition.

Joe

I think there are many reasons why it's in a decline. One would be the financial aspect of the sport. This sport is not a cheap sport therefore it's targeting only part of the population. For families that are poor they cannot afford to buy skates or outfits or even pay for a coach. If you look at baseball, football, basketball & soccer, there's at least opportunities for the kids to get involved. Most cities have recreational leagues were the parents only need to pay a fee and provide some materials (glove, shoes, pads), and that does hits the pockets of the families but not to the extreme as this sport would. With the economy the way it is, the amount of folks into the sport is limited because there are no available funds.

Another reason is this sport needs a leader to lead it into the 21st century. It needs a leader that's gonna reach out to the public and broaded their view of the sport and bring it the fans. I look at the former commissioner of the NFL (Pete Rozelle) and the current one (Paul Taglibue) and I see how both of them have make moves that broaden football's appeal to more of the world but even to us ladies. They reached out to the public (they offer seminars to women about the sport) and even worked on their image and it has worked. They have high ratings, they bring in the money, and they are quite popular. Heck, I know the NBA & MLB is trying to get some of that success but they haven't done it yet. As someone said earlier, look at NASCAR. They did the same thing as the NFL did and it worked.

I read the complaints that someone had on the music, well I don't think music is a problem. Yes, Yuka skated to "Naughty Girl", btw I liked, but I don't think that was bad at all. Actually it was nice to see a different side of Yuka. Actually it's nice to see a different side of all the skaters because it gives it some variety and life. Remember, these skaters were not born in the 1960's, so they are gonna skate to music you might not like but it doesn't mean that they won't skate to something you like. These skaters are taking a chance to show a different side and it might work and it might not, but if they don't take a chance then how will they know? These risks/chances might grab someone's attention that they'll be drawn into the sport because it's not the image that they are used to.

Another reason, the judging is a big reason for a decline. People are lost when it comes to this scoring system and I'll have to say that I'm one of those people. I'm still trying to figure it out and I'm not sure if I'll be able to. LOL! For the average viewer, this is greek to them and there are no rulebooks out in the stores that explains this system. They won't know exactly what is being judged and scored and if you can't figure it out then why take the time to learn it?

The scandal also hurt the sport. Yes, we all complain about favoritism or cheating in sports but this is the first time that there was actual proof of cheating. When folks watch a football game, there is always someone saying that the official is cheating or playing favorites, but the individual can't prove it. Unfortunately, this sport had a moment where we had the proof when the French judge spoke out. That really hurt the credibility of the sport and it might not recover.

It's very true that Figure Skating, like Tennis is too expensive. Far too much for most families to let their kids skate past the intermediate or novice levels. A lot of promising skaters are forced to drop out at age 10-13, because of their lack of $$. The USFSA which controls the fund (the Memorial Fund, I think its called,which was set up to help young skaters and honor those that lost their lives in the 1961 plane crash) that helps skaters continue has been putting very little into the lower levels, reserving nearly all of it for Junior and Senior level skaters. While the costs are much greater at the higher levels, there are a lot more kids at the lower levels that need help, and I think the USFSA ought to spend a lot more of the fund money at the intermediate and novice levels.
Michelle Kwan's parents had to sell their house to pay for Michelle and Karen to continue, when they both made it to the senior level, and the costs suddenly more than doubled. Michelle's father said that the costs went from $30,000 at the junior level, up to about $70,000 a year, total for two, at the senior level. But the next year in 1994, Michelle became a star and began earning big bucks for TV skating shows.


tripleflutz

tripleflutz said:

Michelle Kwan's parents had to sell their house to pay for Michelle and Karen to continue, when they both made it to the senior level, and the costs suddenly more than doubled. Michelle's father said that the costs went from $30,000 at the junior level, up to about $70,000 a year, total for two, at the senior level. But the next year in 1994, Michelle became a star and began earning big bucks for TV skating shows.

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Fascinating tripleflutz - I didn't know the financial aspects of the Kwan story. I'm very happy to see that it all worked out for the Kwan family. But I don't think it is a rule of thumb that the parents of skaters will have a return on their investment in their child's dream.

Many skaters are wealthy to begin with so it's not a problem to put out $35,000 a year. Others, well, it's quite a sacrifice. It could be called 'the little rich girl's sport'.

Joe




tripleflutz[/QUOTE]