I don't mind paying a bit for live streams but these always used to be free! The only one which charged was Finlandia, and even that was only around EUR 9 for the whole thing.
Is the ISU feeling the financial pinch THAT much?? The huge amount I paid for the Worlds in Montpellier for not always very good seats, I always get the impression they are raking it in.
Any thoughts on this?
I'm not sure who the money goes to and who decided this.
I have already expressed my opinion on this in several threads...
I'm willing to pay a bit for a livestream, but these prices are totally over the top and simply not adequate if I compare them to other streaming services like Netflix, Spotify, Eurosport, for which I pay roughly about 10 Euro per month each. DAZN which shows many of the major football (soccer) leagues and also Champions league games, charges 20 Euro now (I don't have them anymore, but used to have them when they were 10 per month). Anyway, that's by far the most popular sport here - and then there comes a niche sport and wants 20 Euro for each Challenger??? (Paying only for a day will only be an option for very few people. Let's say you are a big fan of one specific skater and only want to watch them, you will still need the whole event pass to see SP and FS.) Where the skaters get basically no money from, where they have to pay a starting fee themselves. While the sporting associations and feds at least in most European countries are getting supported by the state.
This is not my small local book shop that's fighting against Amazon and which I'm ready to support a bit for "idealistic" reasons. This is people milking fans who are so passionate about their hobby that you can charge basically anything and get some return - but in the longer run this totally prevents the gain of new fans, the growth of the sport, and the current skaters, who are actually doing the job and putting their bones on the ice are not seen by as many casual fans as possible.
If I got the feeling that everyone was doing their best already to grow the sport, gain attraction and new fans and be financially as sensible as possible at the same time, my stance would very likely differ. I would conclude that this sport simply has a hard time finding money and if I want to watch it I should contribute in the best way. But I don't get the feeling, not at all. I have talked already, in another thread, about some marketing failures. There is a lot more, but in this context I want to at least mention how hidden the events, streams and ticket information for almost all events are. Instead of organizers and ISU together getting this information out there as "aggressively" as possible, fans have to search for all these information on all sites themselves, ask around, not knowing whether a certain site selling tickets is even legit, etc. My favourite: "you have to write them an email for a ticket". For a Challenger, while Challengers are apparently worth 20 Euro for a stream... Seriously?
Messing it up and then demanding prices that are way above similar products? Nope. Personally I am not going to pay that.
The least they could do is put up the info before the season, make one package for all Challengers, and then make it about 20 Euro for all, or include all big nationals or whatever and take 25 or something. But instead you have each one doing their own thing with insane (compared to what you get) prices.
If the organizers are really unable to hold the event without this (I don't know if that is so), then the ISU and the national feds need to work together and come up with a good strategy and vision for the future. This is not it.
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