Jump hype or soap opera: what can make the general public of the U.S. fall in love with figure skating again? | Page 6 | Golden Skate

Jump hype or soap opera: what can make the general public of the U.S. fall in love with figure skating again?

4everchan said:
^^^ oh please.. the Russian fluff drama pieces.. I doubt this is what the USA needs to grow their fan base..
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Hey, there were fluff pieces aplenty in 2014 and 2018, from all the countries with a chance at the gold. I saved some of 'em (both the feelgood and the funny)
 
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TT_Fin said:
Is FS popular any more in other countries than Korea, Russia and Japan? Maybe Japan also loosing fans after big stars retirements?

I think it is worldwide and same problems. Mostly who come to see events are skaters and their friends and family members. The biggest group non-realated to skating is middle aged women, who maybe get their daughters and husbands with to just keep company. I will mirror the problem to my own country, because I think it is quite similar in US as worldwide There are several issues I have a list, these is not in any special order:

1. Lack of marketing. How much does the US fed market events? Our local does not much, I would not have known about GP here without this forum or following fed's own site. If The marketing is targeted only to fans FS already has, there will no be new ones.
2. Scoring system. We ordinary people who do not understand so much about difficult have it difficulties to find out why a skater who falls can win. We don't know which is difficult entry or we do not get that some ugly moves are in fact there because of level hunting.
3. There is much skating and people get bored watching same programs again and again. I know it will be difficult to have several programs and I don't know what would be solution
4. Same skaters winning all the time. if the sport lacks excitement and you already in advantage who will win or one federation dominates everything, people get bored. Some people may say answer is that others should be better and practice more, but it depends on federation how much money and time you can put to skating and training conditions vary a lot between countries. People are not so interested to see more and more difficult programs, they want to see clean programs from their own country's skaters and want them to medal. I know some members hardly disagree, but remember I am one of those ordinary people. I like to watch small competitions because there are skaters you do not see in big ones and there is also more tension. I am not from USA but I think people feel quite similar there as well in other countries where skating has lost it's public interest.
5. There is so much sport to watch today that people choose other sport
6. Expensive tickets to big events. To small ones are often not expensive, but look at the first sentence at point 1.
7. Television rights issues
8. And as I think some members already mentioned, some kind of attraction is needed - when we go back to that lack of marketing again.
9. Media's indifference towards skating. Look again at point 1 first sentence. This maybe is the biggest issue. Media is interested only when scandals happen, but I think none of us does not wish this. So maybe the main point is, what should federations, as well as in US in other countries too, to do get the media's interest? When GP was here in my country, the person who made evening post's TV schedule had not even idea what competition it was. Is this so bad in US?
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10. Skating is too expensive for kids to take on. If you don't do it, you may be less likely to follow it.
 
I do enjoy a mix of jump hype and soap opera that makes sense competitively. (As in, hype something that can actually make a difference in competitions). I remember getting intrigued about tennis during Wimbledon because of the hype pieces they used to do with narration by British actors or legendary tennis players. "LEGEND A vs STRONG PLAYER B" , or if something happened like a big, big upset (like unknown player ranked 267 winning against world #2) they really played it up and it was very intriguing to root for the underdog (yes I got into tennis the day almost every top player lost at Wimbledon R2, lol).

I honestly think for skating you can really create a competitive narrative based on the athleticism and ability of the skaters. Sure, the athletes are all too polite to say anything about it now, but that's why the commentators and journalists and pundits and producers have to say things about the competition. And there are ways to create sports narrative without going jumps vs. artistry, and without being too much of a shill of any skater, and also touching the fact that ice is still slippery even for the best skaters. Get down to how they get points and all that.

But anyway, talked about this with a friend and I think it's time for figure skating to do a consumer survey. Olympics is coming and that would also be the perfect time to really ask the four year fans what would make them stay to watch and follow figure skating. Then whoever's in charge can make data-based decisions.
 
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4everchan said:
^^^ oh please.. the Russian fluff drama pieces.. I doubt this is what the USA needs to grow their fan base..
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It has nothing to do with Russia whatsoever. But hey, let's just:

sddefault.jpg
 
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TallyT said:
Hey, there were fluff pieces aplenty in 2014 and 2018, from all the countries with a chance at the gold. I saved some of 'em (both the feelgood and the funny)
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2014 and 2018. Hmmm. :biggrin:

In my country, sport pieces do matter. One of the reasons Shawn White gathered up such an immense following for snowboarding was his journey that was constantly being chronicled on film. Also, NBC Universal canceling The Olympic Channel in 2022 was a big mistake in my country. It was great for drawing attention to all sports, including skating. You can't promote what you cannot see.
 
Canada does fluff pieces too.. they do that every four years with a bunch of Olympians, not just skating.... there is even a more serious series of 30 minute documentaries on athletes.
These pieces are not there to grow the fan base, they are there to inform the potential one in a four year viewer about the current contenders, so that they at least keep watching the Olympics.... once every for year.

The point I was making is that i do not believe fluff pieces have perennial effects on developing the interest in the sport.

Since people are sharing some fluff pieces...

Eye candy one :
 
Olympics coverage in the US have been doing "Up Close and Personal" fluff since the beginning of time, or at least since the 70s. ;) I love the fluff, and I think it does introduce athletes I wouldn't otherwise know.

Do I think fluff in and of itself will attract fans, even if all day, every day? No.

Do I think "Imma gonna beat you, you no good, lousy edged, stiff spinned excuse for a skater" dialogue will attract fans? No.

Do I know what will? No. But I love the idea of real live professionally done neutral surveys. Which can be done with that 5% of NFL profits that I'm waiting for. :)
 
TontoK said:
The old school Soviets had no problem dumping an athlete. The year after the Protopopovs won their second Olympic gold, they finished 2nd in the Soviet championships. The next year - 4th. The next year - 6th. Contrast that with US Nationals, where they use Notre Dame's flying buttresses to prop up favorites.
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This is because American fandom is idol-based, when Russians are more 'for the good of the sport'/sport as a whole fans. It might stem from the cardinal differences in a mindset, but Russians love challengers, challenge and winners and whoever has to do it as long as they do it is awesome, while Americans just want the same person who skated in 2005 or 1992 or whatever to compete even if they physically can't. American fans really get attached to the degree that is mindboggling, and they pray for miracles, ignoring reality. They want a small sport, not a big one, so they can adore that one and only champion. Addendum here is that nothing is true for everyone. Russians are more likely to follow all 4 disciplines, welcome new athletes into the arena, and transfer their fan-vibes to them faster than the Americans. On the downside, Russians are far, far more likely to mud-sling at any failure and define failure in terrifyingly broad terms (to the absurd point when silver is a failure). I mean, if Americans got a time-out from international competitions for a bit, there will be no figure skating left there. Russians are still there. And they are happy to do both hype and soap opera. I mean, see Trusova/Ignatov's latest outing and joyful quoting of the very worst coming out of the mouth of aging TAT.

Shouldn't the answer be why not both?
 
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Arigato said:
In general. As a whole. And If people don't understand a sport has to be visually promoted by any and all means possible, there's a problem.
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"in general" or "as a whole"? Before you said "some" IIRC?

Everyone on the this board does believe that skating should be promoted as much as possible. That's why we're here. with no comments "in general" or "on the whole" to the contrary. :)
 
but already, skaters are so visible... with the costume and the performance aspect of the sport... the kiss and cry to receive their scores etc... compare that to speed skaters with helmets and goggles... or downhill ski racers also with their equipment... I have been fans of speed skaters for their performances that I wouldn't be able to recognize if they were right in front of me...

and finally, all sports do fluff... even pro sports like tennis... so you may want to bring more and more fun games and visuals but it will not solve the issue..
 
4everchan said:
but already, skaters are so visible... with the costume and the performance aspect of the sport... the kiss and cry to receive their scores etc... compare that to speed skaters with helmets and goggles... or downhill ski racers also with their equipment... I have been fans of speed skaters for their performances that I wouldn't be able to recognize if they were right in front of me...

and finally, all sports do fluff... even pro sports like tennis... so you may want to bring more and more fun games and visuals but it will not solve the issue..
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But that visibility is very niche though. I remember when I first saw Shoma- through Leslie Jones' tweet at 2018 Olympics. She was raving about his purple Winter costume, thinking that Christian Sirriano designed it. Back then I thought, hey, I know Christian Sirriano! (I watch Project Runway). How did he make a beautiful costume for this guy (who look really great on it)? Of course then I researched it myself (because the guy and the costume do look incredible) and found Satomi Ito. But even back then the only people sharing who she is was... Shoma fans sharing paid interview from magazines and links to her Instagram.

We have to dig and dig for things that we are curious about. Again I think this is something a neutral public survey may have the answers, but visibility doesn't always come with meaningful information.
 
rabidline said:
But that visibility is very niche though. I remember when I first saw Shoma- through Leslie Jones' tweet at 2018 Olympics. She was raving about his purple Winter costume, thinking that Christian Sirriano designed it. Back then I thought, hey, I know Christian Sirriano! (I watch Project Runway). How did he make a beautiful costume for this guy (who look really great on it)? Of course then I researched it myself (because the guy and the costume do look incredible) and found Satomi Ito. But even back then the only people sharing who she is was... Shoma fans sharing paid interview from magazines and links to her Instagram.

We have to dig and dig for things that we are curious about. Again I think this is something a neutral public survey may have the answers, but visibility doesn't always come with meaningful information.
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My point is more that skaters have everything to be visible because of the performance and emotional aspect of the sport. If that's not enough, then I doubt that this is were the problems lie. I started watching skating as a kid in 1988. If you think finding info about designers was hard in 2018, imagine how it was before the Internet. As a matter of fact, if worlds were not at a good time back then, I couldn't watch unless I recorded a program on VHS haha. Now, with YouTube and online archives available, skating is much more accessible, but that's the same for almost all sports.

If you want the sport to be more developed in the USA, there is a need for more competitions right in the USA... Not just the one early GP per year and the alternated with Canada challenger in the early fall. You need to create easy to access traditions for fans. It is hard to do I'm countries like USA and Canada that are so large. I have never attended a skating event outside of Ontario and Quebec.

Tradition: autumn classic and cqe are often in Pierrefonds. I keep going back. Worlds in Montreal then nationals in Laval just a bridge away from Montreal and now nationals in Gatineau a couple hours drive of Montreal
.. smart moves to build the tradition out east.,. But then, the West Coast will be shortchanged
 
What happened at the 2022 OLYG and the subsequent lawsuits that followed led to this:



One cannot promote a sport like this to the public. You need visual access and access to the proper audio. It's part of the sport. Clearly, even the people posting in the YouTube comments get the picture. This is about access to a sport in all forms. Or should I say in the case of the USA, lack of access. You can skip across the video from program to program to see what the problem is. And if anyone reading my post doesn't know what I'm referring to that set everything in motion, here is a refresher:

slate.com

Gymnasts, Figure Skaters, and Other Artistic Athletes Are Up Against a New, Unlikely Foe

Athletes, coaches, and choreographers are facing the fact that they’ve been unintentionally breaking the law nearly every day.
slate.com slate.com
 
Arigato said:
No one made a post regarding "everyone on the this board." I'm posting about a sport, not a board.
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You posted about comments on this Board regarding the sport. So did I.

But chasing moving goalposts is not my idea of fun. For those whom the last word is important, they may have it. :)
 
Diana Delafield said:
Check the sub-forums here on GS for artistic roller skating and rhythmic gymnastics for confirmation of that. There's also synchro swimming (or whatever they call themselves these days -- I only watch it in the Olympics), acrobatic gymnastics, dancesport (athletic ballroom dance with lifts etc), circus sports like trapeze...... All of them have competitive circuits, all are expensive for their participants, and each has a small but intense fan following. But mainstream? None of them, yet they survive in their own little bubbles.
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I think that Figure Skating in America is well developed because USFS was constant to show to media (hey.. I'm here and exist!!) over the years and made even marketing with it and nowadays for many are in the top of mind or in any places of this top of mind list preference also for attract people to it some channels begun to broadcast the main championships and in that was persevering and that was the big idea. Like anything if media make known to the people, they know about their existence and get interested on know more about it even to go to an ice rink to sign up to the classes.

Logically practice any sport have its cost but people who are involved on it as sportsperson,fans, coach don't think with a calculator in their hand .

In my case since 2003 i love figure skating when was watching skate America on TV. a year later a friend mine got tickets and invited me to go to watch in person 4CC . (In that time was living in MI ) And was an adventure really drive a emerald green VW kombi , the classical ones from Bloomfield hills to Hamilton (first time i drove to Canada and 5 hours i think later of confuse the road, lol maybe would end in Sault Ste. Marie or Quebec and question for la boulangerie ,merci, 😂) and watching it in person was .. "yeah , really i love it.."
 
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