oookay this confuses me. so did the ISU get any tv money for LA worlds? what about skate america?
I'm a little fuzzy on the details; maybe someone else will jump in with a more knowledgeable account. But I bellieve the situation was something like this.
Back in 1994 or so, when figure skating in the U.S. was at its peak of popularity because of the Tonya-Nancy main event, the USFSA signed a $20,000,000 contract with ABC televsion to broadcast figure skating events for a number of years. This contract was renewed a couple of times during the Michelle Kwan years that immediately followed. The ISU got a nice chunk of that. In fact, I remember reading somewhere that at this time something close to half of the ISU's total budget was underwritten by U.S. television deals. (Yesterday, the United States, today, Japan)
However, interest in figure skating in the U.S. declined in the 2000s, the contract between the USFSA and ABC TV dwindled, and finally ABC gave it up altogether. The USFSA was not able to get a real contract with any other network, but finally NBC and its affiliates stepped in and a deal was worked out as follows. NBC would not give USFS any money per se, but USFS could buy time and then sell advertising itself to pay the expenses and maybe make a little bit of profit if there is anything left over. USFS had to scramble even to keep their traditional sponsors in the fold. (The details are available if you search the USFSA website for their annual financial statements.)
Now I think the USFSA and the networks work together in some way to try to round up commercial sponsorships. But in any case, there is no big pot of gold to be shared between the USFSA and the ISU as there was fifteen years ago. Not even the attraction of the pre-Olympic world championship in 2009 in Los Angeles, and a men's star in Evan Lysacek, was enough to interest U.S. television networks is shelling out any cash to cover the event.
you're saying that happened with the olympic season's skate america?
you'd think that was the year they could expect an audience and demand tv money.
I think it was 2010 Skate America (i.e., the current 2010-2011 season) where things really came to a head and the ISU threatened to withhold money to the event organizers. I don't know how this was eventually resolved. I don't know what the television ratings are for Skate America. Let's just say it's not Two-and-a-half Men.
if that happens several years in a row does anyone expect skate finland or skate germany to replace skate america? there used to be nations cup or sparkassen cup in germany--what happened to skate germany, anyway?
I don't know if the ISU would ever toss Skate America out of the Grand Prix. It would be fun to see what would happen if they did. Skate America was already a pretigious international event for a couple of decades before the Grand Prix came into existence and before anyone had heard of Ottavio Cinquanta. Maybe the USFSA would secede from the ISU and go its own way, with Skate America and U.S. Nationals the big whoops of the season.
Skate Germany just sort of faded away and the ISU was eager to replace it with Skate China, figuring that China is the wave of the future. Just think how much money the ISU could make if a substanntial part of the Chinese population suddenly took a interest in skating!
sorry for going a bit off topic, but i had no idea television rights in the US were such a difficult sell--if so the US might as well not bother bidding for worlds, this year or any other year.
I belive that the ISU still makes money off selling the television feed to other countries besides the country where the event is held. (?) The U.S. is still rich. The ISU is probably hoping for better times in the future.
