What things would you change/add/remove to make figure skating popular again?

[jenaj]

I would give ABC the broadcast rights to Worlds for free on the condition that they send a team to broadcast from the event and that the team consist of Peggy Fleming, Terry Gannon and, if he is able, Dick Button. If Dick is not able, then they need to pick an acceptable substitute who is not named Scott Hamilton. And they also need to agree to promote the broadcasts and to broadcast all of the events in prime time as soon as possible after they occur, or live, if possible. I would also make major changes to the judging system, but this is where I would start.

 

[iluvtodd]

^ :agree: Bring back FS coverage to ABC/ESPN! Give me Paul Wylie too!

 

[clairecloutier]

I would give ABC the broadcast rights to Worlds for free on the condition that they send a team to broadcast from the event and that the team consist of Peggy Fleming, Terry Gannon and, if he is able, Dick Button. If Dick is not able, then they need to pick an acceptable substitute who is not named Scott Hamilton. And they also need to agree to promote the broadcasts and to broadcast all of the events in prime time as soon as possible after they occur, or live, if possible. I would also make major changes to the judging system, but this is where I would start.

An interesting proposal. I too think the networks could--and should--play a role in improving the popularity of skating.

The nosedive in skating's popularity started with the 2002 Olympics pairs judging scandal. And what fueled that scandal? I would argue the networks--specifically, the incredulous, outraged, over-the-top reaction from Bezic & Hamilton at the B&S's victory. If Scott and Sandra had had a less inflammatory reaction, would the scandal have taken off and hit the mainstream news like it did? I doubt it. Now, I'm not saying that wrongdoing did not occur in the judging. But the scandal was out of control, out of proportion, ultimately incredibly damaging to the sport, and I do feel that it was largely created by the networks.

A secondary factor contributing to skating's decline was the oversaturation of cheesy professional skating shows and competitions in the late 1990s. This problem too was in part created and amplified by the networks.

So IMO the networks played a not insignificant role in the crash. They could really help the sport recover if they would provide better coverage of skating in general and specifically, much better explanation of the judging system. Too many commentators the last few years have appeared woefully ignorant of the new judging system and have made little effort to explain its results. Scott Hamilton is absolutely the biggest offender in this category, with Sandra Bezic a close second. (Interesting, isn't it, that the commentating team that helped create this situation now continues to perpetuate it.)

The ISU has little leverage with the networks now. And they have no control over NBC's ownership of Olympic broadcast rights--which then leads into NBC/Universal Sports coverage of other events. But giving Worlds to ABC for free is an interesting idea! And if I were them, I would strongly urge/beg NBC to at least get rid of Bezic/Hamilton and use new commentators. And also they should beg/plead for more knowledgeable commentator explanation of IJS.

 

[OS]

Remove politics, less power to the federation, more autonomy or the skaters with skaters representation (possibly getting unionized) outside federation.

Tax anyone who financially benefit from this sport (Sport agencies, coaches, equipment/ware businesses, shows) apart from the skaters and add this directly towards bigger prizes for world championship, GPFs and 4CCs or just in general. Greater prizes should attract greater interest and incentives outside the usual figure skating countries. More variety, more diversity, more countries, the healthier the sports, the more global the sports and hence growth of the sport.

Use computer support and measurement to aid technical calls and prevent biased calls. Compile stats for every sporting achievements, useful when reference a skater. How high, how far, how fast, how much coverage etc. Consider the guitar hero/Karaoke music aid system indicate a choreography are suppose to take place at key notes, phrases and see how skaters perform according to when it is 'suppose' to happen. It would be a laugh to see how off some skaters are.

Have higher quality of credible art judging with out anonymity where art judging are accountable for their opinions with the full scrutiny of the public, qualitative that goes beyond an approx scoring but some tangible remarks afterwards.

Regular changing of the guards, everyone in any federation or ISU committee should be up for election every year, including the head of ISU to prevent corruption, and any exploitation and 'plans' which would usually take at least a year to build up.

 

[Mathman]

I think in the long run we will just have to accept the fact that things change. Maybe the era of big skating competitions viewed by millions on prime time TV is over. Maybe the future of skating in the United States will be more a participatory sport than a spectator sport.

In the 1930s and 40s big hollywood musicals starring Sonia Henie were box office blockbusters. In the fifties and sixties Las Vegas Review shows like Ice Follies and Ice Capades toured with great success. In the 70s and 80s Olympic champions were household names. In the 1990s skating shows (for better or worse) were on television every week and Champions on Ice played to full houses at 80 stops.

That was nice. But in the grand scheme of things, would it be the end of the world if skating subsided to a sport followed mostly on the Internet by hard core enthusiasts like us, together with a steady-as-she goes status as a recreational sport for children and adults? Gkelly writes above that skating seems to be maintaining its popularity as a participatory sport. It is expensive, but if you buy your costume off the rack, take group lessons, and get your older sister to do your choreography, it doesn't have to break the bank. Only a tiny handful of skaters reach the level where they have to spend $100,000 a year to stay on top.

 

[Olympia]

Well, I think we need to have a skating movie. Or maybe a movement movie, with dance as well as skating in the movie. (I'm not completely joking, folks.) It would have to focus on the skating, not on some tired old plotline with the cute girl and her malicious rival vying for spots on the nationals team. There would have to be a lot of guest skaters, the way there were dance interludes in The Turning Point. This means that the lead would have to be a skater who could act, not an actress who could fake it. I know, I know...pigs will fly first. But one can always dream.

Can Alissa act, do you think? Or maybe we should cast Tara Lipinski, who supposedly studied acting for years.

 

[skateluvr]

We all love skating movies Olympia...great wishful thinking! I think, correct me if I have forgotten, the last skating flick was "Blades of Glory." It was not all that funny and Hamitup (I love Scott, LOL) was in it. Remember in 2000, there was a great dance movie called Center Stage. Skating was still pretty hot and gold medalist cutie Ilia was in it. He wasn't too great and his dance moves were all a double as he is not a ballet dancer. I love that movie and own it because of the two nice ballets in it with Zoe Saldana and the blonde who never made it after that movie. Even ballet, which people can enjoy without seeing falls and funny scoring has lost the popularity that peaked in the 80's. Many companies have closed.

I hated that Black Swan used Portman and not a dancer. They felt without a star it would not fly-get producers to sign on. There is very little real dancing with her face/upper body and constant cut away editing. I watched it and will again but did not buy it because it was about craziness and angst of Nina and not enough real dance. It is a shame that the skating movies are stupid, a blind girl doing triples and skating. I will watch any skating movie however dumb but then I and we all are skating ubers. We are a shrinking bunch.

A fun cafe thread would be us writing the script. I bet it would be far funnier than blades of glory. When lurking I read a thread about a barbecue someone threw and it was hysterical.

I know you could write a better short story or long than what we see now. Skating was made a joke of in Blades. One movie I think could get an audience that would bring some new fans is sadly, a biopic or a wide release documentary about the Tonya gate. I think though, Nancy does not want to see her life up there, it was a rough time and you can't blame her. She has money to lawyer up to stop it. Tonya wouldn't want this project to go forward. But all the people who remember this-millions and millions of fans around the world would at least rent the DVD to see how it is handled. Social Network did well because of the book it was based on and all the slime that went down-controversy gets attention.

I personally would love to see a movie about this as they'd have to cast great skaters-unknowns most likely to look like Nancy or Tonya. It may be offensive to some to say that a movie about the whack would bring new younger fans in but it would. I expect someday it will be done as the story is true and just too incredible not to be done. Where are you Aaron Sorkin. I will rent any skating movie, but that's me, lifelong skate fan.

 

[Violet Bliss]

Opera On Ice, an 80-minute movie in HD and digital sound, will be released on 7 June, 2012.

http://www.cineworld.co.uk/films/5344

 

[ILoveFigures]

I think people underestimate what a whack to the knee, a superstar (Michelle Kwan), and a lot of podium finishes, etc, mean for ratings! Nowadays, the US only have Meryl and Charlie. What else is there really? The US ladies haven't been on the world podium since 2006. There is no longer a dream team like Kwan, Cohen and Hughes. The US men (excluding Lysacek's wins) are more or less nowhere near the podium anymore. You've got commentators stuck in the 6.0 system, and more or less putting people off skating. No wonder ratings and the popularity are down. Just have a look to your neighbor up north, or Japan, South Korea, France, Italy, Sweden, Finland, and let's not forget Russia. Moscow managed to put together a World Championship in less than 4 weeks, and tickets were sold out.

 

[Dragonlady]

In the 1930s and 40s big hollywood musicals starring Sonia Henie were box office blockbusters. In the fifties and sixties Las Vegas Review shows like Ice Follies and Ice Capades toured with great success. In the 70s and 80s Olympic champions were household names. In the 1990s skating shows (for better or worse) were on television every week and Champions on Ice played to full houses at 80 stops.

Figure skating has always been a niche sport with no fan base outside of families and friends of the skaters except in Olympic years when it was the glamour sport of the Winter Games. If you look at tapes of big competitions from the 60's and 70's, there were three or four rows of spectators except at the Olympics. What happened to make figure skating a big-time sport for a while, was the "Whack heard round the world!" and suddenly everybody was a skating fan. But it didn't last for many reasons: too many tacky pro competitions with questionable rules and judging; too back to back judging scandals at the 1998 and 2002 Olympics; failure to ban cheating judges for life; concerns that the sport was exploiting its young skaters to their detriment (Bauill, Lipinski); and last but not least, I now have 600 channel choices and every "minor" sport suffers from low ratings, from skiing to the X-games, has lower ratings.

From an advertizing point of view, figure skating skews to an older, female demographic and we're an easy audience to reach. There's no particular advantage to sponsoring the sport. Golf attracts and older, affluent, male demographic which is very difficult to reach so that sport gets lots of high-end advertizers like Rolex, various luxury cars, and why golf bumps figure skating every time it runs over.

 

[drivingmissdaisy]

From an advertizing point of view, figure skating skews to an older, female demographic and we're an easy audience to reach. There's no particular advantage to sponsoring the sport. Golf attracts and older, affluent, male demographic which is very difficult to reach so that sport gets lots of high-end advertizers like Rolex, various luxury cars, and why golf bumps figure skating every time it runs over.

True. What is more frustrating, though, is there is network coverage of sports like women's softball and the WNBA. Most men have little interest in these sports (much like figure skating), so I wonder what the governing bodies of those women's sports are doing to successfully market to the networks. In other words, these sports are marketing to the female demographic more successfully than figure skating.

 

[Olympia]

That's a good point, drivingmissdaisy: almost every women-centered sport (except maybe gymnastics, and that's little girls) is hard to sell on TV. Oprah's network should do stuff like that, except--drat!--you have to pay extra to see her network, and I already pay about as much as I can for cable. (I don't order any of the premium channels like HBO for that reason.)

Will Ferrell...I can't watch him. Even the trailers made me look away. I don't care if the entire cast of Stars on Ice has cameos in a movie like that, I can't watch. All I can say is, thank goodness he's made his skating movie, so he won't bother us again. He can go on to besmirch some other career. I have a low tolerance for that kind of comedy. I couldn't watch Steve Martin for years, and he's a heck of a lot smarter and more creative than this Ferrell person. (Then finally Martin did Roxanne, and I could understand and enjoy his talent.)

A script; someone can start the thread in the Cafe, and I'll be happy to help make suggestions. I've always thought that a good story would be to follow a pro group trying to tour, which might or might not succeed by the end of the film. Then there would be an excuse for more innovative skating. It could be like the combination of a backstage musical and a road picture. There could be various subplots with the skaters from different countries. There's a lot to say about the skating world once you move beyond the "blind girl does double axels" or "cute Disney actress must win the Olympics by the end of the movie; stunt skater required."

 

[Mathman]

A script; someone can start the thread in the Cafe, and I'll be happy to help make suggestions. I've always thought that a good story would be to follow a pro group trying to tour, which might or might not succeed by the end of the film. Then there would be an excuse for more innovative skating. It could be like the combination of a backstage musical and a road picture. There could be various subplots with the skaters from different countries. There's a lot to say about the skating world once you move beyond the "blind girl does double axels" or "cute Disney actress must win the Olympics by the end of the movie; stunt skater required."

That would be so cool. Chorus Line meets This is Spinal Tap!

Figure skating has always been a niche sport with no fan base outside of families and friends of the skaters except in Olympic years when it was the glamour sport of the Winter Games. If you look at tapes of big competitions from the 60's and 70's, there were three or four rows of spectators except at the Olympics.

That's a good point. I guess what I should have said, with respect to Ice Follies, etc., is that professional skating used to be more popular. Many amateurs competed with the goal of lining up professional opportunities afterward.

Dorothy Hamill famously remarked about the 1976 Olympics, "It was either win the gold medal and skate with Ice Capades or get silver and go home to Chicago to my job as a secretary." Even as late as 1992, when Kristi Yamaguchi won the Olympic Championship, she sat down with her financial advisors to figure out if she could make more money by turning pro immediately and signing with Stars on Ice or by staying amateur for two more years.

Here is a short article about the career of Richard Dwyer from the 1950s, to get the flavor of the times.

http://figureskating.about.com/od/skatingstarsofthepast/p/dwyer.htm

 

[gkelly]

Movie ideas:

How about an ice dance soap opera with lots of partner switching and double crosses on and off the ice?

Ice dance might be a little easier to choreograph for actors who can skater, since it might be hard to find enough skaters who can act.

But chances are no matter what the plot, if there are going to be skating performances from the main character(s) that would be captivating enough to turn movie fans into skating fans, there will be skating doubles and weird editing to cover up that fact.

 

[ImaginaryPogue]

Heh.

Past, present, future

Science, art, sport

I think figure skating can be made more popular.

 

[slipslidin]

Oh yes. a movie! I can think of a fact-based story from the not too distant past. It would be an ice-dancing sex comedy involving bed hopping, partner swapping, the Russian wedge and chicken soup. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait, the protagonists are still living. It might have saved figure skating.

 

[colleen o'neill]

Oh, joy ! Who will direct ?

 

[slipslidin]

Oh, joy ! Who will direct ?

Woody Allen, I don't think Cronenberg would be right.

 

[Reginald]

Add: An annual USA vs Japan competition such as was held in October 2006 and October 2007
Music with Lyrics
Various music types including trance, hip-hop, and smooth jazz
Aggressive recruitment in intercity neighborhoods
Kurt Browning as a commentator for ALL events

Remove: Figure skating's reputation as a "gay" sport (for guys)
Age minimum (would be more exciting if we could see the same skaters duel it out at 4 consecutive Olympics)

 

[Mathman]

Sasha Cohen has some acting credits.

But yeah. Finding a skater who happened to be such a natural at acting that he/she could sustain a leading role in a movie would be as unlikely as finding an actor who coincidently could skate at the championship level.