U.S. Figure Skating State of the Union

http://spokane2007.usfigureskating.org/News/EventNews/012407presidential address.aspx

I hope Skating continues its coverage on televesion in the future

I don't know if this is worthy of a new thread so I'm sticking it here.

I'm curious about the fans in Spokane. What caused this record attendance, and how supportive/excited/knowledgeable are they?

I'm excited about them!

spokane

I have to say that I am proud of Spokane for all their fans. I was very disappointed when they were awarded the event because I wanted to go to Boston or Hershey, PA. One of the deciding factors in staying away was the fact that the Spokane booth in St Louis and in Portland only showed pictures if the city in the summer. Also it was the first city to do the new ticket sales procedure. By the end of the 1st week of ticket sales it was impossible to get good seats.
The post Olympic year is normally a slow ticket sales year so we procrastinated. I hope the attendance helps USFS in their current tv contract negotiations but I'm afraid that television ratings will rule and we will be watching more and more skating on the internet.
How smart of USFSA to give the post Olympic Nationals to a city that had a proven track record for attending figure skating.

Spun Silver said:

I'm curious about the fans in Spokane. What caused this record attendance, and how supportive/excited/knowledgeable are they?

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That's my home town! :yes:

I don't know that people in Spokane are any more into skating than fans in other cities are. But I think there are two factors that contribute to the success of this event. First, this is a big time show and there is not so much competition there for the entertainment dollar. Spokane doesn't have a major league sports team, there's no theater to speak of, etc., so when something big comes along -- well, it's big.

Second, the organizers, sponsors and city leaders did a great job of appealing to civic pride. The event was advertised as an opportunity for Spokane to put its best foot forward to compete with the big boys for major sporting/entertainment events and to show visitors what the city has to offer.

It almost became a civic duty to support the Championship, as evidenced by the fact that the secondary arena was sold out (4000 seats) for the Novice Compulsory Dance!

Did Michelle, Sasha, Slutskaya, Plushenko, Totmianina & Marinen, etc., have audiences that size in the major cities on the COI tour last year?

Nice article thanks for sharing it.

I find it most interesting that the president is "confident" that USFS will continue to be on broadcast TV in the future. If ABC doesn't renew the contract I only see NBC possibly having some interest in taking over (since they have the Olympics). I don't see CBS or Fox caring at all.

About loss of television coverage, I think we will just have to bite the bullet on that one. Shuffling sports off to ESPN, pay-per-view and the Internet seems to be the future of sports programming, and not just for figure skating. Even Monday Night Football, which attracted quite a respectable audience on network TV, has been banished. Very little even of sports blockbusters like the NBA playoffs are telecast on general entertainment networks any more.

This does not have to be a bad thing, just a sign of the times. "New media" such as subscription steaming video sites will come to the fore and become the new TV.

Red Dog said:

If ABC doesn't renew the contract I only see NBC possibly having some interest in taking over (since they have the Olympics). I don't see CBS or Fox caring at all.

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Golly, I hope NBC doesn't take it (just me being selfish). Even with cable, the reception on that station is horrible.

Dee

Hmm, I get it just fine. Sometimes there might be minor picture issues but that's more the exception than the rule. Have you tried adjusting your set...calling your cable provider?