ISU will no longer provide funding for Skate America | Page 3 | Golden Skate

ISU will no longer provide funding for Skate America

Joined
Jul 11, 2003
MM - You made an excellent point by saying the WSF did not perservere with their intentions. Yet, the fans, mostly teenagers, demand figure skating competitions and will go with whatever organization is there to arrange that. However, there is little interest in the operations of either organization.

The fans feel complaining is enough but no action against dismantling figure skating competitions would they tolerate, which was why I said OC will endure as long as he wants.
 

antmanb

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Well, yes, those are the challenges that the WSF would have had to address if they wanted to succeed. In particular, they would have had to secure support from some prominant national federations.

I suppose it all gets a bit chicken and egg in terms of the herculian task ahead of the WSF if they were to succeed. It just goes to show how difficult trying to mount any form of opposition against the ISU would be. The new organisation would also have to fall in with the IOC to retain it's status as an Olympic sport too. Though immediately after SLC would have been the best time to do that with everythig hanging in the balance after the judging scandal.

They burned their bridges with USFS by -- from the point of view of USFS -- tricking USFS into issuing a statement in support of the principles of the World Skating Federation, to wit, fair judging. Well, everybody is in favor of that. But then the WSF rushed to press with the announcement that USFS supports the overthrow of the ISU and the wresting of the Olympic games from ISU control.

Wow I did not remember that at all. I can imagine the USFSA would have been pretty peeved about that.

This was a far cry from what USFS actually said. And again, that is putting the cart befiore the horse. The WSF would have had to establish itself as a legitimate enterprise first, and then try to seduce some national federations to jump ship. This takes time -- the ISU has been at it, for better or for worse, for more than 100 years. They will not go gently into that good night.

That, I think, is the most difficult part - drawing the member federations away - it would always be all or none. A member federation would not want to stick it's neck on the line and risk it's skaters not being elligible for Euros, 4CC, Worlds Olympics if no-one else went. Federation's agreement would end up being conditional on other federations leaving too and then you would be left with a bunch of conditional agreements and you'd need to really convince them all to go.

The only thing that I personally did not like about the WSF is that they were not up front about where their financial backing was coming from. They never published a financial report and they never responded to questions about money matters. This reticence fueled speculation -- never refuted -- that the WSF was entirely underwritten by IMG, the giant management group, which presumeably hoped to benefit from the success of the WSF.

That's interesting too. I remember at the time being whipped along in the frenzy for fair judging that i never even questioned where finance for the WSF was coming from!

Ant
 
Joined
Jul 11, 2003
Was the financial backing so important for the purpose of change? What about Speedy's entertainment bills. I am sure he abuses them.
 

antmanb

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
Was the financial backing so important for the purpose of change? What about Speedy's entertainment bills. I am sure he abuses them.

Hearing this only now for the first time rather than at the time, i would suppose that the real eyebrow raiser is why would an organisation hell bent on getting the message of fair judging, transparency, accountability over to the masses, not answer a simple question about it's own funding and roots. It doesn't bode well for an organisation touting transparancy if they themselves are not willing to be transparent?

Also i would think people would want to know that they weren't jumping from the frying pan into the fire so more information would allow people to go with the change in organisation with greater confidence. Swapping from own questionable organisation to another would do the sport no favours.

Ant
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I thought the ISU had mandated that 6.0 could only be used in officially sanctioned ISU competitions with ISU judges etc.

I don't see why a competing organization would care what the ISU mandated or did not mandate. The whole point of the new organization would be, screw the ISU.

As for the pro competitions, like Dick Button's World Pro, I think they came up with 10.0 deliberately to distinguish their competitions from the ISU amateur events.

Antman said:
The new organization would also have to fall in with the IOC to retain it's status as an Olympic sport too.

I think the new organization would have to put its Olympics dreams on hold -- much like Mao Asada in 2006 :) -- until they got their feet on the ground. They would have to establish their program and show over a period of decades that they can do a better job and secure more public support than the ISU competitions. Then they could approach the IOC and say look, we are the de facto king of the slippery figure skating hill, let us in and kick out that old fossil the ISU.
 

Kimmie Fan

On the Ice
Joined
Nov 6, 2008
I believe the economy is the issue to some extent. Any word on sales for Lake Placid in 2009? Accessibility may be an added factor in attracting fans. From what I hear, no airport nearby - could mean a problem of added expense ie. car rental to get there.

Those who want to go badly enough will find a way. And the beat goes on!
Lake Placid might be the most remote place in the East Coast to hold an event.
Its historic and has lot of history, but it is really difficult to get there. plane or by car.
I have a feeling there won't be attendance record at 09 SA.
 

Dodhiyel

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 13, 2003
What I seem to remember most, is the ISU letting it be known that any coach, judge, or skater who joined the WSF would no longer be considered eligible for ISU events. That was the beginning of the end for the WSF, of course. I think the USFS then also said their members could not join the WSF. I remember wondering if the WSF was entitled to sue, at least in the US, on the basis of "restraint of trade" laws, but it seemed to be "game over".
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
I remember wondering if the WSF was entitled to sue, at least in the US, on the basis of "restraint of trade" laws, but it seemed to be "game over".

I believe the WFS did sue the ISU in the State of New York under the Clayton Antitrust Act. The court ruled either that the ISU did not fall under the provisions of the act, or that the WSF did not have legal status to bring suit, or that the state courts of NY did not have jurisdiction, or something of the sort.
 

antmanb

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 5, 2004
I don't see why a competing organization would care what the ISU mandated or did not mandate. The whole point of the new organization would be, screw the ISU.

It would have to care because an organisation without skaters or officials would be no organisation at all, and skaters and officials would not lose their elligibilty on the off chance that a random organisation claiming to be the saviour of skating, would or wouldn't work.
 

sunrock

Rinkside
Joined
Feb 24, 2009
{..cut...}
Perhaps Korea might be willing given the popularity provoked by Kim?

Ant
Not gonna happen unless 5 more Kims exist.
And I'm not talking about 5 Koreans with the last name Kim :rofl:
Unless there are more skaters of Yuna's caliber, the KSU won't provide large funding for figure skating.
It's all about short track in KSU. Short track is what they know and what they do best.
Unlike figure skating, there will always be a large supply of speed skaters to rise to the top when the best retire.
Right now Yuna is probably supporting the figure skaters of Korea more than the KSU.
If it were completely up to the KSU, they would ignore all of figure skating like they did with Yuna when she was a jr.
Now the KSU is kind of forced to give attention to figure skating because of Yuna's popularity.
 
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