Ice Skating community needs to regain control of our sport - Petition to remove Cinquanta | Page 4 | Golden Skate

Ice Skating community needs to regain control of our sport - Petition to remove Cinquanta

pangtongfan

Match Penalty
Joined
Jun 16, 2010
Do you have any source about their finances?

Well there have been articles recently how speed skating in fact did go bankrupt so Cinquanta was using some of figure skatings (increasingly small) income and resources to keep speed skating afloat. However that this was bringing both sports closer to the redline. Cinquanta doesnt give a squat about figure skating, so would never let his beloved speed skating go bellyup first, so speed skating will help drag figure skating (which even on its own isnt doing so hot anymore anyway) into bankruptcy, and voila ISU is kaput, good riddance, dont let the door hit your *** on the way out.
 

Mafke

Medalist
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Well there have been articles recently how speed skating in fact did go bankrupt so Cinquanta was using some of figure skatings (increasingly small) income and resources to keep speed skating afloat. However that this was bringing both sports closer to the redline.

I have the idea that figure skating isn't getting the usual post-olympic bounce even in NAmerica which has traditionally been the biggest tv market (or am I mistaken?). Where is ISU income coming from? TV skating is big in Japan but seems to have contracted everywhere else. I suppose it's on a post olympic high in Russia but is that generating income?

If I were USFSA I'd be drumming the 'olympic medalist' line for the US team members as hard as possible but USFSA has its own problems in recognizing marketable moments.....
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2003
If I were USFSA I'd be drumming the 'olympic medalist' line for the US team members as hard as possible...

Stars on Ice certainly is. The cast boasts no fewer that eight "olympic medalists" -- Ashley Wagner, Gracie Gold, Jeremy Abbott, Jason Brown, Castelli and Snapir, and Davis and White. :rock:
 

Mafke

Medalist
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
Stars on Ice certainly is. The cast boasts no fewer that eight "olympic medalists" -- Ashley Wagner, Gracie Gold, Jeremy Abbott, Jason Brown, Castelli and Snapir, and Davis and White. :rock:

Hey, when life gives you olympic bronze team event medalists you make olympic-medal-ade!
 

Sara

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 6, 2013
I have the idea that figure skating isn't getting the usual post-olympic bounce even in NAmerica which has traditionally been the biggest tv market (or am I mistaken?). Where is ISU income coming from?

From Putin :p
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
Stars on Ice certainly is. The cast boasts no fewer that eight "olympic medalists" -- Ashley Wagner, Gracie Gold, Jeremy Abbott, Jason Brown, Castelli and Snapir, and Davis and White. :rock:

Davis and White are great and Gracie is o.k., but Wagner, Abbott, Brown, Castelli, Snapir, none of them are even that good.

I mean, the team medals really deserve an asterisk.
 

Mafke

Medalist
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
I mean, the team medals really deserve an asterisk.

That's the small-time thinking that helped get skating in the sad financial state it is now. More olympic medals means more potential stars means more tv income means more skating on tv.

While I didn't like the format of the team event, it was a movement going in the right direction.

Sports don't thrive without stars and stars don't thrive if they can only be created once every four years and are so limited in number.

think big!
 

UnsaneLily87

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
That's the small-time thinking that helped get skating in the sad financial state it is now. More olympic medals means more potential stars means more tv income means more skating on tv.

While I didn't like the format of the team event, it was a movement going in the right direction.

Sports don't thrive without stars and stars don't thrive if they can only be created once every four years and are so limited in number.

think big!

:thumbsup: Sure the team event isn't "traditional skating" but a lot of non-fans got really into it and it gave people more familiarity with the skaters. By the time the individual events rolled around people were already familiar with Jeremy, Jason, Gracie, and Ashley. And medals for America = more people watching. I think it was really good for skating overall and while the format should be revamped, it's a step in the right direction.

Also, the petition itself won't do anything. However, USFSA might see that fans are pissed and take that into consideration when formulating a response to these new proposals.
 

phaeljones

On the Ice
Joined
Apr 18, 2012
:thumbsup: Sure the team event isn't "traditional skating" but a lot of non-fans got really into it and it gave people more familiarity with the skaters. By the time the individual events rolled around people were already familiar with Jeremy, Jason, Gracie, and Ashley. And medals for America = more people watching. I think it was really good for skating overall and while the format should be revamped, it's a step in the right direction.

Also, the petition itself won't do anything. However, USFSA might see that fans are pissed and take that into consideration when formulating a response to these new proposals.

I agree regarding the team event. I think that it gave a close-up perspective and lead-in of many of the main competitors, a very good primer for those who were not familiar with the sport, but as well, a fuller feeling of the games for those who do. With everyone watching the Olympics, it is important for the sport to be there as much as possible. Exposure-wise, the sport needs more skating with an audience, more events with an audience and more face-time with an audience, not less as Sinkquanta is proposing.

Regarding the petition, I signed it and sent it with a covering letter in to Skate Canada. I received a confirmation of receipt. I know that my letter means nothing if others don't do anything, but at least I know that I did everything I could. No doubt the letter is no more than a number, but I hope that it is part of a significant number. My assessment of the new management at Skate Canada from the noises being made by Dan Thompson and Leanna Caron is that it is aware that the sport has to be turned around. To that end, it has started a process to double the number of young skaters streamed into its elite track (Dan Thompson interview at Skate Canada broadcast), created a new marketing executive position to promote the sport (website) and committed itself to trying to promote skating for the sake of skating as a pastime at all levels to all Canadians (Caron in her interview during Worlds broadcast). Bottom line is Skate Canada wants to broaden the sport's base and it is promising to put its energies toward doing that with its new leadership. If they are being honest (I believe this particular management team is), they know only too well that Sinky's proposals are going to work against their own work to grow the sport in Canada and restore it to a place of esteem. Surely, it would be nice for them to know that people who follow the sport care enough to tell them their feelings. The petition is not in vain.
 

UnsaneLily87

On the Ice
Joined
Mar 8, 2006
I agree regarding the team event. I think that it gave a close-up perspective and lead-in of many of the main competitors, a very good primer for those who were not familiar with the sport, but as well, a fuller feeling of the games for those who do. With everyone watching the Olympics, it is important for the sport to be there as much as possible. Exposure-wise, the sport needs more skating with an audience, more events with an audience and more face-time with an audience, not less as Sinkquanta is proposing.

Regarding the petition, I signed it and sent it with a covering letter in to Skate Canada. I received a confirmation of receipt. I know that my letter means nothing if others don't do anything, but at least I know that I did everything I could. No doubt the letter is no more than a number, but I hope that it is part of a significant number. My assessment of the new management at Skate Canada from the noises being made by Dan Thompson and Leanna Caron is that it is aware that the sport has to be turned around. To that end, it has started a process to double the number of young skaters streamed into its elite track (Dan Thompson interview at Skate Canada broadcast), created a new marketing executive position to promote the sport (website) and committed itself to trying to promote skating for the sake of skating as a pastime at all levels to all Canadians (Caron in her interview during Worlds broadcast). Bottom line is Skate Canada wants to broaden the sport's base and it is promising to put its energies toward doing that with its new leadership. If they are being honest (I believe this particular management team is), they know only too well that Sinky's proposals are going to work against their own work to grow the sport in Canada and restore it to a place of esteem. Surely, it would be nice for them to know that people who follow the sport care enough to tell them their feelings. The petition is not in vain.

I work in politics and that is exactly how we do it. Petitions themselves don't do anything but the Important People take note when people are upset. I'm glad Skate Canada seems to understand the situation. I worry about USFSA, they're so tone deaf sometimes.
 

FS.Addict

Rinkside
Joined
Jan 18, 2014
I work in politics and that is exactly how we do it. Petitions themselves don't do anything but the Important People take note when people are upset. I'm glad Skate Canada seems to understand the situation. I worry about USFSA, they're so tone deaf sometimes.

Did Skate Canada make any comment about the situation ?
 

Ven

Match Penalty
Joined
Mar 17, 2013
That's the small-time thinking that helped get skating in the sad financial state it is now. More olympic medals means more potential stars means more tv income means more skating on tv.

While I didn't like the format of the team event, it was a movement going in the right direction.

Sports don't thrive without stars and stars don't thrive if they can only be created once every four years and are so limited in number.

think big!


You can't artificially create stars by gifting them undeserved medals.
 

Mafke

Medalist
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
:bow:

Even if it is rightfully deserved medals, they either have "it" or they don't.

Jason Brown definitely has "it". He's probably my favorite male skater since Paul Wylie's exquisite (if uneven) amateur career. Who cares about quads when you can get performances like his 2014 nats LP?
 

Mafke

Medalist
Joined
Mar 22, 2004
You can't artificially create stars by gifting them undeserved medals.

You're missing the point, many medalists (including gold - Hughes for example) aren't long term stars, but figure skating needs to make it easier for stars (like Brown, Lipniskaja etc) to connect to audiences not harder. Purism will kill the discipline faster than the Speedy's daft ideas.
 

Blades of Passion

Skating is Art, if you let it be
Record Breaker
Joined
Sep 14, 2008
Country
France
We're almost at 15,000. Please sign if you'd like to help get better leadership in figure skating.
 
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