I have long said the skaters should have got unionized. It is shameless how underpaid they are consider the amount of hours they put through but I dont' think Patrick is the best spokes person for the job (It doesn't seem to be one of his strength, although I applaud him for speaking up). Judging should be a paid professional service with accountability and a CV of records, good and bad on plain sight. Bad judging should be penalized just like in the private sector. There need to be a public independent non-profit panel (of openess and transparency) to calibrate and supervise the judging from one competition to the next. It will iron out any national biases and discrepancy from one competition to the next and minimize political influences. Skaters should be judged on what they performed that day, and not whether they are the best skater 'supposely'. It is about accountability and whether they can deliver on the day.
There should be more entrepreneurial / creative projects encouraged among the skaters / industry key people without being monopolized by the major sport agencies, federations and the ISU. Infact I would go as far as set aside funding and subsides for projects, to create jobs and wealth and industry momentum building. Someone need to get involved to encourage and nurture a thriving culture of commercialization. An industry that is creatively dead, is a dead industry. Someone need to build a product that can be accessible and public will buy. All easier said than done of course, but without these motions in place to generate money, things will not change. The one profit is likely the governing bodies who has all the power, and controls all the access and who knows how much real money is exchanged outside the books instead of injecting directly into the pockets who put up the blood sweat and tears.
