Is Grand Prix series ready to downsize to 5 events?
- Thread starter lariko
- Start date
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
In the U.S., my memory of the "good old days" is that the skating season (in terms of TV coverage) was basically Skate America, then U.S. Nationals. Worlds was not covered very well and did not did not generate so much interest from casual U.S. viewers.
As for sponsors, I wonder how the finances of the Grand Prix events work out. Do they make money? Are they a financial drain on the resources of the ISU and/or local organizers?
As for sponsors, I wonder how the finances of the Grand Prix events work out. Do they make money? Are they a financial drain on the resources of the ISU and/or local organizers?
- Joined
- Mar 7, 2015
I was able to watch much more than that as a kid in Canada. Ctv and Cbc shared events the way @Diana Delafield mentioned. Then we had the pro competitions on American channels. There was skating on TV pretty much every week
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2007
And hope the power didn't go out! Or the broadcast delayed!
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- Mar 14, 2007
I cannot speak for all GP, but I can say I met a new friend at Skate America. I will always go to any event held at that rink because the ADA seating is at ice level instead of the nosebleeds. Anyway I was saying I bet they didn't have SA again there any time soon, and she said "well, maybe." Per her, the Dallas Figure Skating Club is the wealthiest skating club in the US, and they proved last year they could hold a successful competition, and any large skating events are VERY expensive and fewer and fewer venues are wanting to have them.
If you look at Nationals back in the heydey of US figure skating, which I would put at Peggy Fleming-Michelle Kwan, it sold out every year, hard as that is to believe. Now it looks like they're having problems finding places to host (based on how long it took them to announce Wichita as the host site. I doubt they had so many offers they were sifting through them for months).
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- Mar 14, 2007
Oh yes the pro competitions, and I think they may have had Pro Am as well?
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- Mar 14, 2007
LOL! It was even worse in my area! My mom and I got the free tv guide out of the paper every Sunday and scoured it for Wide World of Sports, and then to see if any skating or gymnastics was on it. I don't think we had any clue about seasons of skating, when Worlds was, etc.
Depending on the time of year (football season or not) Wide World of Sports might be at 3 am Sunday, or whatever. If there was skating or gymnastics we would set our alarms. I would hope for my first skating crush, David Santee, to be in the competition.
It's a different world for sure.
- Joined
- Sep 23, 2020
Probably it depends heavily on the attendance and TV viewership as TV/streaming rights often form a substantial part of the budgetary considerations. And it may vary from event to event, and from year to year.
Helsinki GP in 2018 generated 1 million euro for the Finnish Skating Association, according to their own annual report, although it is not clear if the amount is net or gross. Plus 7.7 million euro for the local economy from tourism. The report states further that the event was watched by 10 million people in Japan alone, I guess Japanese TV paid a nice amount for the rights. The report stresses Yuzuru was competing there.
Skate Canada in Kelowna in 2019 generated 5.3 million Canadian dollars for British Columbia local economy, 4.5 million of which in Kelowna area alone, again in tourism. Here they do not provide the amounts for federation. This report also points to Yuzuru Hanyu competing there.
Kelowna figure-skating event generated $5.3M in economic activity in B.C.: report - Okanagan | Globalnews.ca
A Tourism Kelowna report found the three-day event generated $5.3 million in economic activity in B.C., with $4.5 million of that directly in the Kelowna area.
globalnews.ca
Several Japanese papers reported on the sinking viewership of FS and waning interest in the sport over this very weekend, on the occasion of Finland Trophy GP. I guess they decided they cannot leave these rows of empty seats without any comment any more. Here's a translation of one of these articles, quoting the Executive Director of the Finnish Skating Association who does not speak about money, only about attendance, but from their tone you can guess the finances were not great. And although this article does not state it, we know from other sources, namely, ISU's own audit reports, that TV viewership diminished in Japan, too. This would probably affect the money they were willing to pay for broadcast rights.
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Those were the days! Every week you could see some sort of pro "competition," whether it was the men versus the ladies or the USA versus the world.Raise your hand if you saw Yuka Sato
do Hatful of Stars ten times (and finally beating Kristi Yamaguchi with it.)
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
I thought about this while watching the GP Finland event. In the women's short program, the second and third place finishers presented 3T+3T as their hardest element.
Fortunately Rino Matsuike made her usual charge in the LP to make it interesting.
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- Oct 22, 2022
Yes, you got parts of other programs if the schedule was delayed. And of course the worst was when you got home and found your VCR had malfunctioned and hadn't turned itself on after all
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- May 15, 2024
Yep, I cited 4everchan and wrote about Siudek/Siudek - medalists at Worlds and Euros. Fairly easy to pick that I was talking about times 20 years ago and earlier.
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- Jan 17, 2022
A phenomenon like Yuzu likely isn't going to happen again so the media can stop moaning. Before him Japan had Daisuke and Mao, then they had Shoma but I guess the current crop of skaters doesn't include a popstar type. I guess Kaori is not stereotypically kawaii enough for the Japanese audience?
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- May 15, 2024
There were skaters like Yuzu (I mean popstar kind of skaters) but Yuzu was the first who benefited from the internet to such extend. Also Yuzu's career lasted quite long - he debuted in seniors in 2010? Long, long time ago there was Philippe Candeloro - totally different form Yuzu, more Lukas Britschgi vibe and always contender, seldom winner, but getting huge response from the spectators, his lasted 6 seasons in seniors, if he had the means Yuzu had, I think Philippe could rival the recognition Yuzu got. Now we've got Ilia with his jumps who is working hard on other aspects of his skating and gave very positive vibes in all his interviews I watched, so I wouldn't rule him out when it comes to stardom. Yuma who's father gave mi shivers in Helsinki, I hope Carolina saved poor Yuma later. Adam who seems to be rather shy and private guy and almost all his content is focused on FS - so not a pop star type. We had an internet personality in US, Bella Flores...
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- Sep 23, 2020
Well, this is like saying anyone could have been of the Beatles fame and stardom, only if..... Maybe, who knows. But the fact is they were not, and that's all we know for sure. So if they didn't, they couldn't. Can some skater come close to Yuzuru's stardom? Maybe. Remains to be seen. But let's not forget that this "popstar kind of skater" is the back to back 2xOGM, the only one in men in 72 years and counting, and with the highest numbers of "first ever" this century. Not to be taken or dismissed lightly as "pop", this is rather the "hard" stuff.
But I wonder what you mean by Yuzuru particularly benefiting from the Internet? Until turning pro in 2022 he never had any social media account, no website, no YouTube channel, no FB, IG, TT or X... so what means did he have that others did not, and in what way would he benefit from the internet any more than any other skater of his and later generations? They would usually have much more intensive social media presence, basically all of them. I understand more people could see him skate on YouTube but this is equally true for anyone in these generations. In former generations, it was TV that provided a sure and steady path to stardom, and skating was much more present on TV then than nowadays. With much more limited number of channels, and more limited entertainment options, getting on the screen on the right channel in the prime time was a pretty sure way to be seen and, if liked, getting noticed, talked about and famous.
Still this discussion, as I understand, was about money and GP finances. Comp organizers apparently know who was bringing them the viewership, sponsors and money and who was not, and start to long for those sold-out venues, for fan magnets, for real stars, and for real money. And there are bills waiting to be paid. Money talks and it is a harsh reality. That's all there is to it.
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- Joined
- Apr 3, 2009
No.
This is for me a huge problem. I've been a long-time figure skating fan, but these days I can barely watch competitions anymore. I think figure skating is in a really weird artistic phase, where almost everyone is skating the same modern dance type of programs set to either monotonous instrumental music or simple pop songs and they are all really just copying each other's move. I don't know why it started, but I just want this trend to end. It's like no one wants to stand out anymore or be entertaining. I started to skip all these programs, so some competitions I only watch like 1 or 2 performances...
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- Mar 7, 2015
The focus is on getting points : jumps. It makes all programs the same
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
True. Althhough I think that there was a certain "smeness" in every era of skating. Almost all of the competitors skated to similar music, explored similar chorepgraphic themes. presented more or less the same technical content ("more" if they could).
In fact, all sports are like that. Is one football game all that different from another. Is one hundred-meter dash distinguished in some delightful and entertaining way from others?
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- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
Candeloro was popular as an entertainer, but Hanyu's Olympic gold medals and years of one dominating performance after another took him to a diferrent level in terms of recognition and fan frenzy.
As for the Grand Prix, however, that highlights the problem that this thread raises.. Even Hanyu at his peak could participate in only 2 of the six events. What about the other 4? Will specatators travel thousands of miles and spend their whole annual entertainment budget to watch the other guys?
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