Wasn't the arena in Helsinki full for the ladies event? I guess with Laura, Kiira, Susanna and Jenni the sport is more popular now in Finland. Kiira is doing a lot of advertaisings and photoshoots. On youtube you find interviews to Laura and Kiira. And we have also a good number of Finnish users here at Goldenskate. So I guess FS is more popular in Finland now.
New Commentary from Sonia: "A Glimpse of Hope?"
- Thread starter gsrossano
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- Jul 11, 2003
I can understand their dim view. After all the ISU is THE governing council to competitive figure skating. Even the American cheesefests had ISU approval.
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- Mar 25, 2008
Wow. Seriously. My entire marketing experience was a few months as a research assistant but I really think that at this point I could do a better job of marketing figure skating than anyone currently trying to do it. Any of us could.
Are they interested in doing anything to actually promote their brand?
Doris, I know there was skating with the stars show a few years ago in the US (won, I believe, by Lloyd Eisler and Kristy Swanson) - do you know why that didn't work for American audiences? Was it really bad?
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I think what they're trying to do is to protect their brand from being confused with those inferior products (from their sporting point of view; many may find the shows superior from an entertainment point of view) put out by other organizations.
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- Jun 21, 2003
Yeah, it was bad. Although there were some funny moments, like when Tai Balalonia's partner skated her too close to the boards and she had to step up onto the surrounding curb for the next few steps, then back down to the ice.
Or when John Zimmerman and his celebrity partner did a side by side move. The celebrity did it perfectly and John fell.
The show had John Nicks in the Simon Cowell role and Dorothy Hamill as Paula Abdul.
Lloyd and Kristy were back in the new just last week. They are getting married!
During the taping of the Skating with the Satrs show (2006), Lloyd left his wife, who was 8 months pregnant with their second child, and took up with Swanson. They (Eisler and Swanson) had a son together the next year.
This was right around the time that Eisler received a lifetime ban from coaching in Canada because of an incident with a 15-year-old girl.
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- Mar 25, 2008
I can understand that, but the best way to accomplish this would be to differntiate the brand in a positive way, not to make the argument that TV shows need to be sanctioned by the ISU or anything to that effect.
A better approach than the one the ISU is taking, IMHO, would be to say that these TV shows are fun entertainment, and focus on how to use them to draw in new viewers to ISU figure skating, which is a superior product athletically and artistically; and to attract people to recreational and competitive skating.
There are all sorts of marketing possiblities that can work for figure skating, but nobody seems to bother trying them. People thought Evan Lysacek's ideas were out there but at least he was trying to think of new directions for figure skating to grow.
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I stopped reading when I read this tidbit
All this is physically too demanding.
If this is sport then the statement comes from a mindset that I can't understand
I absolutely agree that marketing needs to be ramped up somehow.
Part of the problem now is that even casual viewers are saying that the problem is the COP and they are only parroting that from what they heard somewhere else. People need to be parroting whats good about the sport or we're never going to get out of this rut.
All this is physically too demanding.
If this is sport then the statement comes from a mindset that I can't understand
I absolutely agree that marketing needs to be ramped up somehow.
Part of the problem now is that even casual viewers are saying that the problem is the COP and they are only parroting that from what they heard somewhere else. People need to be parroting whats good about the sport or we're never going to get out of this rut.
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- Mar 23, 2008
Then maybe they should all just do triple jumps nonstop for 4:10, and whoever doesn't collapse is the winner?
Baseball is a sport. Football is a sport. Golf is a sport. Figure Skating is an ARTISTIC sport. If you can't understand that, feel free to stop reading again.
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- Jul 11, 2003
Easier said than done. Who would finance these schemes that the possibilities would suggest?
we are in the US and money talks.
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- Jul 11, 2003
So are parts of Gymnastics and Diving artistic sports. Yes, they get graded for the line of their bodies. Their attraction to the US populace is also limited.
The Lively Arts are in the Opera houses, the Dance theatres, the drama theatres, and now in Arenas featuring the latest in pop singers.
I think the interest in figure skating is still alive but somewhat declined. Not as much as Ms Bianchetti thinks but enough to let it ride its course.
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- Feb 5, 2004
I think, to be honest, they do well to disassociate themselves from the Dancing on Ice (the UK version) as NISA (the UK's federation) did because the skating is awful and the hyperbole used by judges, the professionals and Torvill & Dean just belittles the work of the real elite skaters. Fine it's just for entertainment but when you have people with the reputation of T&D spouting crap about the programs skated by the celebrities then it really does nothing for the real sport, especially since the general public then start to believe that skating is easy - the celebs pick it up quickly (it's not made clear that the celebs have been training for some 4 months before the show starts).
The most important thing in terms of trying to involve any elite skaters would be timnig and scheduling - The UK version runs from mid january for 10 or so weeks - through teh European championships and right up to worlds. Obviously no elte skaters would take part then, and the TV company would surely not have an ice program on in the summer - the only time an elite skater might take part, but would they? As an elite skater you go out of your way to not do things that might injure you for skating. Partnering a non skating celeb is a good way to get yourself injured - even in the off season - would you really risk it?
Ant
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- Mar 25, 2008
Just to clarify, I don't think the ISU should involve itself in such shows, but I do view it as free exposure for figure skating that can be used to promote "the real thing". Figure skating is not a very visible sport, and sure this isn't exactly world class skating but at least it's an opportunity to get people interested. Why not come up with a way to take advantage of it?
Joe, re expenses - there are things the ISU could try that would not be expensive, but they're so hysterical about protecting the brand and the rights that they don't seem to bother promoting the brand.
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- Feb 5, 2004
Well in last seasons Dancing on Ice they had a section on young skaters trying to make it big. I think the only problem was that it was on for one or two programs and didn't really say a lot.
The main reason that the program doesn't mention real skating is simply because it shows the audience that what they're watching the celebrities do is just rubbish and gimmicky. The celebrities can just about do three turns and mohawks and possibly the odd waltz jump or salchow. If you try to promote the real sport with fast real skating, spins and jumps then all you are doing is undermining the tv program.
There has been a huge backlash by people with a genuine interest in skating here in the UK against the fact during Dancing on Ice there was no mention of the National Championships or Europeans which could have been referenced as a side note. They could even have said - get to Nottingham to watch our skaters proper, but they did not. Many many people feel that T&D, Robin Cousins and Slater&Barber are truly sell outs who only have an interest in making money now rather than promoting the sport.
Myself - I can understand why they don't promote the real sport - I suspect even more so it's the TV company that stops them from doing so.
Hopefully, it gets the young kids and alduts into learn to skate programs (which it does) and hopefully some of those that take it up stick with the sport.
Ant
There are a lots of good idea to make this sport more interesting, variable and more entertaining.
The only thing, I'm not agree with, to cancel the secret judging. Secret judging sounds really bad at first, but as long as the National Organizations send the judges there, they have too strong impact on them. So, this secret judging system-strangly enough- defends the honest good judges from their own National Organization to be asked why they gave low points to their athlets , even if it was rightly done....
Please, use both of your legs standing in this planet and don't skip the reality!
I would be more happy if the 2 sets of points could come by 2 different panel of judges (one for the GOE and another one for the TEP)
The only thing, I'm not agree with, to cancel the secret judging. Secret judging sounds really bad at first, but as long as the National Organizations send the judges there, they have too strong impact on them. So, this secret judging system-strangly enough- defends the honest good judges from their own National Organization to be asked why they gave low points to their athlets , even if it was rightly done....
Please, use both of your legs standing in this planet and don't skip the reality!
I would be more happy if the 2 sets of points could come by 2 different panel of judges (one for the GOE and another one for the TEP)
- Joined
- Jun 21, 2003
I don't think so. I think it is quite easy for federation heads and ISU insiders to find out which judges gave which marks.
If the national federations want to lean on their judges to score a certain way, they will continue to do so, no matter whether the judges work in anonymity from the general public or not.
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- Jul 11, 2003
I do believe that for some skating officials secret judging does not apply. I can't prove that, but it most likely figures in the scheme of things. The Computer Programmer can assist in this matter.
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- Jun 21, 2003
I believe that at the conclusion of every event there is a referee's meeting where the judges sit around and discuss why they gave th marks they did, etc. There is a also a formal procedure where any judge that gives marks way different from the rest is tagged and must justify the marks. I don't think it is secret at all, to the ISU insiders.
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- Feb 5, 2004
Which is precisely why the justification for secret judging is so fundamentally flawed that it should just be banned now - let us see who have what marks. I suspect that it would be even scarier for the judges now that there are hundreds of marks to look at which they give over the course a competition. Even for just one skater there's the GOE of each element plus the five PCS marks. That would open a judge up to far more criticism than they ever were under 6.0 where there were just two marks which were more or less meaningless as they were place holders.
Ant
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2003
I find that interesting if it is true. How much comments can be made if a score has -1 and +2 to discuss? They are not going to change it, and maybe one of the judges will get a wrist slap. That's the end of it. No?
