ITA!I say, bring on the Ice Channel!!! I'd gladly pay extra for good coverage.
The International Skating Union is close to signing a TV contract that will take international figure skating off over-the-air TV in the U.S. and force the ISU to make significant cuts in prize money
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the multiyear contract would be with cable network ESPN for approximately $5 million annually. That is less than 25 percent of the $22 million the ISU currently receives from ABC...
Also in the works: Giving ABC a long program final with the last six skaters competing in reverse order of their short program finish.
Slick maneuver: Cinquanta has a plan to help him get approval of figure skating's new Code of Points scoring system in championships and the Olympics. Although judging issues normally are considered by only figure skating delegates, Cinquanta will argue that so much of the ISU's revenue comes from figure skating the entire organization should have a say in a reform designed to restore confidence in figure skating results.
I doubt it. Suppose SA were held in Boston (Year, I know, funny notion, but still...). I would go to see my favorites skate, but I don't think I would go to see some skater just becasue he/she/they train in Mass.If not, maybe that's a good thing. It would spread the money out more, and to up local attendence and revenue, the host countries could be allowed to send one more participant. (None of which would make the broadcast, but it might get butts in chairs, especially if the participants were local.)
Under OBO the viewer and the fan in the arena sees a series of X.Y marks (under original OBO) or a string of unpaired X.Y marks (under the interim system), that are relative and make no sense to the viewers, even when a string of ordinals comes up. And even if the placements are good, they have to be factored with QR/SP or CD/OD points to get the final standings.berthes ghost said:Yes, I know that COP is the darling of skating nerds on the web world wide, but mark my words, it's clutter of meaningless marks all over the TV screen is going to alinate so many casual or would-be fans, that the sport is going to hemerage fans like a war torn nation.
I think that skating has no one to blame but itself. I can think of no other sports, with perhaps the exception of gymnastics (which I don't follow closely) that has built itself so strongly around a 4 year cycle. The whole idea that a skater peaks, reighs supreme for 4 years and then gracefully bows out to let the youngers have thier day in the sun comes straight form the skating world, and was drilled into the minds of fans for decades.
It has always seemed peculiar to me that men would rather look at beefy lads bent over a football -- not that there's anything wrong with it! -- than pretty girls skating in skimpy outfits.1. Clashing with football coverage (it's a man's world, still).
I don't think that figure skating is losing its audience because Michelle Kwan wins everything. When Michael Jordan was winning everything with the Chicago Bulls, the Bulls were still the biggest draw in the NBA, even when people in other cities came out to root against him.4. Michelle fills the ladies final at Nats but what does the casual viewer say? Oh Yes, Michelle again? or oh no, Michelle again and that's why Sasha, Jenny, whoever, can't become a star. Just have heard this.
Are you saying that the whole sport of figure skating is losing its audience and hence its television contract because Michelle Kwan does not have an Olympic Gold medal? Come on. Michelle is big, but is she THAT big?We have Kwan, the Oly underdog, who many love, but she doesn't have the big prize that the casual viewers consider the medal one must have.
???We have one.For casual viewers we need a truly gorgeous skate Goddess from our country-a la Hamill and Fleming.
Yes, people still like to see Katerina Witt perform. That's why Kat gets the big endorsement contracts and the big appearance fees, it's why she skates last at every COI show, why audiences go crazy whenever she performs...Oh, wait, that's not Katerina...With the gold, willing to stay 4 years more for a second Oly a la Witt. People still like to watch her.
But NASCAR?? How many kids grow up with a race car in their garage??