As ESPN airs it's Harding/Kerrigan documentary, here is the accompanying article:
http://espn.go.com/olympics/winter/...rding-kerrigan-incident-helped-figure-skating
The media continue to (incorrectly) claim the new judging system is the reason why nobody watches skating anymore. Hello, most Americans don't even know figure skating changed judging systems. Despite the change, figure skating is more popular now than ever in Asia and perhaps Russia, so this alone suggests that the judging system is not a problem. US Figure Skating interests would be better served to drop the misguided "return to 6.0 campaigns".
The real reasons Americans don't take interest in figure skating anymore:
1. There are no stars. Nobody gets excited to see the best Americans finish 5th and 6th or worse every year at the Olympics and World Championships. Nobody wants to watch skaters who fall down all the time and say "I need to do better" after every single competition.
2. The sport is marketed terribly. This starts right at the top with NBC and USFSA. They have done a historically poor job of packaging the sport and delivering it to the public for mass consumption.
3. Finally, the USFSA has failed its leadership duties. Anytime a sport becomes rotten and decayed, as US Figure Skating has become in recent years, it's an indictment of the leadership and sanctioning body. They are failing to develop young skaters, coaches, everything. If there is a problem with the sport, there's no doubt that the first problem is the USFSA itself.
With so much competition from other sports and entertainment options, figure skating will never return to the popularity it had following Tonya and Nancy. But its popularity could rise again if the sport takes requisite measures.
The scoring must be revised to bring personality and creativity back into the routines. A top mark -- the equivalent of a 6.0 -- must somehow be determined to help fans follow and understand the scoring.
http://espn.go.com/olympics/winter/...rding-kerrigan-incident-helped-figure-skating
The media continue to (incorrectly) claim the new judging system is the reason why nobody watches skating anymore. Hello, most Americans don't even know figure skating changed judging systems. Despite the change, figure skating is more popular now than ever in Asia and perhaps Russia, so this alone suggests that the judging system is not a problem. US Figure Skating interests would be better served to drop the misguided "return to 6.0 campaigns".
The real reasons Americans don't take interest in figure skating anymore:
1. There are no stars. Nobody gets excited to see the best Americans finish 5th and 6th or worse every year at the Olympics and World Championships. Nobody wants to watch skaters who fall down all the time and say "I need to do better" after every single competition.
2. The sport is marketed terribly. This starts right at the top with NBC and USFSA. They have done a historically poor job of packaging the sport and delivering it to the public for mass consumption.
3. Finally, the USFSA has failed its leadership duties. Anytime a sport becomes rotten and decayed, as US Figure Skating has become in recent years, it's an indictment of the leadership and sanctioning body. They are failing to develop young skaters, coaches, everything. If there is a problem with the sport, there's no doubt that the first problem is the USFSA itself.