What would it take to bring back professional figure skating competitions?

[chepe]

And FYI, most ice shows currently are staffed with active competitive skaters, with only few pro ones invited...

True, this is something which has changed since days of yore.

OTOH, the best pro skaters who are real money magnets have their own ice shows which are most successful commercially and enjoy most of fan attention. I do not see them interested in subjecting themselves to any other "judging" than the paying public at the box office... why would they? What's in it for them?

If it fits to their schedule, they might be interested, who knows. It's a paycheque, for considerably less effort and risk than producing their own show. Even millionaires like to get more money. And you might not need to pay millions for stars to show up. To use tennis analogue, ATP used to run Champions Tour, featuring stars of the past like McEnroe, Connors, Borg etc. The prize money was not huge: IIRC in the '90s it was usually about $100k per tournament, which per player made it bit more 'rich' than lowest tier ATP tournament of the time, but not by much. So relative pittance for most participants, but they played anyway. And in fact not everyone who wanted to participate was allowed in.

Any way, I'm not suggesting any of this as surefire way to bring pro competitions back, just that this is how I envision it might work out, if I attempted it.

 

[midori green]

I'd rather watch a Stars on Ice-type show that a pro competition. That just screams biased judging or a scripted drama "where the points are made up, and the rules don't matter."

(I edited to make it more "correct" to the Who's Line is it Anyway quote, but I decided I liked my original way better and edited it back.)

 

[Magill]

True, this is something which has changed since days of yore.



If it fits to their schedule, they might be interested, who knows. It's a paycheque, for considerably less effort and risk than producing their own show. Even millionaires like to get more money. And you might not need to pay millions for stars to show up. To use tennis analogue, ATP used to run Champions Tour, featuring stars of the past like McEnroe, Connors, Borg etc. The prize money was not huge: IIRC in the '90s it was usually about $100k per tournament, which per player made it bit more 'rich' than lowest tier ATP tournament of the time, but not by much. So relative pittance for most participants, but they played anyway. And in fact not everyone who wanted to participate was allowed in.

Any way, I'm not suggesting any of this as surefire way to bring pro competitions back, just that this is how I envision it might work out, if I attempted it.

90s were 30 years ago...
Six Kings Slam held since 2024 - an exhibition tournament with six superstar players, USD 1.5 million each for showing up, plus 4.5 million for the winner.

2025 Six Kings Slam - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Diana Delafield]

That was way cool, to me. The most interesting part was not the figure skaters but to see how well some of the hockey players did in exploring their "artistic" sides.

Alas, I think that Canada is the only country that loves their hockey players enough to make a go of it.

Part of their success stemmed from the early training of many Canadian-born hockey players who grew up doing both hockey and at least the basics of figure skating. With an arena in every small town, kids take any excuse to get ice time. Many boys are encouraged to join the local skating club to improve their skating for hockey.

 

[Mathman]

^ Thanks for the insight. Seeing only the finished product, I was especially impressed by the grace and confidence of many of the hockey players in performing elementary lifts and assisted throws and in general partnering skills.

Charlie White is a an example of a U.S. skater who wanted to be a hockey player. One day at age age nine he came home from the rink and blurted out to his mother, "Mom, I just met the best skater I ever saw!" It was Meryl, and the rest is history.

 

[4everchan]

I tried to lure my parents into doing figure skating so I could pick up good skating skills for hockey. I didn't work out. Unfortunately.

 

[Diana Delafield]

^ Thanks for the insight. Seeing only the finished product, I was especially impressed by the grace and confidence of many of the hockey players in performing elementary lifts and assisted throws and in general partnering skills.

Charlie White is a an example of a U.S. skater who wanted to be a hockey player. One day at age age nine he came home from the rink and blurted out to his mother, "Mom, I just met the best skater I ever saw!" It was Meryl, and the rest is history.

And then there are skaters like Kurt Browning who wanted to play hockey but realized in his pre-teens that he was not going to be big enough so he switched his focus to figure skating.

 

[4everchan]

And then there are skaters like Kurt Browning who wanted to play hockey but realized in his pre-teens that he was not going to be big enough so he switched his focus to figure skating.

insert Patrick Chan there too

 

[Magill]

... and Brian Orser. Started off training hockey

 

[chepe]

90s were 30 years ago...
Six Kings Slam held since 2024 - an exhibition tournament with six superstar players, USD 1.5 million each for showing up, plus 4.5 million for the winner.

2025 Six Kings Slam - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

That was Saudi Arabia, their sporting events satisfy royal vanity, rather than first world rules of profitability Just look at what they pay to WWE. Also, tennis is rather higher level in earnings than figure skating. In fact, in the '90s there was a similar event which offered that level of prize money - Grand Slam Cup. I don't know how much one has to pay for Yuzuru to show up, I doubt even he costs $1 million...

 

[4everchan]

Well.. we could go on and on and on with Canadian figure skaters taking hockey in their youth... David Pelletier is perhaps the best example as he is now a hockey coach in the NHL.. not just a skating skills coach but he was named assistant coach which is certainly a first and shows how knowledge of hockey.

Dallas Stars name David Pelletier as assistant coach | Dallas Stars

The Quebec native had a highly decorated career in figure skating and has spent the last 11 years working with the Edmonton Oilers as the club’s skating coach

www.nhl.com

In any case, I am not sure why we moved to hockey but here's a thought :
I do not follow hockey. I don't watch much of it outside of the once every four year olympics.

However, right now, there is a Montreal Habs frenzy... the team is young and very promising. They are in a tough match-up for the first round of the series... but guess who is watching ? I am... and many other non-fans are watching too. It's become a social thing.

One of the thing that would perhaps help bring back interest in the sport would be a high stake event. But no, I am a huge tennis fan and I didn't watch six king slams.. that's just an exhibition for a particular crowd. Not interesting to me at all.

So the question would be : what would feel like NHL or NBA play-off or Super Bowl type of event, involving figure skating so that many fans see it as a "do not miss it" event... or a social event.

I proposed some team formats that would run through the season : perhaps with a final big match up between the top two teams we could get somewhere. What makes professional teams popular is that they are linked to cities and that creates good rivalries. Figure skating doesn't seem to have the demographics for city representation but they still could. In Canada, two teams could be created and be rivals : Montreal-Toronto.... USA could be represented by two or three cities... (West Coast, Great Lakes, East Coast) other countries may not always have two cities but certainly at least one. It could be countries but cities seem to bring out the best (and worst LOL) with fans. The circuit before the finals could be held in the cities too.

Of course, I can have a lot of ideas and many others can... but is there a will? Is there money ??? Is there interest ????? Those are bigger questions.

 

[Magill]

That was Saudi Arabia, their sporting events satisfy royal vanity, rather than first world rules of profitability Just look at what they pay to WWE. Also, tennis is rather higher level in earnings than figure skating. In fact, in the '90s there was a similar event which offered that level of prize money - Grand Slam Cup. I don't know how much one has to pay for Yuzuru to show up, I doubt even he costs $1 million...

Don't even think about Yuzuru, he's damn successful financially, thriving artistically, very busy and quite happy and fulfilled with what he's doing on his own. He made it quite clear he has no intention to go back, or even look back, lol. If he needs an extra million or two, the word has it, all he has to do is set up a photoshoot or two,... takes a day or two, there is always a queue to get him do it, and he seems to be having quite some fun when modelling. He does not take part in other people's shows now, unless for charity or to support local facilities in his home city.... So good luck with negotiations but I do not think he even has a price

The point is that for such a pro comp to be successful you would need several close-to-Yuzu-level stars to take part, and these are very few and far between. But without them, why would anyone be interested in watching a fluff "competition", instead of a good show, or a "proper" competition?

 

[Alex Fedorov]

In Russia (partly due to the ban), several commercial competitions outside the ISU ranks have been held in recent years. These include the Channel One Cup, the Jumping Tournament, and the Russian Challenge. All of these tournaments are quite popular, including among figure skaters, despite the modest prizes. For me, the Channel One Cup is number one, followed by the Jumping Tournament. The Russian Challenge, where skaters compete in gala programs, is of little interest to me, as its judging criteria are very vague. The results of this tournament seem increasingly dubious with each passing year. The problem is that skaters who have retired from their regular careers (i.e., "professionals") could only compete in the gala competition. I don't think fans are particularly interested in performances with weakened technical content these days. You'd have to be Kevin Aimoz or Lara Naki Guttman to change this situation.

 

[el henry]

I see the question as what would we need to raise interest in a pro circuit, rather than complain about cheesefests. Cheesefests worked in the 90s, they don't work now. So what would?

I frankly don't care if one or two of the world's biggest skating stars opt out. Their fans can watch them elsewhere and good for them. 95 percent of skaters on the GP circuit are not millionaires or anywhere near, and I would love to see them extend their skating careers.

Some of the most beloved programs are from the pro circuit. (Videos are of course grainy)

Toller Cranston techno Firebird



Robert Wagenhoffer and his backflips and Wagon Wheel. An overlooked talent gone too soon, the pro circuit gave him a chance to shine:




Why wouldn't we want this to return? But I need to think about how

 

[Magill]

I see the question as what would we need to raise interest in a pro circuit, rather than complain about cheesefests. Cheesefests worked in the 90s, they don't work now. So what would?

I frankly don't care if one or two of the world's biggest skating stars opt out. Their fans can watch them elsewhere and good for them. 95 percent of skaters on the GP circuit are not millionaires or anywhere near, and I would love to see them extend their skating careers.

Some of the most beloved programs are from the pro circuit. (Videos are of course grainy)

Toller Cranston techno Firebird



Robert Wagenhoffer and his backflips and Wagon Wheel. An overlooked talent gone too soon, the pro circuit gave him a chance to shine:




Why wouldn't we want this to return? But I need to think about how

Oh, but we were asked specifically about pro competitions . If you shift the question to the pro circuit in general, it is currently thriving in Japan (and in Russia, I think, though I do not know much details about this one). Just look what Yuzuru, Mao, Daitsuke, Shoma are doing. Each one of them has their own successful show or shows, with other pro skaters in the cast, either also, or only, or mostly. These shows are very different from each other, have different scripts, use modern music or ancient legends, tell stories. serve a cause, or focus on some topics. What they have in common is a star or stars with popular appeal and/or a truly creative concept. Preferably both. Plus a sponsor or two.
That's a starting point. Anyone can take it from here and work on it as they like, just be creative, not simply repeating the same old and somewhat out-dated formats and formulas all over again. Good luck

 

[4everchan]

Shows are different from competitions. There are skating shows all over the world. There are also different professional opportunities for skaters for instance in places like Vegas, cruise ships etc. I think the topic at hand here is " Is there really room for a return to PRO competitions ? "

 

[Anna K.]

What's the definition of "a pro competition"?

Just asking.

 

[4everchan]

What's the definition of "a pro competition"?

Just asking.

That's a not so easy to answer nowadays. In the old days, it meant, retired from Olympic eligibility skaters competing together.

 

[el henry]

A professional competition was judged. Not harshly, but judged.

A professional competition had programs designed to be judged highly. Almost all of them usually were.

A professional tour competition had winners and losers. By the standards of the pro competition.

Professional competitions had commentators explaining the elements during the program (Probably didn't hurt that Dick Button owned one. ) In the clips I posted, you will hear the commentators talking about scores, about elements, about winning and losing.

Was much of it cheesy? Yes, but that is what would need to be adjusted for today. A professional competition was NOT a show and not exhibitions and not galas, although those could be repurposed for a pro comp. Show tours existed at the same time as pro competitions.

And today, very top tier skaters can earn more money competing than they spend on training. How many of those are there in the US? Five? maybe. And that's just "more money" not raking it in. I can't speak to other countries, so I won't.

 

[Anna K.]

A professional competition was judged. Not harshly, but judged.

A professional competition had programs designed to be judged highly. Almost all of them usually were.

A professional tour competition had winners and losers. By the standards of the pro competition.

Professional competitions had commentators explaining the elements during the program (Probably didn't hurt that Dick Button owned one. ) In the clips I posted, you will hear the commentators talking about scores, about elements, about winning and losing.

Was much of it cheesy? Yes, but that is what would need to be adjusted for today. A professional competition was NOT a show and not exhibitions and not galas, although those could be repurposed for a pro comp. Show tours existed at the same time as pro competitions.

And today, very top tier skaters can earn more money competing than they spend on training. How many of those are there in the US? Five? maybe. And that's just "more money" not raking it in. I can't speak to other countries, so I won't.

All right, so what exactly is the difference between a modern ISU competition and "a professional competition"? Given that both are judged, commented, and have winners and losers.

Just trying to figure out what you want.