Will US skating gain interest out of the Olympics?

[Dots]

Regardless if you feel there was a controversy or not, I cannot remember the last time regular people, non die skating fans, were talking about the sport with such interest. Today at work it was a big topic of conversation. I love it.

 

[Juliasochi]

Regardless if you feel there was a controversy or not, I cannot remember the last time regular people, non die skating fans, were talking about the sport with such interest. Today at work it was a big topic of conversation. I love it.

Scandal is not going to build up interest in a sport. Being a laughing stock will decrease not increase money from sponsors, audience, which is long proven. There is a reason why marketers would drop a tainted athlete. This is marketing 101. It is crazy to think this will somehow help this dwindling event.

 

[Near]

The team event is the best thing that happened as far as interest in the US, IMO. The judging scandals wipe any gains, though. The ISU needs to get its stuff together in a hurry. Judges need to be made accountable and judge selection should be taken away from the national federations.

The only country in which I expect the popularity of figure skating to increase due to Sochi is Russia.

 

[Beure]

Scandal is not going to build up interest in a sport. Being a laughing stock will decrease not increase money from sponsors, audience, which is long proven. There is a reason why marketers would drop a tainted athlete. This is marketing 101. It is crazy to think this will somehow help this dwindling event.

We will be in a better position to assess how much has changed in terms of interest in four years time. But I think the interest will always be there. I'm almost 39 and clearly remember the Harding/Kerrigan farce and the Salt Lake scandal. They didn't alter things much in the long term despite some heralding the death knell of the sport. Those that believe Kim is a victim of injustice might feel the sport is doomed but I doubt it.

 

[Hyena]

I think we'll definitely see an increased interest in ice dancing. My mom (the definition of a four-year skating fan) said ice dancing was her favorite event of the Olympics - she was blown away by what the athletes could do even without the jumps. Plus, she could enjoy the programs so much more because she wasn't freaking out about whether they would fall on a jump! She also talked about how it seems to have improved and changed so much as a discipline over the years.

Granted this is a sample size of 1 but I think Meryl and Charlie's win, combined with the strength of this year's field in general, being very good for the sport in the US.

 

[lavender]

My mom was a diehard fan but pretty much stop watching after 2006. However she does watch the Olympics but said she's still not watching after this is over. She said she watched other seasons but would turn eventually. She said it's just not the same and think the sport is corrupted. I think once the Olympics is over things will die down except in Russia. U.S. will lose interest. Fans from Korea and some from Japan will be moving on.

 

[Manitou]

Before the Olympics there was some hope that Gracie will be becoming a media princess. But for now I think Mikaela is the chosen one and I expect a big growth of interest in that direction. Out of all the US Olympic women she is most marketable. And she is REALLY marketable! I expect a big media shift towards alpine skiing because of her.

 

[Jammers]

Before the Olympics there was some hope that Gracie will be becoming a media princess. But for now I think Mikaela is the chosen one and I expect a big growth of interest in that direction. Out of all the US Olympic women she is most marketable. And she is REALLY marketable! I expect a big media shift towards alpine skiing because of her.

What is it about theses teenagers? Adelina said she wants all the gold there is out there and Mikaela just said she is going for 5 Gold medals in 2018.

 

[Juliasochi]

We will be in a better position to assess how much has changed in terms of interest in four years time. But I think the interest will always be there. I'm almost 39 and clearly remember the Harding/Kerrigan farce and the Salt Lake scandal. They didn't alter things much in the long term despite some heralding the death knell of the sport. Those that believe Kim is a victim of injustice might feel the sport is doomed but I doubt it.

Of course there will always be some interest but it is pretty much a very niche event with dwindling audience. The corruption is certainly not helping. FS is simply not a sport for modern age. ISU is a dinosaur. Look at the makeup of those judges. The majority are middle old aged white women who are completely out of touch. Sometimes you almost want to require affirmative action. Maybe 50% of judges have to be men and Asian/South American/African countries?

 

[Rachmaninoff]

Nope, definitely not. It makes people talk for a bit, but doesn't make them interested in being viewers and it certainly doesn't cause the average person to take the sport more seriously than they do now (which is not very seriously to begin with).

 

[Ven]

Regardless if you feel there was a controversy or not, I cannot remember the last time regular people, non die skating fans, were talking about the sport with such interest. Today at work it was a big topic of conversation. I love it.

No. People consider the sport a joke because of the corrupt judging. All I've heard is "what do you expect with something that involves judges? It's not a real sport."

The Scott Hamiltons of the world who think scandal is a good thing for figure skating are totally out of touch with reality. The sport needs credibility and fairness to be embraced by the public, not riggage and reason to be laughed at.

 

[Juliasochi]

My mom was a diehard fan but pretty much stop watching after 2006. However she does watch the Olympics but said she's still not watching after this is over. She said she watched other seasons but would turn eventually. She said it's just not the same and think the sport is corrupted. I think once the Olympics is over things will die down except in Russia. U.S. will lose interest. Fans from Korea and some from Japan will be moving on.

I am not sure about Russia. Their nationals attracted very few people. When the other countries cannot win due to corruption, Russia will be playing against themselves, racking up meaningless medals. I mean, look at syn. Swimming, rhy. Gymnastics. How many medals has Russia won? Nobody cares even Russians themselves in the end.

 

[Juliasochi]

No. People consider the sport a joke because of the corrupt judging. All I've heard is "what do you expect with something that involves judges? It's not a real sport."

The Scott Hamiltons of the world who think scandal is a good thing for figure skating are totally out of touch with reality. The sport needs credibility and fairness to be embraced by the public, not riggage and reason to be laughed at.

Yeah this line of thinking is crazy and stupid. Armstrong got all the attention you could imagine due to the doping scandal. I don't think he is financially better when sponsors dropped him like crazy.

 

[ivy]

This is the nail in the coffin for figure skating in the US. Any credibility is gone. I'm sure the ISU saw the decline happening anyway and sees Russia as one of the few growth markets out there. I'll be surprised if skating disappears from all US TV coverage and is only available from IceNetwork.

The gist of most of the main stream media coverage is 'We always new it was rigged - here's another example'

 

[Mafke]

Close results that can be argued - Lipinski/-Kwan, G/G-M/D, Baiul-Kerrigan but which seem basically fairly judged attract fans. Possible judging shenanigans - put fans off.

No one's saying that Sotnikova didn't deserve a medal, I wouldn't say that she didn't deserve gold, but the marks _as given_ were too suspect because they were out of the ballpark for too many knowledgeable fans for that skater and that performance at that competition. A very narrow Sotnikova victory wouldn't raise eyebrows - but knowledgeable fans knew that any possible victory had been taken from Kim before she got on the ice and that stinks.

The involvement of a known crook who should have been barred for life and the wife a federation president just make the 'sport' look ridiculous and about as legitimate as professional wrestling.

The downside of IJS (for the ISU) is that it provides even more ammunition against the behavior of judging panels which undermines fan confidence that results are legit.

 

[Juliasochi]

This is the nail in the coffin for figure skating in the US. Any credibility is gone. I'm sure the ISU saw the decline happening anyway and sees Russia as one of the few growth markets out there. I'll be surprised if skating disappears from all US TV coverage and is only available from IceNetwork.

The gist of most of the main stream media coverage is 'We always new it was rigged - here's another example'

You will not see much growth in Russia either. Again my rhy. Gymnastics and syn. Swimming example.

 

[Mafke]

I am not sure about Russia. Their nationals attracted very few people. When the other countries cannot win due to corruption, Russia will be playing against themselves, racking up meaningless medals. I mean, look at syn. Swimming, rhy. Gymnastics. How many medals has Russia won? Nobody cares even Russians themselves in the end.

Yes, if there was judging malfeasance (not saying for sure there was, but it is a real possibility) it WAS NOT FOR SOTNIKOVA.

The judges inflating her scores do not care anything for her and will drop her like last week's dirty underwear if they perceive she's not helping their agenda (get as many medals for Russia as possible by any means necessary).

These are dinosaurs stuck in the CCCP (in their minds forever).

 

[Juliasochi]

Yes, if there was judging malfeasance (not saying for sure there was, but it is a real possibility) it WAS NOT FOR SOTNIKOVA.

The judges inflating her scores do not care anything for her and will drop her like last week's dirty underwear if they perceive she's not helping their agenda (get as many medals for Russia as possible by any means necessary).

These are dinosaurs stuck in the CCCP (in their minds forever).

They are meaningless medals. China has won almost all medals in table tennis. These days, they are pretty much playing against themselves. Nobody cares. Table tennis is not even a sport that has to rely on subjective judging. I think after this, South Korea is pretty much done with FS. The only country that skaters can make some money is Japan.

 

[hurrah]

this thread makes me want to hum the money song by abba.

 

[GF2445]

This is a principle that is very applicable to alot of things.

If you do something at leaves an impression on a person, even if in the future that person forget who you were or what you did exactly did, people will remember the feeling that you left on them.

If there was any amazing story of success or perseverance or personal triumph that came from this event, people will remember that impression. IMO this Olympics has shown that the US has a bright future ahead in figure skating in all disciplines.