The president of the International Ski Federation (FIS) has rejected an offer of 400 million euros linked to rights. The athletes, including Marco Odermatt and Lara Gut-Behrami, wrote him an inflammatory letter, inviting him to better study this proposal, which forced the body to react publicly. We take stock of this matter.
11.12.2024, 16:5611.12.2024, 17:05
Timo Rizzi
Private equity fund CVC has made an offer to the International Ski Federation. He wants to start a collaboration as soon as possible and invest 400 million euros in the marketing of TV and marketing rights, in exchange for a 20% stake in the future company which will oversee the centralization.
FIS President Johan Eliasch rejected this proposal. The Swedish-British leader has long targeted a collaboration with the company Infront, in order to implement this centralization of rights that everyone has been talking about for months. However, his refusal caused general discontent in the ski community. Ten members of the FIS Congress and 59 skiers therefore sent an incendiary letter to Eliasch.
Johan Eliasch, controversial president of the FIS.image: Keystone
Stars like Marco Odermatt, Lara Gut-Behrami and Mikaela Shiffrin signed the document, at a time when athletes have been complaining about low bonuses for some time. According to Blickwho was able to consult the letter, Eliasch is invited by the actors of the White Circus to begin a constructive dialogue with the Luxembourg company.
CVC is not unknown in the sports industry. The company worked on a similar model from 2006 to 2017 in Formula 1, and ensured that four times more money was distributed to the different teams. It recently signed an agreement with Ligue 1 and was close to investing in the Bundesliga, before supporters got involved.
With its concept, CVC would have left the FIS and national federations with full control over sporting and regulatory decisions. But according to Eliasch, the body does not need these additional resources. A curious reaction, because the 62-year-old announced when he took office that the objective was to offer prices similar to those in tennis.
However, there is a lot missing. Last season, Marco Odermatt received 47,000 francs for his downhill victory in Wengen. For comparison, a player eliminated in the first round of Wimbledon pockets 60,000 pounds sterling.
The fact that Eliasch is convinced that he has already achieved many strategic objectives particularly bothers the signatories of the letter:
“We do not share the view that many of the tasks outlined in the CVC proposal have already been accomplished as part of the overall FIS strategy. Certainly, there have been improvements in the digital domain, but in most key areas such as business, marketing and product development, which are essential for the growth of our sport, progress is insufficient.
On Monday, discussions apparently took place between the FIS, members of Congress and national ski federations. The mail therefore seems to have had an impact. Or at least, he forced the body to react publicly and express itself on this particularly heated issue for several days…
The FIS says it is “well capitalized”
“The CVC proposal had nothing to do with the centralization of media and retransmission rights,” the press release continued. “This was an investment proposal for the creation of a joint venture for the management of all commercial rights related to the FIS and its member federations.” The ongoing process with Infront would therefore not prevent such collaboration.
The FIS, she explains, did not reject the CVC proposal. However, it would have stressed that it was currently “well capitalized” and that it did not need additional resources to implement its strategic plan. The HVAC project reportedly did not receive essential details.
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However, the declarations of the International Ski Federation did not seem to convince. A second letter has just been sent to Johan Eliasch and the entire organization, after discussions between CVC and the main actors of the White Circus, namely the skiers. There is no doubt that there will be many more twists and turns in this affair in the coming days.
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