Federations and FIS agree

“Historic day for snow sports” without the ÖSV

Centralized marketing of international media rights as a leap into new spheres? The ÖSV remains skeptical about this FIS concept.

(Bild: AFP/APA/FABRICE COFFRINI)

The media marketing of winter sports under the umbrella of the FIS is largely being put on a new footing. The International Ski Federation and all major World Cup organizing countries, with the exception of Austria, have reached an agreement on the central marketing of international media rights. This was announced on Friday by the FIS, the exclusive agency Infront and various national associations. The deal is valid for eight years from the 2026/27 season.

"With a centralized approach to international media rights, sport is taking its destiny into its own hands," said FIS President Johan Eliasch. "This ground-breaking move will allow us to develop our product together, maximize commercial value, attract new audiences and ultimately increase prize money for athletes."

Diego Züger, one of the managing directors of Swiss-Ski, also expressed his satisfaction. "We now have an agreement that meets our expectations of centralized marketing. The negotiations have dragged on for a very long time because the ideas between the FIS and us national federations were quite far apart at the beginning. The fact that we have now reached an agreement that benefits everyone proves what we can achieve as national federations when we stand united," he said.

"This is a sensible framework," said Stefan Schwarzbach, board member of the German Ski Association (DSV). "We have been able to contribute almost all of our ideas and proposals over the past few months. As a result, the current agreement is very close to what we as national federations developed a year ago as an alternative proposal to the original, very one-sided draft." According to the FIS, the alternative model was called "Project Snowflake".

ÖSV remains opposed
In addition to Switzerland and Germany, the ski and snow sports organizations from Finland, France, Italy, Canada, Norway, Slovenia, Sweden and the USA are part of the agreement. Only the Austrian Ski Association continues to reject central marketing.

"We also had an offer from the FIS, but we declined after a short period of consideration. We would have had to break existing contracts, which is not in line with our culture of values," ÖSV Managing Director and General Secretary Christian Scherer told APA. The ski association wants to continue its partnership with the IMG agency. According to APA information, the ÖSV wants to continue the ongoing legal proceedings following a lawsuit against the FIS as to whether their approach to the World Cup rights is permissible at all.

Johan Eliasch

(Bild: GEPA pictures)

At its meeting this week, the FIS Executive Board also voted in favor of a long-term calendar framework until 2033/34, which guarantees a high degree of planning security. The centralization will be implemented as part of a new governance model agreed between the FIS and the national federations. This includes two newly formed decision-making and advisory bodies: a Media Rights Commission and a Media Rights Executive Committee. "This is truly a historic day for snow sports," says Eliasch.