Finnish Riddle
World-class athletes running in the races broadcast on the national television with massive ratings and ever increasing interest from sponsors.... Sounds like an ideal Nordic skiing competition? Well, not so fast. Painstakingly, year after year, the Finnish Ski Association, working togeher with the country's national public broadcaster YLE, built a seemingly very local event, the Finnish Cup , into a television blockbuster , watched on TV by over half a million Finns. That's more than 10% of all adult population - massive ratings for cross country skiing! However, with the first stage of the Cup less than three weeks away, it's still totally unclear whether the popular event will be shown this year, Ilta-Sanomat reports A bone of contention is television rights. The Finnish Ski Association sold those rights to…