07Jul 2019 by DS News Team
Gambling Company Becomes Sponsor Of Swedish Skiing

Gambling Company Becomes Sponsor Of Swedish Skiing

Money & Finance, Newsfeed
Last rear Charlotte Kalla indicated that she would refuse a sponsorship by a gambling company for moral reasons. But next season she might not have a choice. The Swedish Ski Association just signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Svenska Spel, Sweden's state-owned national gambling operator. Unusually( and refreshingly) for cross country skiing where sponsorship terms are mostly kept secret, the essentials of the deal are made public: seven-year agreement is worth "just over SEK 80 million" or about 7.5 million euros. In indirect way it's an indicator of popularity of cross-country skiing in Sweden: Svenska Spel is used to be a sole gambling operator in the country, but, after the European Union pressure, the country's government was forced to open the market. The big betting companies moved in - and…
Read More
30Apr 2019 by DS News Team
Who Are New TV Rights Holders In Nordic Countries And Why Are They Successful

Who Are New TV Rights Holders In Nordic Countries And Why Are They Successful

Money & Finance, Newsfeed
...In the Part 1 we talked about how things worked up until now, when public broadcasting in all key markets was largely paying for international skiing. [caption id="attachment_11104" align="alignnone" width="1425"] Just to remind you where things stand today when it comes to television markets[/caption] At the pain of being accused of oversimplification, that graph above tells the story not only of who is watching the World Cup on TV - it's about general relative market importance for global cross country skiing. Germany with its 80+ million of people remains the top ski market in every sense ( despite relative slump in performance by German skiers). The Germans send a whopping 8 billion euros a year to its public broadcasters in a form of a special tax. That translates into massive…
Read More
13Mar 2019 by DS News Team
Unorthodox Look At Why XCSkiing Is King In Norway

Unorthodox Look At Why XCSkiing Is King In Norway

Money & Finance, Newsfeed
The Norwegians took such a clean sweep at the golden medals at the Seefeld-2019, that it's almost embarrassing. Let's leave aside the issue of how good the Norwegian dominance is for the future of internation skiiing ( it isn't - and will be discussed in a separate story soon enough) Let's try to take a look at why a nation of 5.3 million came to dominate one of the most grueling yet the most technical sports - and expensive ones too. A word of pre-warning - you won't find here: photo & texts telling you how every Norseman ( and woman) puts skis on straight out of her/his cradle. Not because it is untrue ( and it actually isn't true - big west coast cities like Bergen and Stavanger simply…
Read More
18Feb 2019 by DS News Team
World Championships Seefeld 2019. Why Is It Going To Be Special

World Championships Seefeld 2019. Why Is It Going To Be Special

Money & Finance, Newsfeed, Travel & Mass Sport
FIS Nordic World Ski Championships 2029 about to kick off in Austria. We take a look at what sets it apart - and yes, it is not a figure of speech Total expenditures on preps directly associated with the championship I.e. sports facilities reached some 30 million euros - just 5% over initial budget of 28 million, which is a record low overrun. To be clear, Seefeld proper’s budget is 24 million euros - the rest goes towards preparing Bergisel, the venue of ski jumping competitions. The funding - split between Austrian federal government, the province of Tyrol and town of Seefeld - did not come easy, but it never ever does, so little surprise there. Comparing budgets of different World Ski Championships is a difficult business, but, put roughly,…
Read More
07Jan 2019 by DS News Team
Post-Tour De Ski Musings. Why Blink And Dresden Are More Fun

Post-Tour De Ski Musings. Why Blink And Dresden Are More Fun

Money & Finance, Newsfeed
Ingvild Oestberg has proven yet another time that she is one of the best this year and Johannes Klaebo has shown to all the fans & skeptics alike that he is much more than a sprint prodigy. Sergei "the Russian Bear" Ustiugov is back & roaring - literally and in fights for the podium while Therese Johaug and Charlotte Kalla were sorely missed. Oh, and the Alpe Cermis climb is still a fantastic race - arguably, the most TV & fans friendly of them all in the FIS calendar! Yet another resounding success for all involved? Not so fast. Let's start with small gripes e.g. what the point of having skiers to negotiate first 6 kilometers of the 9 km Alpe Cermis race that are actually downhill - before the…
Read More