Infront Sports and Media Weighs In on Controversy Over FIS Concorde Agreement

(Zug, Switzerland) – As reported Tuesday by Ski Racing, the controversy over the international broadcast rights to FIS World Cup events continues as FIS President Johan Eliasch seeks to restructure the rights under FIS control. Eliasch’s proposal focuses on centralizing all broadcast and media rights under the FIS umbrella, allowing FIS to broker deals directly with each country’s National Ski Associations. In essence, Eliasch’s model would eliminate the need of a third-party broker, the role currently filled by Infront Sports and Media.

In the interest to understand all sides of the controversy, Ski Racing reached out to Infront earlier this week and presented a series of questions for comment. Infront’s Vice President of Strategic Communications Jörg Polzer responded below:

The following represents the perspective of Infront Sports and Media. SRM will continue to report its views and those of other stakeholders as they become available on the record.  

Ski Racing: FIS President Johan Eliasch is working to develop the “Concorde Agreement” which would shift the international broadcast rights to FIS. In your view, what are the major disadvantages to this model?

Polzer: As a long-standing partner of the FIS and National Ski Associations (NASs), which has helped to develop professional skiing and has also generated a huge reliable income for the associations for decades, we were certainly very surprised to hear about this proposal.

The rash and uncoordinated approach of the new FIS leadership leads to enormous uncertainties regarding the future and specifically the planning of the coming FIS World Cup season.

The lack of coordination with all stakeholders involved as well as the apparent ignorance of existing bylaws as well as valid and long-term contracts between Infront (and other intermediaries) and the National Ski Associations (rights in) on the one hand and the licensing agreements with media companies globally (rights out) on the other hand are the biggest issues. On top of this, to the best of our knowledge, FIS has so far failed to outline a proper business model and plan for their centralized marketing approach.

In our view, the implementation of the proposed centralization model would represent a de facto expropriation of the National Ski Associations. It would also lead to a plethora of legal claims and lawsuits for many years to come with huge additional costs and uncertainties attached. For the fans, this could lead to a situation where they cannot access FIS World Cup coverage as conveniently and widely as it is the case today.  

We have communicated all our concerns to those responsible with a concrete need for action  to avert chaos and damage to professional skiing.

Ski Racing: Is it correct that Infront holds international broadcast rights to FIS events through the 2025 season?

Polzer: Infront has long-term and exclusive contracts with most of the NSAs that organize FIS World Cups for their media rights. These usually run until the 2025/26 seasons, in some cases even until the 2030/31 season, and are sold as a package to broadcasters or other media companies. Most of the media rights are already allocated for exploitation as part of multi-year license agreements.

This successful model has been in place for more than 20 years (based on existing FIS bylaws). It has enormously increased the value of the FIS World Cup commercial rights. For the NSAs, these contracts contribute significantly to their respective long-term planning security and are therefore existentially important for them.

At the end of 2021, President Eliasch unexpectedly informed Infront that we were – according to the views of the new FIS leadership – suddenly not the legitimate rights-holder anymore and consequently could not sell the respective rights on. This letter also went directly to some of our contractual partners, i.e., existing media rights licensees, and led to massive irritation there.

As FIS was not willing to enter a constructive dialog about this issue, we were forced to initiate legal proceedings without delay to safeguard our position.

Ski Racing: If so, does Infront believe that FIS is in breach of contract?

Polzer: We believe that Infront has valid contracts in place with its partners, both the NSAs and the media rights licensees. We will continue to do everything to safeguard our contractual and legal position. However, we are certainly prepared to enter a solution-oriented dialogue at any time.

Ski Racing: What discussions have you had with the national governing bodies? 

Polzer: We carried out the usual communication required to deliver a successful and professional season, including debriefs of the 2021/22 season and all required preparations for the upcoming winter season. In addition, the new circumstances forced us to hold many additional discussions with the NSAs explaining and emphasizing the existing legal and contractual obligations. The communication and cooperation with the NSAs are excellent. This also applies to all FIS staff on an operational level, particularly with the FIS race directors of the various disciplines.

Ski Racing is monitoring this story and will continue to provide updates as details emerge.