Strong Partnership for World Cup Media Rights

On July 24th, the FIS issued an optimistic press release about the future of media rights for FIS World Cup events. The release highlights their commitment to FIS President Johan Eliasch’s goal of centralization. Despite initial challenges, the FIS and Infront Sports & Media AG have made impressive progress in building a productive and positive working relationship. Now, both parties report a mutually beneficial and effective collaboration, marking a significant milestone in their shared journey toward a prosperous future for FIS sports.

Infront representatives are expressing they are enjoying a good working relationship and the overall tone of the negotiations. They also confirm their commitment to honoring existing broadcasting contracts with their current NSA (National Ski Association) partners through the 2025/26 season.

Moreover, both organizations are equally devoted to exploring new ways to present the sports and boost fan engagement. According to one source, this partnership will benefit the audiences substantially, making it a win-win for everyone involved.

Both entities consider this a vital step towards centralizing media rights. However, they acknowledge the internal negotiations among the FIS members play a crucial role in the future of this process.

Press release provided by the FIS

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) and Infront have agreed terms for an exclusive agency agreement for the distribution of the international media rights to FIS World Cup events for all platforms starting in the 2026/27 season and covering eight seasons until and including 2033/34.

Highlights of the agreed terms:

• Minimum compensation will exceed €100 million above current terms.
• Commission-based agency agreement with a minimum sales guarantee of more than €600 million
• FIS will have complete control over the sales process
• Infront is to provide exclusive marketing implementation and international media operations services

Immediate rights and access to digital content, fundamentally enhancing FIS’s ability to maximize its social media assets:

• Free-of-charge provision of archive footage and highlights
• Extensive rights to photography, behind-the-scenes coverage, course coverage, and the production of documentaries, television series, motion pictures, or similar productions
• Free of charge OTT (over-the-top) streaming for dark markets.

In his campaign to lead the FIS, Johan Eliasch clarified that centralization would be a core part of his Presidency – a priority shared by most FIS members. Centralizing media rights is front and center in the FIS 5-year Strategic Plan and now, with this agreement, FIS takes a giant leap in its ambitions.

Infront has a solid and in-depth knowledge of the FIS World Cup media rights due to its role as a media rights partner of most National Ski and Snowboard Associations (NSAs) for over 20 years. During this period, the international sports marketing company has enormously increased the footprint and visibility of the FIS World Cup across platforms and markets. Until and including the 2025/26 season, Infront will continue implementing the existing collective media rights distribution approach based on the agreements with NSAs.

FIS President Johan Eliasch

FIS President Johan Eliasch said, “I was elected as the president of FIS with a mandate for change. Wherever I see areas to improve our sport, I will do so, even if difficult. Based on our statute changes in 2021 passed by 97.3% of our members, we have pressed on with the conviction that centralizing our media rights management will be good for our athletes, our member federations, and fans worldwide who are passionate about snow sports.”

Johan Eliasch added, “This is a time of enormous opportunity. There are new technologies to be harnessed, new audiences to inspire, and new markets to explore. Since much of what we want and need to do depends on it, centralization of our sport’s media rights management has been essential to our strategy. The announcement we are making today with a new framework allowing for a centralized approach begins a new chapter of prosperity for the FIS family. It will allow for a better product and planning, a digital first approach, more money, investment, and opportunities for our athletes, our disciplines, and our national associations. It will enable us to promote our sport far more widely across all social media channels, reaching a new generation of snow sports fans. Finally, it provides us the opportunity to determine our own destiny. For our sport and a stronger FIS”

Bruno Marty Infront VP

Bruno Marty, Infront Senior Vice President ProSports, said, “We have a well-established partnership with FIS and its member associations for more than two decades and have always believed in the strong potential of the FIS World Cup. This new approach to our collaboration with world skiing and snowboarding will allow Infront to fully support FIS’ initiative and the entire snow-sport family to continue to further grow the value of FIS World Cup media rights revenues based on our expertise and in-depth knowledge of the sports media industry. We trust that all stakeholders involved will benefit from the proposed future set-up and work together to increase the attractiveness, exposure, and impact of the FIS World Cup globally.”