Ideas for Safety, the Calendar, and Spectator Experience

Recently, top athletes have openly participated in discussions concerning injuries, the race calendar, auxiliary events at races, and how the Federations manage skiers. As has always been the case, their concerns fuel essential debate.

Many top athletes have sustained season-ending injuries this season. The list includes Austria’s Marco Schwarz, Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, France’s Alexis Pinturault, Slovakia’s Petra Vlhová, Italy’s Sofia Goggia, Canada’s Valérie Grenier and Switzerland’s Corinne Suter and Wendy Holdener. Several others had to skip races due to injuries, including Stifel US Ski Team mega star Mikaela Shiffrin, who was absent from competitions from the end of January to mid-March. 

Shiffrin stated, “The number of injuries this year, especially among the top athletes, has been staggering. A lot has been said about it, and I agree with those who have asked to take a better look at the demands on top athletes…both from a calendar perspective as well the schedule of evening programs.”

Regarding the calendar, the FIS canceled and did not reschedule 16 races during the 2024 season. The men’s World Cup debuted almost a month later than planned, with only two races out of the first nine completed as calendared. The women’s side lost six speed discipline races out of the 23 scheduled.

Additionally, the federations have faced their challenges. Notably, the 2023 slalom season’s title winner, Lucas Braathen, left the Norwegian team, before the first race and recently announced that he would resume by competing for Brazil next season.

For years, people have appropriately discussed changing the World Cup circuit.

Here are ten ideas that could improve the Alpine Ski World Cup. The goal is to enhance the experience of staff and athletes competing on the circuit, those who invest in it, and those who follow it. Implementing some of the ideas is easy while executing others is much more difficult due to their disruptive nature or the time required. Some ideas are utopian dreams that only align with some of the stakeholders’ interests. 

1. Calendar race frequency and auxiliary programs to allow athletes to balance rest and competition and facilitate spectator retention by scheduling races only on weekends. Consider alternating disciplines. Men would race downhill and super-G, while women would race GS and slalom, and vice versa. Standardize start times: 12:30 p.m. (CET) for speed disciplines, 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for GS and slaloms.

In odd-numbered years, the World Cup could end in late February to maintain maximum interest before the World Championships in March.

Prioritize ski resorts at higher altitudes for their likelihood of having snow and freezing temperatures. Are there enough host ski resorts that meet these criteria? Is it better to schedule fewer races with low cancellation risks than more at venues with high risks? A well-thought-out calendar is the cornerstone of World Cup success.

2. These changes aim to address concerns regarding the environment and travel. Currently, teams repeatedly travel across Europe to races and training.  Additionally, this season, men’s teams traveled from Europe to the U.S. and from the U.S. to Europe several times.

Since travel constitutes the most significant source of carbon emissions in ski racing, the World Cup stages should be consecutive within geographic areas to decrease long travel. Scheduling the races in order of geographic proximity,  such as from east to west, would reduce travel by thousands of miles.

While scheduling a calendar based solely on this criterion would be challenging, it is worth consideration. This would reduce fatigue, travel hours, and financial resource burdens on teams. The FIS could schedule the first races for mid-November.

Hopefully, race organizers will follow the FIS lead and aim to improve and utilize environmental sustainability protocols.

3. Event status within the World Cup stops dramatically varies and will continue to do so. I suggest awarding World Cup points, like golf and tennis, based on prize money.

Incentivize organizers to attract more prize money to increase the significance and recognition of their races. At these events, athletes win bigger prizes and earn more points.

A prioritized race calendar could establish a system like those used in other sports, such as the Grand Slams, Majors, and Grand Tours. This increased prominence adds value.

4. The race weekend extracurricular program poses challenges. One suggestion is to replace the stale public bib draw with meet-and-greets. This would allow spectators to get autographs, take selfies with athletes, and no longer watch the sport’s best from afar on a stage while drawing the bib number—a pretty unremarkable spectator experience and time-consuming for athletes. Organizers could involve sponsors by providing samples and prizes, offering entertainment, and taking cues from the Tour de France Caravane.

Five of the top 15 athletes would be available at each meet-and-greet on a rotating basis. Another five would attend press conferences, enabling the media to hear from athletes from different countries. The remaining five athletes (among the top 15) would have no obligations that evening.

After the race, interview the top three finishers on the big screens and for the broadcasts. The awards ceremony should occur immediately after the race (not after 20 minutes) while the audience is still present. If any protests occur, discuss them later, potentially leading to changes in rankings. The risk at the World Cup is minimal since protests are extremely rare.

5. To enhance storytelling and create sports heroes and legendary events, the media should focus on on-demand online content rather than extra live TV broadcasts. A prime example of this strategy’s success is Formula One, which experienced significant growth after a long decline, partly due to the Netflix series Drive to Survive. Currently, Formula One garners more views from YouTube highlights than live TV race broadcasts.

Therefore, the World Cup should consider making race images available and investing in channels offering content on-demand, online, and TV. This could include features and highlights to engage audiences across different platforms effectively.

6. Small changes could significantly improve storytelling and enhance live broadcasts. For instance, after every five skiers, use a short break to introduce upcoming athletes using relevant information and statistics. Additionally, restructuring the current two merit groups of seven and eight athletes into three groups of five would be beneficial.

7. Proposals to enhance sponsor opportunities suggest lifting restrictions on the number and size of athlete sponsor logos. The question is whether we want to attract investors or drive them away. Notably, no one is outraged by cyclists’ jerseys covered with sponsors or drivers’ helmets entirely customized with sponsor logos.

The FIS is responsible for these rules but does not benefit from these restrictions. Therefore, let’s remove them. Athletes and teams would benefit financially.

8. The proposal suggests that the FIS should be responsible for course setting in all disciplines, mirroring the current practice in downhill. In professional sports, it’s uncommon for the course to be determined by one of the racers or teams, as they have vested interests.

Furthermore, before races, if snow conditions permit, all athletes should have access to the race slope for a hill ski. The current practice of granting exclusive rights or priority access to the host country goes against fair play principles.

9. This proposal aims high but does not intend to disrespect the current NSA system. Federations will maintain their efforts to promote the sport at development levels, organize and support events, and manage teams for the World Championships and Olympics.

In contrast, individual athletes would align with private trade teams participating in the World Cup races, also known as the “regular season races.” This trade team system expands boundaries, moving away from strongly associating skiers solely with their country of birth. This shift encourages cross-sectional support from fans and the media, preventing entire countries from feeling disenfranchised if their representatives don’t win.

This setup also motivates young athletes to strive for top rankings, aspiring to join teams of their choice and also be selected to represent their country at the World Champs and Olympics.

Similar models are successful in many sports, fostering collaboration beyond national rivalries like the USA vs. Canada, Austria vs. Switzerland, etc. Federations can use funding currently allocated for top-level skiers to support athletes from a young age instead of placing the financial burden entirely on parents.

Over 20 companies are already investing in skiing, suggesting potential for these brands to sponsor high-quality sports programs through trade teams with multiple athletes and title sponsors.

10. Reducing the number of injuries in ski racing is a difficult challenge. It’s a high-energy, dangerous sport where athletes constantly push their limits. Even in other sports that heavily invest in expensive tools to investigate injuries, reducing them remains challenging.

Significant research is undoubtedly still needed in this area, and researchers must continue to develop and evolve current studies. Some proposals can help alleviate the burden on athletes by advancing mandatory safety equipment, like cut-resistant clothing and airbags.

Truthfully, there has been minimal World Cup innovation in recent decades. A few experiments, like City Events, failed to capture organizers’ interest, resulting in frequent race cancellations. The FIS also changed ski radiuses to reduce injuries, but these changes yielded no measurable benefits. Moreover, top skiers and teams often abandoned Team Events and Parallel competitions, which are no longer part of the World Cup.

Despite these challenges, the FIS successfully implemented some changes, such as adjusting speed event start orders and introducing new TV graphics.However, several stakeholders, including racers, are advocating for additional changes and continued evolution.