World ski body eyes financial reset after overspending

GENEVA -- Skiing’s international governing body is undertaking a financial reset, including job cuts and plans for new events, to address projected annual losses and dwindling cash reserves.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) was on track to deplete its cash reserves by 2028, facing expected annual losses of 20 million Swiss francs ($24 million). The rescue plan was detailed this week in Geneva, ahead of the first winter season under new president Alexander Ospelt of Liechtenstein, who was elected by a single vote.

Concerns over spending during the five-year presidency of Johan Eliasch, the billionaire owner of the Head ski and sportswear brand, were cited as a factor in the June election. Urs Lehmann, the ski body’s interim secretary general, stated that while the situation is serious, it is not desperate, and that the FIS membership deserved clarity on its financial standing.

As part of the financial reset, an FIS office in Munich, Germany, has been closed, and prize money subsidies that began during the COVID-19 pandemic have been reduced. These measures impact the disciplines overseen by FIS, including Alpine and cross-country skiing, freestyle and snowboarding, ski jumping, and Nordic combined.

Last winter, top earners in World Cup racing, such as Alpine skiers Marco Odermatt of Switzerland and Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States, received significant prize money. Odermatt won 741,000 euros ($832,000) and Shiffrin earned 615,000 euros ($690,000). However, these totals were boosted by pandemic-era FIS money that is no longer sustainable.

Lehmann noted the difficulty in removing benefits once introduced, stating, “Taking it away again is super difficult and nobody did it over the last three years.”

To maintain and potentially increase athlete prize money, the FIS is looking to add more races and venues to the World Cup circuits. "There is only one way — add competitions," Lehmann said. "Can we do this? Yes, because I’m a strong believer that our calendar has more space. We have more interested parties than we have spots today."

Additional world championships are planned for the current year, which falls within a four-year Olympic cycle that typically includes two editions of world championships.

FIS members were informed that while the organization is currently solvent, it is at a critical point. Equity reserves had nearly halved to approximately 43 million Swiss francs ($52 million) by the end of last year compared to 2021, following a second pandemic-affected season.

Although total revenue for the four-year cycle ending in 2029 is projected to double to nearly 650 million Swiss francs ($783 million), expenses are rising at a faster pace. The projected exhaustion of reserves by the end of the 2028 winter season is attributed to factors including a decline in the value of broadcasting rights for world championships and increased broadcast production costs.

FIS members were also informed that the organization had been distributing excessive payments to them, while its staffing levels nearly doubled from 50 to 98 employees. "We had to let go a bunch of our teammates unfortunately to become leaner, more efficient and also cost efficient," Lehmann said. He joined FIS in a chief executive role last year before resigning days before the presidential election.

Lehmann emphasized the need for unity, stating, "We have a plan but this plan works only if the FIS family is really standing together." He added that long-term broadcast and commercial contracts limit the speed of change, with media rights deals extending to 2030. "The effect of having a higher value we will only see in almost four years. I am convinced that we are going to make it but everybody has to know where we stand today."