World Ski Championships in Sweden at Risk: TV Rights Still Unsold

With just six months to go before the World Ski Championships in Sweden, broadcasting rights for the tournament still have not been sold — neither in Sweden itself nor in neighbouring Norway. This was confirmed by the secretary of the Swedish Ski Federation in comments to the news agency TT.

The problem has emerged amid serious financial troubles plaguing the commercial side of classic skiing disciplines in Scandinavia. Last year's World Championships in Trondheim, Norway, despite strong support from fans in the stands, will be remembered not only for the scandal involving counterfeit suits worn by local ski jumpers, but also for enormous debts running into the tens of millions of kronor. Norway's troubles didn't quite reach the scale of the disastrous 2009 World Championships in Liberec, but the episode was painful enough to worry neighbouring Sweden, which is set to host the tournament next year.

No TV Rights Deal Six Months Before the Start

According to representatives of the Swedish federation, the International Ski Federation (FIS), which owns the broadcasting rights, insists that negotiations over the sale are progressing actively. "This is, frankly, quite dreadful. Together with FIS we've spent a great deal of time on this and stressed how important the matter is. We've had countless meetings. There's nothing more we can do from the Swedish side — everything now depends on FIS," admitted the Swedish Ski Federation's secretary.

She noted that the federation has repeatedly promised a swift resolution, but so far those promises remain just that — promises. "Yes, FIS keeps saying everything will be resolved soon. But we've heard that several times already, and now we need concrete results. We've set a clear deadline by which an agreement must be reached," she added.

Ticket Prices Could Rise as a Result

World Championships director Kajsa Sjösvärd noted that the uncertainty surrounding the sale of the rights could also lead to higher ticket prices for the competitions.

Max Burcell, head of the sports desk at Swedish broadcaster SVT, has not yet confirmed that the public broadcaster will air the championships, though he acknowledged the tournament is an extremely attractive event for television. "As long as another party hasn't bought the rights, we're not closing any doors. In any case, there's very little time left, whoever ends up with the rights. Under normal circumstances this would have been settled more than a year ago already. There are certainly several companies in Sweden interested in broadcasting the championships at home," he said.

He added that high costs are complicating matters further: whichever broadcaster buys the rights will be obliged to take on responsibility for the international production of the race broadcasts. "Combined with the high cost of the rights themselves, it could prove difficult to make this economically viable," Burcell explained.

The issue of TV rights also remains unresolved in Norway, where last year's championships were broadcast by NRK and TV 2. In Norway, the World Ski Championships are classified as an event that must be shown on free-to-air channels reaching more than 90% of the population — a requirement set by Norwegian authorities.

Source: sport.cz