63 replies to this topic

[statman]

in the world of skiing!

 

I feel the F1 overlord deserves more recognition, also on this forum!

 

Former Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone (91) is set to be to become a member of an International Ski Federation (FIS) advisory board.

 

 

During his campaign for the FIS Presidency earlier this year, Eliasch said skiing required "new thinking" regarding television rights, streaming rights and social media. "Bernie did an incredible amount of things in Formula 1," Eliasch said, according to Kleine Zeitung. "Thanks to his input, it is now a global super-sport.

 

"I said it depends what you want me to do, what I can do to help," Ecclestone said. "You won’t see me skiing, that’s for sure."

 

[Cliff]

Although an absolute legend for growing F1 to what it is today. I think he's probably the last person to ask how to grow it using all the new media, as he was always very against it.

[Spillage]

Let me guess... sprinklers on the Alpine courses?

[Collombin]

I wouldn't mind his medals system in skiing actually. 2nd place gets too many World Cup points at present, although at least in skiing it's more difficult to ski for a safe 2nd as you don't know what position you are in until you finish.

[Myrvold]

Well. Alpine, Biathlon and Cross Country to the middle east in a few years then!

[KWSN - DSM]

He is 90 years old... Is it not time to slow down and enjoy life?

[Anja]

He is 90 years old... Is it not time to slow down and enjoy life?

 

I suppose for some people work is life. 

[markpenske]

Skiing? that's a slippery slope

[Widefoot2]

Skiing? that's a slippery slope

Ice what you did there...

[Anderis]

He is 90 years old... Is it not time to slow down and enjoy life?

Perhaps there are people out there who don't really find it enjoyable to slow down too much? And I can't blame them. The last thing people with some type of personalities would like to find out is that they no longer have anything to offer the society.

[OvDrone]

If Bernie would still be at the helm of this sport, I wouldn't have women friends bring up Sainz vs. LeClerc randomly at the downtown café.

 

F1 is more popular than it has ever been and it's all because of it's very strong social media game. Something that ol'Bern had a fossilized vinegar-drenched loathing for.

 

Good luck to anyone on any of their enterprises and endeavors. Even to the seemingly undead. 

Edited by OvDrone, 27 October 2021 - 13:55.

[KWSN - DSM]

Perhaps there are people out there who don't really find it enjoyable to slow down too much? And I can't blame them. The last thing people with some type of personalities would like to find out is that they no longer have anything to offer the society.

 

And here I am ready to go now, and firmly set to have last day at work October 31st, 2028.

[F1matt]

If Bernie would still be at the helm of this sport, I wouldn't have women friends bring up Sainz vs. LeClerc randomly at the downtown café.

 

F1 is more popular than it has ever been and it's all because of it's very strong social media game. Something that ol'Bern had a fossilized vinegar-drenched loathing for.

 

Good luck to anyone on any of their enterprises and endeavors. Even to the seemingly undead. 

 

 

I couldn't find any viewing figures don't back that up, good news if true.

[Frank Tuesday]

Let me guess... sprinklers on the Alpine courses?

Random Yeti attacks. Gates will be voluntary because staying inside the gates is the fastest way down, so missing one is only slowing skiers down.

[Red5ive]

Catch fencing to be made of barbed wire to keep everyone on the course.

[Pete_f1]

Time penalty every time you go outside the blue lines

[AustinF1]

IN, for the many memes that this will surely generate...

[BRG]

At least it will distract him from sticking his oar in on F1 matters.  

 

It's gonna be a shock for him when he finds out that domestic appliances. ..sorry, I mean women, have their own series of races.

[ANF]

I found this from a couple of days ago:

'Ski racing enthusiasts in the United States were nearly left out in the cold when it came to viewing the season-opening women’s World Cup GS race from Soelden, Austria.
 Coming down to the wire on Friday afternoon, U.S. rights holder NBC and International Management Group, who handles the broadcast rights for the Austrian Ski Federation, were yet to finalize a rights agreement to broadcast the traditional opening races on the Rettenbach Glacier race course.

 ...
 [FIS president Johan Eliasch] vows to centralize the media rights of FIS assets, ideally bring in-house FIS control over broadcast and digital rights to races, ultimately make life easier and provide one-stop shopping for international broadcasters. Eliasch said this need to happen “as soon as possible.”
 As Ski Racing reported in 2017 https://skiracing.co...-cup-tv-rights/ acquiring World Cup broadcast rights is a complicated matter, which requires broadcasters — NBC in this case — to strike deals with several different European rights-holders.'
https://skiracing.co...dcast-troubles/

[Celloman]

FIS is another one of those old boy's clubs that makes Bernie look fresh. Their marketing is behind what F1 was doing 30 years ago. The only sport that is remotely popular in more than a select few countries are the various slalom disciplines.

 

Nordic skiing sports like cross-country, ski jumping and Nordic combined would have a lot more potential with a properly thought of TV concept. Having watch those for over 20 years, there hasn't been any development other than moving every skiing discipline from interval to mass start, which hasn't really improved the show.

[Collombin]

Alpine skiing now has a lot more of those parallel slalom/city event races these days which are no doubt friendlier to the attention span of the average youth of today but I can't stand them, being an old boy.

[FirstnameLastname]

Fair play to him for even being arsed with any sort of work given his age and wealth. He’d be forgiven for sitting on a beach somewhere frolicking with money chasing young women until he’s spent the lot.

[ARTGP]

For some people, even "retirement" becomes boring.

[Fastcake]

I found this from a couple of days ago:

'Ski racing enthusiasts in the United States were nearly left out in the cold when it came to viewing the season-opening women’s World Cup GS race from Soelden, Austria.
 Coming down to the wire on Friday afternoon, U.S. rights holder NBC and International Management Group, who handles the broadcast rights for the Austrian Ski Federation, were yet to finalize a rights agreement to broadcast the traditional opening races on the Rettenbach Glacier race course.

 ...
 [FIS president Johan Eliasch] vows to centralize the media rights of FIS assets, ideally bring in-house FIS control over broadcast and digital rights to races, ultimately make life easier and provide one-stop shopping for international broadcasters. Eliasch said this need to happen “as soon as possible.”
 As Ski Racing reported in 2017 https://skiracing.co...-cup-tv-rights/ acquiring World Cup broadcast rights is a complicated matter, which requires broadcasters — NBC in this case — to strike deals with several different European rights-holders.'
https://skiracing.co...dcast-troubles/

I wanted to join in with the mockery, but this is essentially what Bernie did in the old days. I guess there's a logic to getting him involved, although why the ski folk didn't call up someone a tad more up to date with the modern broadcasting world is still a fair question.

[danmills]

Ice what you did there...

 

You guys are taking the piste! 

Edited by danmills, 27 October 2021 - 19:41.

[Rodaknee]

CVC will be licking their lips.

 

Apparently Johan Eliasch only has the presidency until next summer, which explains the rush.  He's one of these busy people you've never heard of, but had fingers in businesses across the globe.

[Rodaknee]

 

Nordic skiing sports like cross-country, ski jumping and Nordic combined would have a lot more potential with a properly thought of TV concept. Having watch those for over 20 years, there hasn't been any development other than moving every skiing discipline from interval to mass start, which hasn't really improved the show.

Skiing has limited appeal.  If they get greedy over broadcasting, they will alienate their current viewers for the sake of a few quid going into the pockets of organisers.

[sheSgoTthElooK]

Old man needs money. Sorry, not sorry. 
 

The best about this one... I love also winter sports and we will have Olympics soon  .. 

[Izzyeviel]

You guys are taking the piste! 

 The puns will be going downhill from here..,

[noriaki]

I couldn't find any viewing figures don't back that up, good news if true.

Sticking to just the traditional TV viewing figures is an outdated model of measuring popularity these days because the kids don't even watch TV. Today a huge amount of people are following the sport mostly through channels such as Youtube highlights, social media and DtS.

Those fans may not be purists but they still count as eyeballs from the sponsors and the manufacturers point of view. And hence, popularity.

[Ferrim]

Sticking to just the traditional TV viewing figures is an outdated model of measuring popularity these days because the kids don't even watch TV. Today a huge amount of people are following the sport mostly through channels such as Youtube highlights, social media and DtS.

Those fans may not be purists but they still count as eyeballs from the sponsors and the manufacturers point of view. And hence, popularity.

I watched pretty much every single race between 2003 and 2012, then I got a life and started missing more and more races: by the point I got a kid in 2015, I didn't even missed not watching them at all I still followed results and the like, but I feel that I would have eventually dropped it out if it wasn't for the massive improvement of YouTube coverage under Liberty.

Since the last year, I'm back to watching most races. I probably would have tried to come back on my own at some point - but would I have reconnected with the sport in, say, 2025 or 2030, when all drivers and the main figures from "my time" had retired? For sure it would have been less likely. And now my elder son has become a bit of a fan as well

Edited by Ferrim, 28 October 2021 - 06:32.

[absinthedude]

Skiing has limited appeal.  If they get greedy over broadcasting, they will alienate their current viewers for the sake of a few quid going into the pockets of organisers.

 

They used to say that about F1 in the 70s and early 80s.....then Bernie actually did what Skiing needs, and it snowballed. F1, not the ski slope.

[Sterzo]

Ecclestone's willingness to pay for safety improvements was a benefit to the sport. Nothing else he and Mosley did improved it. Yes he "grew" the sport, i.e. commercialised it, screwed billions of pounds out of it, and left the stink of questionable deals all around. Good luck skiing.

[Red5ive]

Whatever next - Sepp Blatter to provide advice to Professional Darts  ??

[mkad]

Nordic skiing sports like cross-country, ski jumping and Nordic combined would have a lot more potential with a properly thought of TV concept. Having watch those for over 20 years, there hasn't been any development other than moving every skiing discipline from interval to mass start, which hasn't really improved the show.

 

Yep, I agree. Something like biathlon has IMHO a much better rhythm in their weekends and they usually follow the same format. Every weekend is different in cross-country skiing and we actually don't see the same competitors every weekend as some only do sprints and some do longer distances.

 

I saw some older cross-country footage (from ~1998-2002) and was surprised that they used picture in picture. At some point during the last ~15 years they have forgotten that those kind of things are available and they make it easier to follow the competition.

[Sterzo]

Whatever next - Sepp Blatter to provide advice to Professional Darts  ??

And sadly Bernie Madoff the ponzi scheme expert is no longer with us, so who will help Bog Snorkeling to grow its sport?

[jjcale]

To be fair - BE is possibly the most qualified person in the world to advise a sport on going from 0-100 in terms of TV rights .... maybe not so much streaming and new media

 

... but then the money is still very much in TV rights ... so at least he can tell you how not to be seduced by the prospect of future streaming/new media deals to the detriment of here and now TV deals. 

 

Potentially a great appointment for skiing ... I hope all sides make lots of money.  

[absinthedude]

Ecclestone's willingness to pay for safety improvements was a benefit to the sport. Nothing else he and Mosley did improved it. Yes he "grew" the sport, i.e. commercialised it, screwed billions of pounds out of it, and left the stink of questionable deals all around. Good luck skiing.

 

He sorted out the TV rights. Instead of every host country separately owning rights to national races and broadcasters (plus video tape distributors and later digital content providers) needing to make separate deals with all these national broadcasters.....what we now know as FOM took everything under it's one umbrella. That allowed a more consistent presentation and made it much less difficult to market the championship. Prior to that, season reviews were nigh on impossible. And it was even difficult to have every race broadcast on the same station for any given year. Bernie made access to F1 TV images much easier, which is ultimately what grew the sport in the 80s, 90s and 00s. 

 

Now, I haven't watched World Cup skiing since Pirmin Zubriggen was at the top, but I recall a highlights package on BBC2 back then. If every event separately owns the "moving image" rights then it's a nightmare for a broadcaster or digital content platform to actually offer every event. Maybe that's part of the reason why they feel Bernie can help.

 

All that said, I wouldn't buy a used car from him.

[Collombin]

Now, I haven't watched World Cup skiing since Pirmin Zubriggen was at the top, but I recall a highlights package on BBC2 back then

I felt very old when his son appeared on the World Cup tour. The BBC2 show was heavily focused on the men's downhill, nowadays I get to see virtually every race live on Eurosport. Don't f*** that up please Bernie.

[BRG]

The BBC2 show was heavily focused on the men's downhill, nowadays I get to see virtually every race live on Eurosport. Don't f*** that up please Bernie.

Eurosport's coverage will be the first to go, in favour of getting it all behind a pay-wall.  That is all that Bernie knows about.  Sell the rights to Sky or BT or whoever, count the cash and wonder why nobody is interested in ski sport any more.

[Fastcake]

Eurosport is already behind a pay wall though?

[FNG]

If Bernie would still be at the helm of this sport, I wouldn't have women friends bring up Sainz vs. LeClerc randomly at the downtown café.

 

F1 is more popular than it has ever been and it's all because of it's very strong social media game. Something that ol'Bern had a fossilized vinegar-drenched loathing for.

 

Good luck to anyone on any of their enterprises and endeavors. Even to the seemingly undead. 

 

 

Genuine question

 

Is F1 making more money for the owners today vs when Bernie was at the helm? I thought I heard recently that the current owners are not pulling the money out that they thought they could. It might be more popular but is it making more money?

 

Of course that is not the be all and end all but Bernie's forte was making money not being popular.

[absinthedude]

I felt very old when his son appeared on the World Cup tour. The BBC2 show was heavily focused on the men's downhill, nowadays I get to see virtually every race live on Eurosport. Don't f*** that up please Bernie.

 

Mario Andretti was one of my first racing heroes....imagine how I feel now that his grandson is probably closer to the end of his career than the beginning....

 

I wasn't aware Zubriggen Jr was competing, but then I haven't watched skiing for 30 years. 

 

Hopefully Bernie won't make the mistake of selling everything to organisations such as Sky. 

[Rodaknee]

Eurosport's coverage will be the first to go, in favour of getting it all behind a pay-wall.  That is all that Bernie knows about.  Sell the rights to Sky or BT or whoever, count the cash and wonder why nobody is interested in ski sport any more.

Not only is Eurosport a pay channel, it's owned by Discovery, who have recently bought the rights to the Olympics.  I don't believe Bernie will get very far with them, he'd be cutting off the broadcasting of the sport in Europe and possibly elsewhere, with sod all alternative broadcasters available.

[Rodaknee]

Genuine question

 

Is F1 making more money for the owners today vs when Bernie was at the helm? I thought I heard recently that the current owners are not pulling the money out that they thought they could. It might be more popular but is it making more money?

 

Of course that is not the be all and end all but Bernie's forte was making money not being popular.

 

Bernie and CVC milked F1 and created a massive debt that Liberty is attempting to pay off.  Unlike the Little Man, Liberty have been spending a lot of money since taking over the sport.  They are half a dozen bosses and hundreds working in some fancy London office block, whereas he had half a dozen minions working in the dungeons under his own house.  We've all seen the wasting of money at Liberty, if they can't control that, F1 could be on the financial slippery slope.

.
 

[danmills]

 The puns will be going downhill from here..,

 

You say that, I expected an avalanche of one liners to follow... 

[Risil]

You say that, I expected an avalanche of one liners to follow...

I guess skiing's already seen its fair share of moguls

[BerniesDad]

Just wanted to say hi on this thread! Go on my son!

Not sure that Bernie is the pre-eminent expert on matters concerning white powder, though.

There must be a number of better candidates - <redacted for legal reasons> for one.

[absinthedude]

Bernie and CVC milked F1 and created a massive debt that Liberty is attempting to pay off.  Unlike the Little Man, Liberty have been spending a lot of money since taking over the sport.  They are half a dozen bosses and hundreds working in some fancy London office block, whereas he had half a dozen minions working in the dungeons under his own house.  We've all seen the wasting of money at Liberty, if they can't control that, F1 could be on the financial slippery slope.

.
 

 

I thought the problem was that when CVC bought F1 from Bernie, they massively over paid. 

[BRG]

Eurosport is already behind a pay wall though?

Yes, in a limited sense. But not like having to pay ££££ to get a Sky Ski channel.