Interestingly, when English football, Canadian hockey and, what is scary to say, American basketball came to Russia, skeptics and conservatives also shouted that we do not need them, that we have our own players and our own cities and something else? I will have to ask my opponents and my critics: they should remember exactly how it happened there.
We must change.
I listened attentively to Mikhail Degtyarev’s speeches at SPIEF. I wonder what the new minister brought. Especially the part where he explained that American sports leagues should be the reference point.
The NFL contributes more than $10 billion per year to the American economy, the NBA and MLS (baseball) only slightly less. “Oh, well, it’s America,” the skeptics will say. This is not a particular ability of Americans to promote sports broadcasts. India’s cricket league, the IPL, already generates billions of dollars per year and is experiencing growth that will soon outpace all American leagues. What they have in common is that cricket, American football, etc. are regional sports, not global – and they don’t even care that they’re not football. They just know how to attract viewers and make money.
Maybe to turn sport into a business, you have to be American or Indian? No, you just have to have a good head on your shoulders. More precisely, several objectives: such changes cannot be achieved alone. But there are reasons to hope.
Another SPIEF speaker listened attentively, Roman Rotenberg: “The SKA’s commercial revenues for the past season amounted to 1.13 billion rubles. It’s an absolute record, the best in the league. In 2011, it was 50 million rubles. Growth 22 times!
I don’t follow hockey, it seems to me that the Gagarin Cup has a different owner this season, but for me the winner is SKA.
But back to the USA. There is no need to see how to do this, otherwise it will seem that all Americans are advanced and know how to make money out of nothing. Let’s take my native skiing. From the point of view of these same “old” conservatives with whom I began this column, everything is fine in skiing in the USA.
We staged a World Cup stage for the first time in many years – with some success.
Nearly 8,000 people participated this year in the main American amateur marathon, the American Birkebeiner, and places were sold out in six months. For comparison, we have half as many amateur skiers participating in the largest marathon of its kind. And 2018 Olympic champion Jessica Diggins won the World Cup for the second time this year. In the conservatives’ understanding, what more could you ask for?
A lot! This is just a mixture of a beautiful showcase with a “bird in the hand”, dear to many.
The ski federation’s finances were not even close to those of the Norwegian leadership. No money means no normal support; donations are collected for all major expenses, even not very major ones. They don’t have guaranteed subscriptions to professional sports from bookmakers, like in Scandinavia or here.
Jessie Diggins’ case is not an indicator; there is no one of comparable level behind her. Switzerland also had a great runner, Dario Cologna, who won three Olympic gold medals. But he left and the Swiss disappeared from their pedestals. The American team is in exactly the same situation. And all because skiing is run by people who don’t want to change anything – at least while Diggins, 33, is winning medals. Competition formats date from the 20th century; television does not show American and international ski races, because almost no one will watch such competitions in 2024. There are no major sponsors, children do not go to ski races (my friend, owner of a sports store in Wisconsin, today sells 2 to 3 times fewer skis than 15 years ago, according to him).
Now the critics will get excited: she herself said that in mass marathons all places are sold out. It’s the false feeling of “everything is fine” – a relatively small but loud group gives the impression that everything is fine, that everything is happening as it should. It is a mistake. It’s relatively easy to find 10, 20, 30,000 advanced amateurs in a country as big as the United States. And there must be hundreds of thousands of people buying skis in stores and millions of people buying skis on television. This can only be done in one way: the professional promotion of sport and its stars. By all legal methods.
I want prime time television, packed stadiums and national recognition. If you’re not looking for all of this, what kind of professional are you? But something tells me that I can want this for the rest of my career and nothing will change.
Hope now rests with Mr. Rotenberg. A 22-fold increase in commercial revenue is impressive. I’ll probably run again – tell me how long.
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Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
