Above all, any sport or club needs ambitious people. And who are the most ambitious people? That’s right, millionaires and billionaires.
Do not write to me immediately as an Atlas Shrugged fan. I don’t quite agree with the main ideas of the novel as I understood them. But when it comes to professional sports, I totally agree – it’s the business of the “titans”.
A tall successful businessman wants to win. And how to compare “warm with humid”? That’s right, through your own sports team. Did you see how happy Sheikh Mansour was with Manchester City’s win? A person really has everything that is material in life or can be instantaneous, it is enough to want it – with the exception of victories in the sport of his choice. It is now.
Let’s be honest: teams, clubs, which belong only to ambitious businessmen, are winning in our time more and more often than those owned by associations, shareholders, etc. If I understand correctly, German football basically does not allow the purchase of clubs by billionaires and sheikhs? Well, where is he, this German footballer of recent years?
It seems wrong to me to say: “Yes, it’s football, it has always been popular everywhere!” I didn’t go, the stalls full of black and white photos are not an indicator! In an article dealing with today’s Premier League, this fact was recalled: when England’s top goalkeeper started receiving £1000 a week 40 years ago, it was all over the paper – an incredible sum! Now, even for 100,000 pounds, no good keeper will agree, as I understand it. Yes, inflation, but top-flight football has become much more popular than it used to be. Specifically, it was properly untwisted.
But let’s finish with football – for me it’s just an example and a symbol of how to build relationships between business, television, the public and the athletes themselves. We would like that!
And U.S ? We are happy to announce that we are moving in the same direction!
Over the past few years, we have seen several successful and ambitious cross-country ski businessmen who are willing to invest their own money in professional teams.
They began to lay the foundations for a new relationship.
I think the fans have noticed: the process of moving top skiers from one region to another has begun. As part of this process, I have the right to say: because businessmen began to create specific victory conditions, their regions: to pay for the work of doctors, masseurs, military.
In today’s cross-country skiing, the provision, the team decides everything: perhaps, in this sense, we are closer to Formula 1 than to football: the skier as pilot is only a visible part of the process.
The state, represented by the regional sports ministries, cannot offer better conditions. And it shouldn’t! His profession is mass sport, probably up to the level of a master of sports. Sponsors have to pay for everything else. But the sponsors are of two types: those who have given money (or transport, or places in their hotel), and are no longer particularly involved in the process. That’s good too, thank you very much. But, as you know, not very ambitious. And there is a second category – those who somehow come to the regional federations and say: “OK, I give funds, but I decide how and what to spend them on. The goal is the Champions League. In our reality, it’s the National Cross-Country Skiing Cup. Or a championship.
About what motivates them, it is better to ask them themselves. Of course, I have spoken and communicated with them and I see how focused they are on the result, how much they use the same scheme as in their main activity: tell me what you expect from me, and I I will tell you what I expect from you and in what time frame. I like this way of asking the question!
I’m sure we’re starting to overtake Norway, our biggest competitor in the skiing world. I don’t know why our reporters and bloggers have written a million pages in the spirit: “Ah, Norwegians, they’ve been skiing since childhood, it’s in their blood!” And the Finns are in the blood, and the Canadians are in the blood too. The Norwegian advantage is that there are a dozen and a half very rich people who actively help the best skiers and the national team itself. Here, in Finland, in Canada and even in Sweden, there is none. And in Norway there are – and their names are known to everyone. But it’s pure philanthropy, and so passive, for a ticket to the VIP area and the opportunity to go skiing with the world champion. They don’t really affect the process. As you understand, this is very different from the rights and opportunities of Arab sheikhs and various investors in football.
The problem is that the FIS is categorically not interested in changing the system – from their point of view, everything works one way or another. Nothing that skiers didn’t get less than 15 years ago, and the geography of our sport is shrinking all the time.
And we have the opposite, the current omission of international competitions gives a chance to build all national ski competitions as a tournament of ambitious businessmen. We are moving cautiously towards that, and I like that.
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.
