Yes, why do I need all this – to work on the text, when you can read something, watch while standing, play online, in the end, drink tea with teammates in a quiet conversation. ..
It was Dana White who convinced me. And Conor, who is McGregor. Together, they revolutionized the world of sport. Previously, an athlete was known only by the number of medals he had won and how often he wrote about his victories in the newspapers. These UFC guys broke that order – the media is a partner to them, but not a controller. They have a direct impact on fans and haters alike, as they have made the sport a clash of personalities followed by millions. And the competitions themselves, whatever they’re called, are just the culmination of the process.
And there was (and is) Peter Nortug. I grew up with him shining on and off the track. This guy always knows how to attract attention with his behavior and statements. Attention not only and not so much to yourself. Once I read in a Norwegian newspaper that a sharp increase in the popularity of cross-country skiing in this country was the merit of Nortug. It was he who showed everyone that cross-country skiing is not necessarily hard on men and women on the snow, it can and should be fun. It was during his decade that television ratings soared and funding for ski racing in Norway tripled. And when Peter announced his retirement, interest in the sport in his native country began to decline. And it falls again.
That doesn’t mean I’m not inspired by our national skiers. Alexander Legkov, Sergey Ustyugov, Alexander Bolshunov in different years became the most popular athletes in the country thanks to a combination of victories and image.
It’s just not enough today. The world is changing, there are sports that are skilfully promoted, the public is more and more demanding. I’m sure you need to go out of your way to bring attention to your sport, turn it on, and watch it.
Forgive me if I repeat the obvious: professional sport in the 21st century is ruled by television – and the further away it is, the stronger it is. The English Premier League earns three billion pounds a year thanks to the sale of television rights, three quarters of the IOC’s budget is generally made up of television money! Tennis and the already mentioned UFC do not only build their business around the needs of the “primary customer” – they always try to find something to attract new viewers. Our closest “relative” biathlon makes assessments which, alas, are not available for skiing.
And we are in crisis. During the last season of the Cross-Country World Cup, our big start was watched by 27% fewer viewers than the previous season. And everywhere – in Russia, Norway, Sweden, Germany – the drop in interest is significant. This, to put it simply, means that next year TV stations will pay 27% less money for TV rights that are already quite modest in price.
Fourteen years ago, Charlotte Kalla received more than 100,000 euros in prize money for winning the Tour de Ski, and Natasha Nepryaeva received around half that amount this year. The budget of all world professional ski races is less than that of an outsider club in the same Premier League. And any professional skier understands that with the decline in popularity of our sport, we have to fight back and do it decisively.
I don’t want to simplify, but it has long since become obvious to me: to be watched, the creation and constant presence of stars in the media space is necessary. There’s nothing new here – it’s not for nothing that PSG fought so hard for Messi and Mbappe, and Washington is unthinkable without Ovechkin. To become a star in 2022, you must be active not only on the ice, on the field or on the tracks, but beyond. Mbappe, who is closest to my age, recently launched his own production company. A person will produce online content in their free time from football. And not necessarily directly on sporting subjects – he very often comments on everything related, for example, to racism.
We’re late. Yes, we are in an obviously difficult situation – we get TV shows for six months, we train far from the capitals, we don’t have time to participate in Dancing with the stars. Even in Norway, where the best skiers are automatically the best stars, there has been a strong rotation of viewers away from the screens. There are several reasons for this, but one of them is obvious: when Nortug leaves and footballer Holand and athlete Ingebrigtsen appear, it is difficult for Klebo to compete with them for public attention, while others won’t or can’t.
Without the admission of Russians to international competitions, things in the world of cross-country skiing will only get worse. I’ll still have a chance to speculate on the unfairness of the suspension, but now it’s about something else. If now the skis look bad, then who will if there are no Bolshunov, Nepryaeva, Ustyugov, Sorina and Stupak? Yes, and I with my habit of commenting on the statements and actions of Norwegians. Modesty is not in order here: I saw the TV audiences for our relay race in Lillehammer in December 2021. It’s the biggest cross-country audience of the whole season in Norway and pretty good here in Russia.
We will definitely be back, and very soon. I am convinced of this, I am speaking on the basis of the information at my disposal. In the meantime, I see my task as building the right relationship in the triangle “television/customer – fan/consumer – athlete/performer”.
I will write about what I see, feel, experience. The social media format has become too small for me, I hope to find a new audience that will follow ski racing closely – of course, on .
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.
