Replacing national team activities with sponsor teams like cycling is a valid option.
Mika Kojonkoski put the cat on the table. The chairman of the Ski Jumping Committee of the International Ski Federation has proposed that the so-called sponsor stable teams would replace the national teams financed by the national Ski Federations on the World Cup tour.
A similar operating model is already in use in the Ski Classics series of marathon skiing trips.
Iltalehti’s skiing expert Reijo Jylhä considers it possible that sponsor stables would gain a foothold in the cross-country world cup.
– A so-called hybrid model has been on the table. In that case, the national team could be one team. It would make it possible for some of the skiers to be in a commercial team and some in the national team, says Jylhä.
Kojonkoski justified his vision in Iltalehti in October.
– One problem with hill jumping has been that the strong become stronger and the weak become weaker. When you are in national sponsorship circles, the successful get richer and the weak get poorer, Kojonkoski assessed and told an imaginary example:
– Corporate teams would be able to support athletes from different countries, so the position of ski jumping would be much stronger and more international. If, for example, a Korean boy had made it by Alex Pointner to coach Team Ruhrgas, he would have risen to a whole new level.
Big expenses
International top skiing has faded even in the powerhouse of the sport, Norway. Pasi Liesimaa
Jylhä says that in ski jumping, the sponsor team model would be clearly easier to do than in cross-country skiing.
– The biggest costs in skiing are maintenance teams. There is approximately one person per team on the hill putting on skis. The sponsor stable’s basic idea of benefiting the athlete is not necessarily realized when the stable has to put money into sufficient maintenance, Jylhä states.
In the Ski Classics series, this is not a problem.
– There is considerably lighter maintenance. The bigger challenge there is with the soldering and the maintenance that takes place during the races, that the guardians can get from one place to another during the race, the expert commented.
– Of course, it is possible that the number and activities of guardians would be limited in the World Cup. But in general, quite a few twists and turns are on the way, he continues.
For equipment manufacturers, the skiing and especially alpine skiing World Cup is an important showcase. One vision is that stable teams would be teams of ski manufacturers.
– I believe that the manufacturers would rather take the equipment to all the stables than maintain one team of their own.
Blinding
Reijo Jylhä works as Iltalehti’s skiing expert in the 2022–23 season. Timo Lindholm
International cross-country skiing is in danger of getting cold, especially now that the Russians are on the ice.
Even in Norway we are having problems. In the Sponsor Insight company’s research, cross-country skiing is currently only the twelfth most attractive sport.
The reason for diving has been offered to give cod superiority in international competitions.
Team operations replacing the national teams could bring new interest to the sport’s powerhouse.
– Norway as a welfare state is changing. There will be new species that take up more space. If the Norwegians were no longer successful as a national team, interest in the sport might fade even more.