Shortly after the Swedish-British billionaire Johan Eliasch surprisingly clearly elected President of the International Ski Association in June 2021 FIS was elected, he kept a campaign promise. The FIS announced that Eliasch will take over as managing director of the sporting goods company with immediate effect Head resign.
Eliasch further owner of Head
“it was a privilege Head Leading for 25 years, but now it’s time for a new challenge“, Eliasch is quoted in the message of June 8, 2021: “FIS has tremendous potential and my new role as President will be my focus. I let Head in very capable hands with an exceptionally strong management team.”
However, Eliasch remained the owner of the company, resulting in a questionable constellation. Head is one of the most successful ski manufacturers with prominent athletes under contract, for example Lindsey Vonn and Alexis Pinturault. At the same time, Eliasch, as FIS President, is shaping the course of the largest ski sport association that has democratic structures. Conflicts of interest are hardly avoidable.
Company registers continue to list Eliasch
The doubts that arise as to how consistent Eliasch’s withdrawal from the management of the company really is are all the more sensitive. Sports inside looked in several company registers. In March 2022, nine months after the resignation was announced, Eliasch was still an active managing director or director there – both at the parent holding company in Great Britain and at subsidiaries, for example in Austria.
Instead of trying to explain the entries and remove the doubts, Eliasch did not comment. The questions of sports inside he left unanswered.
Eliasch’s leadership style under criticism
Criticism of Eliasch’s management style is also growing in the skiing scene. The 60-year-old also wants central marketing tv-Introduce rights – a common practice in the sports world. However, existing contracts stand in the way of this plan. Until now, the national ski federations have owned the World Cup rights and usually commissioned external companies with the marketing. These awarded the transmission rights tv-stations. Many of these contracts still run for several years.
“The question is: How do you negotiate these contracts?“, says Richard Bunn. He worked for 20 years as tv-Advisor to the FIS until they parted ways under President Eliasch: “Wait until the contracts expire? Try to negotiate with the rights holders like in front and EBU? Or are you just being aggressive? I think it’s risky to take the aggressive approach.”
Concerns about the World Cup calendar
At the moment, Eliasch is fundamentally questioning the contracts, says Stefan Krauss. The former German ski racer is Vice President Winter Sports at the Swiss company Infront, which handles a large part of the skiingtv-Rights conveyed – also to ARD and ZDF. Above all, Krauss criticizes the manners at the top of the FIS: “Despite intensive efforts on our part, there has been no personal contact since Mr. Eliasch was elected. In this respect, there is no really meaningful discussion.”
The dispute over the rights will probably be decided in court. Until then, there is uncertainty – currently also about the World Cup calendar. This is usually already largely certain in January so that detailed planning can begin. Much is still unclear at the moment, even in mid-March. “You can currently feel that there is chaos, for example with a view to the next season”says Krauss: “No one knows exactly what to expect. This situation is unsatisfactory, dangerous and certainly detrimental to skiing.”
“Sport is not the same as running a business”
Marketing expert Bunn reports a lack of communication on the part of the president in other places as well. This leads to uncertainty within the FIS member associations: “Sport is not the same as running a business. Unfortunately, I think the new President has not understood how important relationships are – with the national ski federations, with the sponsors. You have to stay informed. If that’s not the case is, the future is rather bleak.”
Even more background information on the FIS President Eliasch, his lofty goals and his questionable plan to have the FIS this year “climate positive” Sport inside shows in the film: A billionaire becomes president – culture shock in the ski association.