Black Diamond: Analysis of a lost opportunity

When the United States Ski and Snowboard Association failed to pick up European World Cup races canceled due to lack of snow, there was an audible gasp from ski sport cognoscenti. After all, USSA had been asking for more North American World Cup races for more than a decade. What happened? Why didn’t USSA capitalize on what seemed to be a slam dunk?
    Ultimately, it was the lack of money that was the direct cause. In reality, there was much more involved. Time, politics, personalities, lack of communication and indecision all contributed to the disappointing and perhaps politically inopportune resolution.
WHEN THE UNITED STATES SKI AND SNOWBOARD ASSOCIATION failed to pick up European World Cup races canceled due to lack of snow, there was an audible gasp from ski sport cognoscenti. After all, USSA had been asking for more North American World Cup races for more than a decade.
    Everything seemed in place. Beaver Creek, one of the winter circuit’s best sites and most challenging stops, was prepared and ready for another week of racing. Even the European teams were enthusiastic about remaining on this side of the Atlantic, save for the president of the Austrian ski federation, who can barely tolerate the fact that any alpine race is staged outside the old Hapsburg Empire.
    Officially, the excuse for passing up a golden opportunity was money, according to USSA President Bill Marolt. The reality is that a number of factors contributed to nix an opportunity that may not return for another decade.
    What happened? Why didn’t USSA capitalize on what seemed to be a slam dunk?
    Ultimately, it was the lack of money that was the direct cause. In reality, there was much more involved. Time, politics, personalities, lack of communication and indecision all contributed to the disappointing and perhaps politically inopportune resolution.
    Many choose to blame the FIS. While the international governing body’s rules allow time to slip away unnecessarily, once the patently obvious call to cancel Val d’Isere was made, the FIS management jumped on the phone and started calling potential sponsors. However, FIS procedure is reactive, not pro-active, and in this situation it showed its flaws.
The unfortunate fact is that the World Cup rules state that races do not have to be canceled more than 10 days in advance of the start date. The French being French insisted on waiting to the last legal moment to say they could not hold the race, despite the fact that there was virtually no snow on the Val d’Isere downhill course. Temperatures were in the 60s with no sign of cold weather in the near-term forecast.  
    It was a self-serving decision by the French federation, most likely due to the need to collect on insurance policies. Failure to admit the obvious cost the FIS, USSA and potential organizers valuable time to find both sponsors and a venue, at a minimum 72 hours and perhaps more.
    Once the French admitted that a downhill could not be run on mountain meadow grass, the FIS, Beaver Creek and USSA began to look in earnest to determine if the races could be made up in the United States. Men’s World Cup director Guenter Hujara was on the phone with the FIS marketing department immediately, as well as with Media Partners, the Italian firm which controls the vast majority of the World Cup television rights.
    The thought was to run three events, two for the men and one for the women. All were to be super combineds. The cost to pick up the races was estimated to be approximately $1.2 million, according to Ceil Folz, president of the Vail Valley Foundation and organizer of the Beaver Creek World Cups. Of the million-plus figure, $400,000 was to go to prize money, $350,000 to travel, rooming and food expenses, $300,000 to television and approximately $100,000 to course preparation, timing and the like.
    Media Partners, in conjunction with the FIS, jumped in and came up with the lion’s share of the needed funds, lining up TV sponsors Rauch, Colmar and Visa, among others. According to FIS President Gian Franco Kasper, the combined efforts of the FIS and Media Partners secured approximately CH 1 million, or about $829,000.
    In the meantime, USSA’s vice president of marketing, Ted Morris, and Annette Royle, event vice president, were also working the phones, but having little luck. What few sponsors responded were “offering lowball dollars," Royle said at the time.
    From the event standpoint, Folz and Beaver Creek were pressing ahead. They had taken a sharp pencil to their numbers, Royle recalled, virtually ensuring that the event could take place if the missing $300,000-plus could be found.
    Slithering around in the background was Austrian federation president Peter Schroecksnadel. Very sharp but completely self-serving, he was arguing against staying in Beaver Creek. “Too many races in one spot,” Schroecksnadel was quoted as saying. The Austrians, he indicated, might go to Aspen, but they would not race in Beaver Creek, he threatened.
    Again for reasons of self-imposed FIS deadlines, Hujara had only until Thursday evening, the day before the Birds of Prey downhill, to make a decision. World Cup rules require venues be announced at least a week prior to a race so teams can plan and make arrangements. Hujara had already pushed the envelop on the date by getting team captains to agree to give him an additional 24 hours to see if a makeup schedule could be worked out.
    Marolt was traveling to Beaver Creek from his office in Park City on decision day. He had spent most of the week working on finalizing a massive capital campaign drive to create “A Center of Excellence” for USSA. The drive was nearing its goal of $60 million and with a presentation due to his hyper-wealthy board of trustees on Friday, he did not have as much time as he might have liked to get involved in the detail of what was going on in Beaver Creek.  Still, according the Royle, Marolt was pushing to get the races.
    Over the summer, Marolt had lost two key members of his staff. Bill Gorton, the gruff but sharp two-star general who had been the COO for a decade, had retired. Also longtime athletic vice president Alan Ashley, who had been with the organization for more than 13 years and was well-known in international FIS circles, had resigned. In the past, both had provided Marolt with solid input, but they were no longer there to advise or give a flavor of the attempt to relocate the races. This time, Marolt was largely on his own.
    When Marolt arrived, Royle gave him the bad news. USSA was more than $300,000 short of the mark, with little prospect for finding more dollars.
    All the players gathered in a room around the corner from the team captains meeting room: Hujara, Folz and Marolt. Other key aids such as Royle and a Media Partner representative were present, but the decision was in the hands of Marolt, whose organization ultimately bore the responsibility for the shortfall.
    Hujara is passionate about the sport. He has been good for the circuit and has the respect of athletes, coaches and organizer. He can also be blunt, arrogant and heavy-handed. In the meeting, Hujara was pressuring USSA heavily to take the races. He had a willing organizer, a great course and practically the only snow in the world. The missing dolla
rs did not seem to be an insurmountable hurdle, at least not to him.
    It was not a good negotiating tactic, as it left no room for “second thoughts.”
    Despite the pressure, Marolt made the decision not to encumber the USSA with a shortfall of that magnitude. “We are being asked to help and we worked hard to get enough sponsorship dollars,” Marolt told Ski Racing, “but we are not going to make up for a poor system by using our money to fund someone else’s problem.”
    Under FIS World Cup rules, the national ski federation which takes races is responsible for funding them. The federations, not the FIS, own the television and a number of other rights such as bib sponsorship. The federation is on the hook for the cost of any World Cup event run in that nation.
    Once the decision had been made, Hujara emotionally called it one of the darkest days in World Cup history in front of a packed team captains meeting. "Today sport lost,” he said, and the finger pointing started.     
    Beaver Creek, which had worked hard to make the races happen, was asked why the foundation could not have found the money. With the Euro surging against the dollar, more television pictures from the Birds of Prey course might have persuaded both Japanese and European skiers to come to Colorado to capitalize on the 33 percent discount. With 12 to 13 percent of the resort giant’s skiers coming from abroad, a miniscule percentage increase in visitors would have more than paid the fee for putting on the races.
    Folz will not reveal details of the megaresort’s thinking, but she does indicate that the time pressure was not helpful.
In many eyes, USSA came up looking foolish. After years of wanting more races, Marolt turned them down. Money may have played a direct role, but to the uninitiated, the fact that Marolt was able to raise $2.3 million during a 45-minute “Center of Excellence” presentation 24 hours later certainly did not help the no-money case.
    Perhaps more painful was the fact that the team’s coaches and athletes didn’t buy in. “I call bullshit,” was one reaction. Others were less graphic but equally dubious. “This was a chance to get more exposure at home,” complained one athlete. “How can they not take them?”
    There was misguided anger about the failure of the FIS for not stepping up. Under current circumstances, the international governing body’s hands were tied. There were four other canceled World Cup disciplines that weekend.  Kasper points out that the FIS can not underwrite all of them, nor can it single out one discipline.
    Unfortunately, the current World Cup structure is not working, as Marolt readily points out. Much of the problem lies with the FIS Council, which seems unwilling to directly address the need for retooling the alpine World Cup.  Charged with the governance of the sport, the council is not pressuring management to fix the circuit and there is a question whether it can be fixed under current political circumstances. It would take an unusual alliance of key federations involved with alpine World Cup to initiate true change. Any such action would need Austrian backing as the sport’s most successful federation. That will not be forthcoming under the present regime.
    Given the circumstances, the root of the problem is in the governance of the World Cup. Federation ownership of the television rights is a disaster that can be changed only by the FIS Council, which unfortunately is comprised of federation leadership. For the past 20 years, the council has ruled on minutia and studiously avoided the big picture. Given those circumstances, it is little wonder that those in Beaver Creek could not find the money to get the races.  
    It was a missed opportunity brought about by a broken system.

— G.B. Jr.