Where have all the head sponsors gone?

Patrick Kueng training at the Swiss Ski media day sans head sponsor. GEPA/Andreas Pranter

The 2014 Sochi Olympic downhill gold medalist, Dominque Gisin, appeared this week at the annual Swiss Ski team media event in Saas-Fee to take questions and pose for photos, but something was missing from her shots. Alpine ski racers never appear for official media events without a hat or headband emblazoned with the logos of their personal sponsors, but Gisin was in the bare.

And she wasn’t alone.

Last season’s Beaver Creek super G and Lauberhorn downhill champion, Patrick Kueng, was missing the characteristic Ovomaltine logo on his helmet during training runs and on his hat for later photos.

As first reported by Zurich-based newspaper Neue Zuercher Zeitung, the Swiss stars from the 2013-14 season were unable to renew their head sponsorship contracts and are currently struggling to find reasonable replacements. Gisin’s former sponsor Alpiq is an energy production and distribution utility that has had financial problems since the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster of 2011. Although the company also sponsors the Swiss team, that agreement ends at the conclusion of the upcoming season and will not be renewed for the same reason.

Dominique Gisin at the media event. GEPA

Kueng’s Ovomaltine sponsor has withdrawn support because its parent company, Associated British Foods, has less interest in the Swiss market these days. The racer describes his current situation of being without a sponsor as “tedious and difficult” especially considering that he separated from his former management firm InfrontRingier over the summer.

NZZ estimates that winning Swiss World Cup athletes can earn between $265,000-475,000 with a solid head sponsorship which sometimes includes support from association sponsors who also want to sign individual athletes, as was the case for Gisin with Alpiq. Kueng’s former management agency claims they had a head sponsorship opportunity lined up for him, but he believed it was undervalued and wants to be appropriately compensated for his past and potential future success.

Swiss Ski’s Director of Marketing Stefan Bruetsch says there are 30 industries active in sponsoring wintersport athletes, whereas the association only has a lock on five for the alpine athletes. This is still problematic for athletes hunting for individual sponsorships because they cannot secure competing brands against the association, and that wipes out opportunities for the Swiss skiers in cars, insurance companies, and banks for their head sponsors.

“I’m not necessarily going to be at the 2018 Olympics, but I will continue as long as I feel I can improve,” said the 29-year-old Gisin. Despite the fact that most companies look for long-term agreements with their athletes, Gisin’s agent Daniel Giger is nevertheless convinced he will find a sponsor for her before the start of the season.