No announced plans for Soelden, World Cup broadcasts

With the World Cup opener in Soelden just days away, many fans have been scouring the internet in search of a broadcast schedule. We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but at the moment, you’re not going to find one. 

There are currently no announced plans for Soelden or any other World Cup races to be broadcast on NBC or any of its affiliates in the U.S. (There is also no plan to broadcast the races in Canada.) This is not a new story — the same thing happened just last year when U.S. Ski & Snowboard swooped in at the 11th hour and provided a streaming link for the opening races. 

Unfortunately, the situation may be more dire this time around. By this time last year, NBC had already announced plans to commence its World Cup programming in Levi and had acquired the rights from Infront Sports & Media, which holds most of the rights outside of Austria and Switzerland. At this juncture, no such announcement has been made, and NBC has not responded to our request for an update. 

Ski Racing has been in touch with a representative from U.S. Ski & Snowboard who has stated the organization, under the leadership of freshly minted CEO Sophie Goldschmidt, has been in contact with NBC and is working to achieve a positive outcome for this weekend’s races in Soelden, as well as future races on the calendar. 

As Ski Racing reported in 2017, acquiring World Cup broadcast rights is a complicated matter, which requires broadcasters — NBC in this case — to strike deals with several different European rights-holders. 

Ski Racing will provide more information as it becomes available.