World ski body eyes financial reset after overspending and wants to add new events

Skiing’s governing body was on track to spend all its cash reserves by 2028 and has now cut jobs while aiming to add new events to help restore finances.

The International Ski and Snowboard Federation’s rescue plan, steering away from expected annual losses of 20 million Swiss francs ($24 million US), was detailed at meetings this week ahead of the first winter season since new president Alexander Ospelt from Liechtenstein was elected by a single vote.

Rising concerns about spending during the five-year presidency of Johan Eliasch, the billionaire boss of the Head ski and sportswear brand, seemed to be decisive in the June election.

“We are in a serious situation, not a desperate one,” the ski body’s interim secretary general Urs Lehmann said in an interview on the sidelines of the week-long gathering in Geneva. “The FIS family deserved to have clarity where we are.”

An FIS office in Munich was closed and race prize money subsidies that began during the COVID-19 pandemic have been curbed. It's part of the financial reset for the governing body that oversees alpine and cross-country skiing, freestyle and snowboarding, ski jumping and Nordic combined.

The World Cup race earnings leaders across the FIS disciplines last winter were the superstars of alpine skiing who also won their overall titles.

Switzerland's Marco Odermatt won 741,000 euros ($832,000) in prize money from race organizers Mikaela Shiffrin topped the women's list with 615,000 euros ($690,000) earned. Yet they were the only alpine skiers to earn more than 400,000 euros ($450,000) from races across the five-month season.

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