Ted Ligety is a great skier and a vocal proponent for increasing the visibility of ski racing. This can be seen in the comments that follow.
“I’ve always believed ski racing is presented and formatted poorly. I can’t think of any successful sports that have a 3-hour half time and fans only see their favorite athlete twice for a max of 4 minutes. I can’t imagine going to a basketball game to watch Lebron James play for 1 minute then wait 3-hours to see him play for another minute. It would not make sense for TV or the fans. Yet this is how a ski race is run. I race at 9am for 1 minute 20 then wait until 1:30pm to do my second run. How is a fan supposed to get into that, live or on TV?”
“Along with formatting changes, every GS and SL should be held at night. That way most tourists near the area of the race (significant number in most winter resort areas) would come to the race for evening entertainment, instead of now most skiers prefer to ski during the day, so the race misses a huge number of spectators at the venue and on TV because people are skiing. (As they should be). This would also create a party atmosphere since there could be a band playing (like Rockfest) which would draw more than just hardcore ski fans, which should be the goal.”
Legity’s comments raise a number of questions, some of which are listed below.
• What is the purpose of professional sports – to determine a winner or entertain a crowd?
• Does the fact that skiing is a winter sport limit its appeal as a spectator sport – no matter the format?
• By proprosing these changes, what is Legity ultimately trying to market?
• Would Legity’s proposed format increase sponsorship, viewership, onsite attendance, and prize money? If so, by how much?
• How would the new format benefit the sport? Would it increase participation, equipment sales, and lesson activity?
• Would the new format give an advantage to a different group of skiers, for example, those who can see better at night?
• Is there other technology that could be used to cover or make the current format more interesting?
• Using Legity’s logic, should Wimbledon be reduced from a two-week tournament to a fast serve contest so that fans could see all their favorites in action in a shorter period of time?
Legity has provided food for thought about skiing and other sports. Do his ideas have merit or not?