“The Changing Face of Winter Sports” by Darrin J. Schwartz

During the mid 1990’s figure skating was possibly the most popular winter sport among fans, marketers, and advertisers. At the same time, US skiing was unbalanced and lacked a strategic focus. But with 10 medals in 2002 and with the upcoming winter games at Turin, it seems the sponsors and long-term deals are more attractive for the US Ski Team who have nine athletes representing different skiing disciplines and snowboarding. Ramsey Baker from the US Figure Skating Association says ‘I think it is important for figure skating to recognize who we are – that there are not that many sports out there who offer that [strong female] demographic’. Maybe this representative is still pondering about the WWF-like popularity figure skating received a decade ago.
Currently, there are many sports and sport stories that appeal greatly to the female gender such as Michelle Wie in golf, Maria Sharapova in tennis, and Danika Patrick in Formula One. Young athletes of this stature were undiscovered at best ten years ago and with the success of many females in snowboarding and many other sports, figure skating is taking a back seat. Sponsors are gravitating toward these ‘action’ athletes and relating to their progressive spirit and marketability. Snowboarding and skiing are true winter sports that occur where the sky meets the ground and the athletes display tremendous athletic ability on a landscape more appealing and creditable to a new generation of diverse viewers.