To quote the article:
Never has that sport’s appeal been weaker – in terms of ongoing talent and appeal – in North America than it is now. Figure skating also is all but dead in most of Europe and, with the retirement of Yuna Kim, likely to become insignificant again in South Korea, from which the ISU recently has been getting some $2 million a year in rights fees.
A grim scenario for the sport, which in the early 1990s was at an all-time high in both interest and talent. Cinquanta took over the ISU in 1994, and network interest went from $22.5 million then to zilch today. Want to watch figure skating these days? Pay to watch on icenetwork.com. Ask a layperson who is at the top of the sport right now, and they'll have no idea (well maybe with the exception of Meryl Davis, but that's thanks to DWTS, not thanks to the popularity of figure skating).
I don't claim to know enough about ISU politics or the precise details of what the organization has done with regard to its governance of figure skating in the last 20 years to make any sort of comments on its leadership. So I'll refrain from bashing Cinquanta, the former speed skater who is up for re-election in 2016.
But I do know that there is a palpable dissatisfaction in and around the figure skating world. I'm not talking just about endorsement deals or network interest. I'm talking about skaters and coaches becoming disenchanted with the competitive system, and the proliferation of rigid technical requirements that have basically squashed the life out of the sport. Something has to change...
That's why I'm going to pay particular attention to any news that comes out of the upcoming annual ISU congress in Dublin, which starts June 9. To make things even more interesting, there's a change.org petition circulating that calls for Cinquanta's resignation, and there are lingering questions about the results of the ladies competition in Sochi hanging over the ISU's head.
I'll post updates as I get wind of them!
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