– It damages our sport – NRK Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule

– The Ski Association is surprised by the decision of the FIS Council and the way in which this is done. We support the centralization of media rights, which we have done for a long time, but feel to a large extent that we are not being listened to, says secretary general of the Norwegian Skiing Association, Arne Baumann.

For a board decision made by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) on Friday, makes several countries stand up.

– FIS now acts from the top down. They no longer work for the unions. We feel that they have lost sight of their original purpose, says Stefan Schwarzbach in the German association.

So what is the conflict really about?

Prolonged conflict

NRK, SVT and YLE have previously told about the ongoing conflict. At the end of February, Norway and several other major ski nations had a crisis meeting with the FIS.

Briefly, the conflict boils down to this: In August last year, FIS signed an agreement with the company Infront on the sale of TV rights.

In the past, each individual country has sold the TV rights to winter sports themselves. FIS’ agreement with Infront should change that. Instead, FIS would now sell the rights themselves.

But the agreement met with resistance. The Norwegian Skiing Association, together with seven other countries, has refused to be part of the agreement FIS negotiated. This led to the crisis meeting in February, but on Friday the board of FIS decided that the agreement will still be carried out.

– Centralization (of the rights) opens the door to a world of possibilities in media and content production. It will increase the digital possibilities and engage fans like never before, says FIS president Johan Eliasch in a press release.

Secret ballot

NRK, SVT and YLE have been in contact with several skin nations and board members in FIS on Saturday.

The decision by the board was made after a secret vote. The board members were not aware that they would even have to vote on whether to force a centralization of the rights, board members Mats Årjes and Erik Røste confirm.

– The question was on the agenda, so there was nothing strange about it. But that the vote was to be carried out, we learned about that at the meeting, says the Swedish board member Mats Årjes.

According to NRK’s ​​understanding, the board did not know how many people voted for and against the proposal. Norwegian Erik Røste was also present at the digital meeting. He confirms what Årjes has said.

– This came into the meeting without any form of case preparation. Therefore, several of us advocated that such a far-reaching change to the competition regulations could not be discussed and adopted without thorough case preparation. It was nevertheless adopted. For me, it is unclear what this change will mean, says Røste.

– Is there usually a secret vote?

– I have never been involved in that during my six years, with the exception of when we award the WC, says Røste.

FIS has not responded to our inquiries on Saturday.

Considering legal action

So up until now, Norway and all other countries have been able to sell their market rights themselves. Now the board of FIS has decided that they should do it instead.

To a direct question about whether FIS is sure that they have the legal right to make a decision like they did yesterday, Sweden’s Årjes replies as follows:

– That is a very good question. The only thing I can say is that there are others who have better insight into such legal assessments than I do. So I assume it’s something you look at.

NRK, SVT and YLE know that several countries are now considering with their lawyers what to do. Taking legal action against FIS is relevant, NRK is told.

– We will now analyze this in detail and discuss what the next step is. The way this happened is not good and damages our sport, says Diego Züger of the Swiss association.

– We do not want to comment on the details until we have all the necessary information and have spoken to our advisers and lawyers. But we can confirm that we are ready to take the necessary steps, says General Secretary of the Austrian Ski Association, Christian Scherer.

The Norwegian Ski Association is also now considering what to do.

– This also concerns legal matters and basic ownership when it comes to media rights. The G7 group (a group consisting of the seven largest ski nations, editor’s note) has had a close dialogue with FIS on this matter right up until yesterday’s decision. This dialogue must continue to clarify what this means for Norwegian and international skiing, says Baumann.