March 31, 2011 (Switzerland) – The Veissemann FIS 2010/11 World Cup season ended on March 20 in Falun, Sweden and according to FIS this past year was a great success with increased audience, TV exposure and marketing, and overall excitement for the sport…so is Cross-Country still cool? FIS Race Director Jürg Capol says YES!

Q. What is your overall impression of the 2010/2011 season?
A. Definitely a positive one. Even if the season analysis is still underway, early indications are that around 2 billon people watched the Cross-Country World Cup on TV this season – we have never before had this large an audience. In addition, there were very high TV ratings for the 2011 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Oslo.

Our work to enhance the quality with TV manuals, seminars, integration of TV experts has helped to improve the production level. Nordic Skiing had a unique platform at Oslo 2011 which will stay in the memory for years: over 100’000 spectators at the 50 km on the final day. Undoubtedly Oslo 2011 was a great sport festival, just as we had hoped, and it even surpassed our high expectations.

During the whole season, we saw outstanding sport performances and 14 nations on the World Cup podium. Tour de Ski 2010/11 was the best ever and we have been able to brand Tour de Ski in just a few years.

Q. Was there something special or new about this season?
A. The season 2010/11 saw the start of a new marketing/sponsoring concept: 80 % of the banners represented the same brands, we launched a clear cooperate identity which stopped the former “bazaar.” Fewer banners increase their value and bring our sport onto a different marketing level. It’s never easy to start, but I would like to thank all involved partners and persons for their efforts!

The implementation of Pierre Mignerey as Assistant Race Director provided strong support and we could improve the cooperation and clarify the tasks with organizers and national associations at all different levels. At the same time, the World Cup organizers are eager to improve their events year by year. Modern times don’t allow staying still and all of us face new challenges, but we are very happy with our way of working together which worked thanks to strong cooperation and learning from each other.

The Cross-Country industry, too, is satisfied with the season, as their sales and activities ran well, and the good snow conditions in many countries also helped. Many of the big popular races registered new records. In short, Nordic Skiing is “in” and Cross-Country is cool!

Contributed by Sandra Spitz