Alpine skiing’s umbrella organization Ski Sport Finland wanted to return to the Ski Federation, but the federal council did not bless the project in Thursday evening’s colorful meeting.
In 2008, alpine skiing, which left the Finnish Ski Federation to go its own way and under the protection of its own sport association Ski Sport Finland, would like to return to the Ski Federation. The matter was on the agenda of the Ski Federation’s federal council on Thursday evening, but at least at this stage, alpine skiing will not return to the Ski Federation.
According to Urheilu, the federal council decided in a rather colorful meeting that the decision on the matter will be moved to the March meeting. The Ski Association will inform more about the matter and its possible progress during Friday.
If the federal council had made a different decision, Ski Sport Finland would have been quickly prepared for the final liquidation of the association and return to the Ski Federation. In this situation, the association must be dissolved, because according to the law, two associations cannot merge.
This means that, at least for the starting season, alpine skiing and freestyle will operate under Ski Sport Finland. A Ski Federation insider contacted by Urheilu said that the decision to postpone the return of the skiing family to unity at the federation level was mostly due to financial issues and the cloudiness of the outlook in that sector.
Debt-free background company
The financial periods of both Ski Association and Ski Sport Finland end at the end of October. According to Urheilu’s information, the Ski Federation is making losses of 500,000–600,000 euros. Ski Sport Finland’s equity is in the red by around 300,000 euros, but the association’s marketing company Ski Sport Management Oy is debt-free and has some funds.
There are 38 members in the federal council, 10 of which represent alpine skiing and freestyle, 10 ski jumping and combined, and the rest cross-country skiing.
Although Ski Sport Finland has handled the affairs of its sports independently, at the direction of the International Ski Federation and the Ministry of Education and Culture, skiing sports are represented in Finland by only one actor, the Finnish Ski Federation. The independent sports associations of cross-country skiing and ski jumping were already dissolved ten years ago.