– You can say no Markku Haapasalmen and Ismo Hämäläinen it’s worth looking for friends from strong Central European countries.
– There are suspicions that Finland has leaked Snowflake’s confidential documents and information to Infront and FIS.
The above-mentioned quotes are from a high-ranking skiing insider who was interviewed by Urheilu on Monday. The interview was related to the recent activities of the Finnish Ski Federation.
Union said on Saturday, that its result for the last fiscal year fell below freezing by 1.28 million euros. In addition to this, the result of Nordic Ski Finland, a joint-stock company intended for fundraising for the association, fell to a deficit of EUR 632,000. In total, there were almost two million cod.
The association also announced that it had signed a new media contract for Nordic skiing with Infront Sports AG. The current agreement between the Ski Association and Infront extends to the 2025–2026 season, and with the new contract, the cooperation will continue until spring 2031.
When the above-mentioned factors are added to the same equation with the international power struggle in skiing, the deal is complete.
Unity on trial
From October 2022, the Finnish Ski Federation has been a member of the coalition, which also includes Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Slovenia, Norway and Sweden. The eight major skiing countries that go by the Snowflake name believe that they can best advance the interests of FIS sports together.
The movement was born as a counter force to the policy pursued by the International Ski Federation, FIS, in which FIS wants to distribute the money circulating in the media rights of ski sports centrally. In the current model, each national federation that organizes the ski world cup competitions signs its own TV contract. With the exception of Austria, all major ski countries have an agreement with Infront.
The Swedish-English billionaire who has been the chairman of FIS since 2021 Johan Eliasch wants to get rid of the model and take the place of the FIS coffin guard. After being elected, Eliasch announced that he wanted to leave Infront, which FIS sued. Last summer, FIS made a complete turnaround by announcing that the centralized revenue distribution model will enter into force from the 2026-2027 season and that Infront is included in the contract.
However, the Snowflake countries have not signed the agreement drawn up by FIS, instead they have deepened their cooperation and even created the framework for independent competition activities. Last week, however, there was a rift in the unity.
– The eight became a seven.
This was the message of an influential person of a large skiing country and referred to the announcement of the Infront agreement made by the Finnish Ski Association last week at the meeting of the Snowflake countries.
The executive director of the Ski Association Ismo Hämäläinen admitted on Monday evening that the partner countries did not take the announcement well.
– When we are negotiating a bilateral agreement, it unfortunately does not work out that we tell about it (in advance). I was at the meeting myself, where I received enough feedback about our operating model.
The media agreement is the most important source of income for the Finnish Ski Federation. The contracts are not public information, but according to Urheilu’s information, the TV revenues from the World Cups bring about 3.5 million euros to the Ski Federation’s coffers per season.
– In a certain direction, we have broken away from the joint discussion, but when you look at the whole, as you know the economic figures, we didn’t have many opportunities, Hämäläinen added, but emphasized that Finland is still part of the Snowflake coalition.
Hämäläinen denied the rumor that the Finnish Ski Federation had leaked Snowflake’s confidential documents to Infront and FIS.
– No information of any kind has come from us, neither in the direction of Infront nor FIS. We have been meticulous in the contracts and confidentiality obligations we have had.
Why did Finland hurry?
The experts interviewed by Urheilu questioned the timing of the media agreement of the Ski Association. The association also did not tender the contract, although according to Urheilu’s information, there were three other options on the table in addition to Infront.
The decision on the contract lasting until 2031 was also made at the end of the term of office of the Ski Federation’s chairman Markku Haapasalmi: the federal council will choose Haapasalmi’s successor next Saturday in Jyväskylä.
– It is absolutely unbelievable that the Ski Federation did not measure its market value but ended up taking care of its finances so that the old chairman can retire honorably. At the same time, the hands of the new chairman will be locked until the beginning of the 2030s, the internationally recognized influencer estimates.
Haapasalmi dismissed the claim when he heard about it from Urheilu.
– This has absolutely nothing to do with my season. No way.
– We considered that from our starting point such a solution would be made and Snowflake would be involved. I know some people didn’t like it, but we have done this from our own starting points and we are satisfied with this solution, Haapasalmi said.
Hämäläinen tripped the receding chairman.
– This is not focused on the fact that Haapasalmi’s or anyone else’s season is over, but this focuses on the economy as a whole.
– We are not an exception at Snowflake. Germany’s agreement (signed in 2019) with Infront also extends to 2031, Hämäläinen reminded.
When the Ski Federation negotiated its previous Infront contract in 2016, Sweden and Norway were simultaneously signing a ten-year deal. This time, Finland did not follow common steps, but resorted to the available quick remedy to correct the course of the economy.
In international skiing circles, Finland’s haste caused surprise, because according to strong rumors, Infront is fed up with FIS’s inability to implement a centralized agreement and has set the deadline for this spring.
How much did the union get?
Experts estimate that the losses of the Ski Association significantly weakened its negotiating position.
According to Urheilu’s information, the Ski Federation would have received slightly less than one million euros from Infront when it signed a ten-year contract. This time, the estimates of half of the signing bonus of the shorter contract are in the middle ground of 500,000–600,000 euros.
A person in a highly trusted position within the Ski Federation stated to Urheilu that the new Infront contract would not be so small in terms of signing bonus, but did not agree to say more.
– I think what was agreed with Infront is quite a reasonable number. It’s hard to imagine that you could have gotten more than that from anywhere else, the person stated and denied that the end of Haapasalmi pesti would have had an impact on the contract.
– This has still been the inability of the head of the Ski Federation to communicate the situation, especially to foreign countries.
The ski association would have had the opportunity to negotiate the media contract with priority, which would mean that part of the total value of the contract could be allocated to be paid at the beginning of it.
Hämäläinen refused to comment on the size of the contract, but denied the preferential contract.
– No transfers have been made.
Pressure in many directions
According to the announcement published by the Ski Association on Saturday, the association’s loss of 1.28 million euros would have been limited to 719,000 euros in the old fiscal year.
The old fiscal year would have been June 1, 2022–May 31, 2023, but citing operational planning and improved monitoring, the association decided to change the fiscal years to start on November 1. In order to get to the new schedule, the union had to extend the last financial period by five months.
Despite the longer clip, however, the association did not get permission from the auditors to transfer the income from the next season’s World Cup to the old financial statements. The Ski Federation always took the matter to the Accounting Board of the Ministry of Labor and the Economy, i.e. the highest possible evaluator, but got a cold hand to its hopes there as well.
The ski union’s leadership has a lot to clear up at the Jyväskylä union meeting this coming Saturday. Not to mention restoring the trust of international colleagues.