The freestyle quandary

This weekend, Deer Valley was welcoming once more the best freestyle skiers in the world by putting up a seamless, impeccably organized and perfect series of competitions. While I'm more a moguls than aerials fans, I was of course amazed at all the preparation, training and workmanship that goes into this sport. Yet, when compared to alpine skiing, freestyle remain low on the International Ski Federation (FIS) totem pole. Why is that? The events are very telegenic, they're perfectly suited for spectators viewing and you can still discern a visual difference between one athlete and the other.

Sure, the competition is judged by a jury, not solely by a clock and the amount of subjectivity that goes into that is undeniable. My sense is that the FIS is deliberately pushing down that branch of the sport to keep alpine into focus at all cost. It further shows that this organization is well passed its prime and must reform itself now or face an unavoidable unraveling in the near future. Here is the perfect example of a series of sporting events that could be run so much better by the private sector instead!