Ski as a TV sport?

Yesterday, I came across a column in Ski Racing Magazine lamenting about declining ski audiences, mostly from TV viewers. Over the years, in order to make big money, professional sports have become shows. In so doing, they have become consumable entertainment and must now do what it takes to compete in order to keep the public's attention.

To stay there, maintain their fair share of viewers' minds, or even progress, they need to be more elaborate, more extreme and outrageous enough. In many cases, like in cycling, there has to be a blurred line between dietetics and chemical dependency to sustain an increasing demand for superhuman performance.

Just take a look a what's going on around us? Youtube or Facebook videos, among others, are replete with hoax, virtual or pieced-together clips that are making the unreal look real. Folks are getting numb to yesterday's action, so it needs to be dialed-up! Unless you've been brought up as a ski racer, or raised in the ski industry, you won't get too excited in watching Marcel Hirscher working his way down a slalom course.

The bottom line is as simple as it is painful. FIS must decide if it wants to make a show out of its product offering, if it's ready to step into the world of entertainment and the big money that comes with it, which won't be pretty, but the alternative might be for FIS to shrivel and eventually go extinct.