We Unofficially reported on Nissan leaving the Freeride World Tour in October. It’s now being officially reported that Nissan has pulled out as the title sponsor of the Tour.
“Unfortunately one of the big sponsors has pulled out and that is bad news and we can’t deliver what we want to deliver.” – Yann Zopf, head of FWT media services, planetski.com
Ok, so Nissan and all the big money are gone, now what?
IMPLICATIONS OF NISSAN LEAVING THE FWT:
1. Russia (Sochi) & USA (Alaska) stops likely won’t happen
2. Freeride World Tour (FWT)will essentially become the Freeride European Tour (FET)
3. Swatch has been elevated to Title Sponsor, but is paying no more money than they did last season
4. At the end of last season, Nissan said it would continue as Title Sponsor, which has put the FWT is a tough spot as they weren’t informed of the loss until this summer
5. There will still be at least four tour stops this year: Chamonix Mont Blanc in France, Roldal in Norway, Fieberbrunn in Austria, and Verbier in Switzerland.
6. Instead of driving away in a Brand New Nissan the winner of the FWT will now be getting a….watch.
7. The FWT is just gonna have a lot less $$$, this will likely affect prize money, locations, media coverage, helicopter footage, schwag, and the overall high rollin’ Euro-vibe the tour has carefully developed.
“We will be taking Nissan off the FWT web site but it is a long process and has to be done stage by stage,” said Yann Zopf, planetski.com
The FWT is 5 years old and came to Squaw Valley twice and Kirkwood once (the only North American stops ever for the FWT). They tried to do the Tram Face at Squaw, but had to settle for Silverado both times due to avalanche conditions. The Kirkwood venue was, of course, The Cirque and the comp went very well with American’s finishing on top.
We are hoping the FWT can find a new title sponsor and get this tour back to what it was. And we’d love to see them come back to California.