Salt Lake City, UT – Dec. 21, 2011 – North American-based Subaru Freeskiing World Tour and European-based Swatch Freeride World Tour have joined to establish a new global competitive big mountain freeskiing and snowboarding structure, with stops stretching from Revelstoke, British Columbia, to Verbier, Switzerland. The move comes after years of both tours experiencing incredible growth in both athlete and sponsorship participation.
In a move that does not surprise this long time competitor too much the two premier big mountain skiing tours have officially announced that they will be joining forces starting in two short weeks (Jan. 4th) at the Canadian Freeskiing Championships at Revelstoke, BC. An announcement this big only two weeks ahead of the comp may seem a bit strange to those less familiar with the workings of the big mountain comp scene. The reality is that MSI, the company behind the FWT, and the Freeride Euro tour organizers often delay the release of important information until the last possible minute. For example the dates for this years FWT events were not announced until some time in December of this year. Not a lot of time for the athletes to make travel plans to get to far flung locations that stretch from BC to New Mexico.
I do like the fact that the two tours are combining in that it will bring more big talent to all the events on both Tours. There is some interesting spin going on in the announcement that made me chuckle out loud though. “The move comes after years of both tours experiencing incredible growth in both athlete and sponsorship participation.“ Growth in athlete interest, yes. It took less than 5 minutes for the Revelstoke, Kirkwood and Snowbird events to fill up this year. Growth in sponsorship interest, not even close! MSI has done a good job holding onto their longtime sponsors, but have added none that I know of in the last few years; while the Euro Freeride Tour has lost their title sponsor Nissan and would not have anything going on this year without the merger. As with most things in the business world this merger comes down to money and money alone. It is not about the athletes at all. It is about the two companies putting on a better show so that they can sell to more advertisers and sponsors. I am ok with that, but lets just call it what it is.
I see this combination as a victory soley for the Euro Freeride Tour and their shady founder Nicholas Hale-Woods. Without combining with the already successful FWT his Freeride Tour would be dead and the vast talent that competes on that tour would be moving over to the FWT anyway. I am glad to have the Euro athletes officially coming to all the big events this season, they were super friendly and fun at the combined Kirkwood event last year, plus they put on a hell of a show. I am however wary about allowing the Euro organizers to get involved in the politics and decision making that will effect all athletes on both tours.
Why am I hating on Mr. Hale Woods and his people? It goes back to a Freeride World Tour Qualifer event in 2008 in Mammoth. Organizers invited the athletes that they wanted for the event and sent emails promising free entry and lift tickets for the event. Upon arrival in Mammoth it turns out that tickets were not free, and in fact were not even discounted. $80 for a day of inspecting and another $80 for the first day of qualifiers. I approached Mr. Hale Woods about this during the athlete meeting and was brushed off in a way I will never forget. It is not the money that made me remember, it was the way he refused to even acknowledge the fact that he had lied to a lot of people to get them to travel to an event that he was profiting from. He is not a person that keeps his word. Even if it is written in an email, signed at the bottom sent to 100 people all over the world.
I caution the folks at MSI about future dealings with this fella. If someone is dishonest/shady once to get what they want you can expect the behavior to continue and increase in the future as the stakes rise. I am guessing that losing Nissan as a sponsor may have more to the story than just money. That is just the opinion of a guy that has been on the Tour for 10 seasons and met this guy face to face. What do I know? I could be wrong. Either way I look forward to competing with the big boys in Canada in a couple weeks. Check back on UnofficialNetworks during the events this season for spin-free daily reports.