The Rise and Fall of the Pro Skating World Pt. 3

While increasing the number of different programs a skater has to produce in a year, the themed shows do limit a skater's choices in terms of the programs they perform. Brian Boitano likes competitions like Ice Wars for that reason. "You get to choose programs that, you know...in these days when you do the Earth Wind and Fire show, you do two Earth, Wind and Fire songs, when you do the Holiday show, you do whatever the musical guest is. It's not necessarily what you would choose to do [in] a show, but you know, when Ice Wars comes along or something, if you want to do something special like the Cha-Cha where you can't put it in anywhere else, and you really feel that that's what you're saying for the year, I think it's an important thing."

Boitano believes that professional competitions are an important part of figure skating. "It's exciting, and I think that they have something to contribute, I don't think it's just fluff. I think that professional skating is an exciting venue, and there should be professional competitions because the public likes watching them."

Boucherle agrees. "In exhibition, they fall, they go out and they try it again until they get it right, and then they edit the show and everything looks good. Competition, which is why I've always been involved in sports, is human drama, it's the original reality programming, I always say. You don't know how it's going to end. It's got everything that a good story has, in terms of...you know whether it's a football game or a basketball game, you know you're up and you're down and you're crying and you're happy and everything is rolled into one. And at the end of the day, you know, there's somebody who's victorious and the outcome is unknown, and so, those are the things that are really compelling, I think."

Today, the two professional competitions that remain, Ice Wars and World Team Challenge, are both team competitions. The team format gives the skaters an opportunity to have a fun competitive event while reducing the pressure on them. World Champion Yuka Sato explained, "The team stuff is good, because it's not as much pressure. You sort of do team things, you get to cheer each other, so I like that." Anton Sikharulidze, 2002 Olympic Pairs Champion with Elena Berezhnaya, also enjoys the team format. "It's really interesting and really unusual for figure skating - team competition. And that's why it's fun and more interesting for us because it's cool, it's unusual."

While some skaters are philosophical about the lack of professional competitions, others would like for there to be more. Alexei Yagudin, 2002 Olympic Gold Medalist is one. Asked if he wished there were more pro competitions available to him, he responded, "Of course, because the show is one thing, and the competition/show - it's a little different. I mean, I'm pretty happy with everything, we've got a lot of shows, but just a few more pro events, different type of events, because this year for example we've got the team competition and we've got Ice Wars, the Battle of the Sexes, so..different type, and there are a lot of ways of making the pro competitions. But, it's always fun to skate."

Boitano's explanation for why the remaining pro competitions are exclusively team competitions is telling. "I think that we're all getting older, and I don't want to have to compete against younger guys head to head," he said. "It's just..it's not what we should do. If Kurt and I competed head to head it's one thing, but when you're thrown in there to an Ilia Kulik or to a Yagudin, who's 20 years younger than you, you know, it's not something you want to do. I mean, Kurt and I don't want to do triple axels anymore. It's too hard on our bodies, it's not really a good pairing, so, I think that it's probably gone for that reason to a more team idea."

Kurt Browning puts his finger even more explicitly on one of the major issues professional skating is experiencing right now. Although some have proposed that a more formalized series of professional competitions with well-specified rules and format would help revive professional skating, Browning doesn't believe such a circuit could exist today. "Right now, no. I just don't think we have enough pro skaters to go around in a circuit. Give us a well rounded field of competitors and I could give you a very entertaining circuit of competitions.. fun and exciting."

This lack of skaters in the professional ranks is the primary reason cited by every interviewee for the current state of professional skating. The core crop of well-known, popular professional skaters - largely the product of the 1984 through 1994 Olympics - is growing older, and are beginning to cut back on their participation in professional events. Brian Boitano, though still planning on keeping busy in shows, has said that this season's Ice Wars is very likely to be his last. A whole crop of professional skaters have had children within the same span of time and cut back on touring - Kristi Yamaguchi, Scott Hamilton, Kurt Browning, Jenni Meno & Todd Sand, Ekaterina Gordeeva, etc - which has caused a logical shift in attention for these skaters from the ice to their families. Many of these skaters, their eligible careers long behind them, are not particularly interested in competing. In the meantime, there is a dearth of new professional skating stars who have embedded themselves in the North American general public consciousness to take their place.

The need for names...

"The ranks of professional figure skating are pretty thin. There's not a lot of talent available now for professional figure skating. You know, sports are cyclical. Most all sports are cyclical, really. They're driven by popularity and, but more they're driven by personalities, talent, and who's participating. And some cycles in some sports are greater than others. But that's what figure skating and professional figure skating specifically is experiencing now, is a lack of talent." - Fred Boucherle

"From a broadcast perspective, [for] TV, they want stars. They want people who are going to draw eyeballs to their sets." - Byron Allen

Between the 1984 through the 1994 Olympics, a whole generation of skaters turned pro en masse, filling the ranks of professional skating. In an incomplete survey of the competitors in the Golden Skate Pro/Pro-Am Competition Results database, the competitions of the 90's were populated with over 100 different ladies, men, pairs, and dance teams. Many skaters made a bigger name for themselves as pros than they did as eligibles, and some pairs teamed up after turning pro to skate exclusively as pros. Although the "name" professional skaters were the biggest draws and brought in the most money - the prize money for each member of the winning Ice Wars team in 1994 was $100,000 - between the tours, shows, and competitions, there was a lot of opportunity for professional skaters of any caliber. When the post-1994 boom hit, a lot of money and a lot of opportunity flowed through the sport, particularly in the professional world. Skaters who had worked for years and were satisfied with their competitive careers now had a comfortable place to make a living while continuing to hone their sport.

The rise in interest in figure skating and the increased money in the sport did not only affect professional skating. The ISU had a vested interest in not losing skaters to the professional world, particularly since the professional world was completely out of their realm of control, and they received no direct monetary benefits from its success. Riding on the success of figure skating in general, the ISU and the USFSA were able to sign lucrative contracts with ABC to air their eligible events, and as a consequence, were able to offer large prize purses for their events for the first time. This offered incentive for their skaters to stay eligible. The Grand Prix Series was created in the 1995-96 season as an organized series of events with a well-defined prize money, exhibition fee, and bonus structure. Skaters are restricted to two events per season, thus increasing the number of potential top finishers earning money and points in the series as a whole, while top skaters are permitted to compete in a third event for prize money, but no points. On top of the ISU prize money, the USFSA and some of the other skating federations also offer bonuses and fees for skater participation and success at these events.

"Well, one of the big things which has changed is the prize money in the ISU competitions," said Byron Allen. "Come '94-'95 season, there's all kinds of opportunity for everybody. Because there was so much money in the sport, the ISU started to attach, not just small, but big amounts of prize money to their Grand Prix events, and were able to keep many of the skaters in the amateur world for a long time. So, that sort of lessened the need, if you will, to come out and become a pro skater, if you really wanted to make a very good living doing this."

In addition to the ISU events, the USFSA has a contract of its own with ABC. Their current deal - $100 million dollars over 8 years - accounts for at least 75% of the USFSA's annual operating budget. On top of the ISU's prize purses, the USFSA also offers prize money to skaters medaling in 11 international events, including the Grand Prix. In addition, part of the TV money goes towards three USFSA-controlled events each year - Campbells, Marshalls World Cup, and the Marshalls International Figure Skating Challenge - each of which had prize purses larger than those of the Grand Prix events the last two seasons. In an Olympic year, although the Olympics themselves have no prize money associated with it, the independent federations, including the US Olympic Committee, can and do give out prize money or bonuses to their athletes. Based on competition prize and bonus money alone, top athletes in the eligible world can make well into the six digits, while less successful athletes can still make a comfortable living. On top of the competition money top athletes can also get sponsorships, TV and movie contracts, money from sanctioned tours and exhibitions, etc.

On the flip side, Disson freely admits that skaters are not paid huge sums to appear in his shows. "I pay the skaters reasonably, but they also realize that they gotta hope to keep me in the business of doing these things, because I'm the only one left. So, they don't do my shows, I don't pay them funny money or pay them to become rich. A reasonable fee to make the thing work, and give them a chance to showcase their artistic talent in the shows." At present, top athletes in the eligible world very probably make an equivalent amount or more than they would in the current professional world. In addition, success in the professional world at this time is predicated upon international competitive success on the eligible level, so lower-ranked athletes currently have more financial opportunity in the eligible world than the professional.

"My generation was one of the last to get into skating without the dream of the dollar sign. Truth is, the skater you see on tv is a much better business minded athlete than we were.. except for Scott Hamilton. Now the skaters do not have to go pro to make a living, they can compete at the same time.. this is the biggest change," said Kurt Browning, speaking about changes in professional skating. Pros coming in now are "more business minded and protect themselves accordingly. Skating is more of a business for them than it was for us."

In addition to keeping their athletes from turning professional by increasing the financial incentive to stay eligible, the ISU and USFSA also sought to control the events their skaters participated in. Both organizations are protective of their lucrative contracts with ABC, not wishing to threaten those contracts by allowing their skaters to appear in competing shows on competing networks. Consequently, the USFSA in particular refuses to sanction many events, or imposes a high sanctioning fee to allow their skaters to appear. Skaters can not participate in events without the express permission of the USFSA and ISU without losing their eligibility. The Champions on Ice tour, which is currently the only tour to receive a blanket sanction from the USFSA, paid half a million dollars in 2000 in sanctioning fees alone. Other tours and televised shows such as the Disson Skating specials therefore can not use any of the American eligible skaters except by special arrangement.

Asked why his specials tend to use mostly well-known professional skaters and very few new stars, Disson explained, "The USFSA has not allowed us in the past. Certainly, it's not because of a lack of interest. It's just been...I think the USFSA was just very protective of the role of ABC, and not trying to allow these people to do our shows." The other federations, on the other hand, are less restrictive, which is why Disson was able to include skaters such as Stephane Lambiel and Carolina Kostner in some of his shows this past season.

Kurt Browning pointed his finger squarely at the ISU and the USFSA as the primary reason for the death of the professional world, although he freely admitted it was not the sole cause. "I think the amateur world killed it. That they created these Grand Prixs and they started spending so much money to keep their athletes away from ever doing the pro-ams, and I think they felt threatened by us. Is that the blanket black and white answer? Of course not. But it's the interesting one (laughs)."

The cumulative effect of all this is that very few skaters, particularly the biggest name top skaters, have turned pro over the last decade. In particular, many of the American skaters, who are the biggest draw for American audiences, have not turned pro, a theme consistently mentioned by everybody I spoke to.

Kurt Browning asserted, "Now, pro skating needs bigger names. We have Michelle and we have Sasha but they have not turned pro. We don't have as many North American big names as we used to."

"I mean the amateur thing has so been heavily dominated by Michelle," said Disson. "I know she's in quest of that elusive Olympic gold, but you know you've got some other great young stars out there who would probably get a lot more exposure if she wasn't still in the amateur route. And someone like Michelle who's a beautiful skater, it'd be great to see her in some of our shows."

Fred Boucherle and Byron Allen were hesitant to assign blame to Michelle Kwan for staying eligible, but both also felt that her absence from the pro world has contributed to its lack of success. "That's her choice, and we certainly respect that. She's been one qof the greatest competitors ever, there's no question about that," Allen said. "The fact that she has stayed eligible really, I think, has been to the detriment of pro skating to a certain extent."

The other side of the story is that North American skating in general has not been as successful on the international scene as it was a decade ago, particularly at the Olympics, which is often the only figure skating event the average American watches.

Allen explained, "You know, the North Americans the last couple of Olympics haven't done so well. And the North Americans, they still do for the most part drive ticket sales in North America. I mean Alexei Yagudin is so talented, and so is Ilia obviously, but it is the Scott Hamiltons and the Brian Boitanos who won gold that really were the ones that sold the tickets in the States."

American audiences tend to be more likely to embrace their own than stars from other countries. Steve Disson explained, "There's always more interest when our own home athletes are doing well, and some personalities also come out of it as well." Figure skating is not the only sport for which this is true. Popular international sports such as Formula 1 racing and soccer, both of which have very few, if any, American stars, are huge elsewhere but have gained very little foothold in the American consciousness. Obviously there are Americans who love and appreciate athletes from other countries, and there are non-American skaters such as Katarina Witt and Ekaterina Gordeeva who have become well-known to the American public, but on a general scale, American audiences want to see American stars. And with a few exceptions, most of the successes of the last three Olympics have gone to skaters from other countries. "With so many other countries in the world doing better in the international scene, it is harder to sell the sport to a North American Audience. This is NOT the reason, just one of them," Kurt Browning asserted.

Obviously, American skaters have not been completely devoid of success. Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen aside, the ladies' Olympic Gold Medalists in the 1998 and 2002 Olympics were both Americans. However, neither Tara Lipinski nor Sarah Hughes were eligible long enough to really establish their names and reputations, and neither are actively skating any longer. Tara Lipinski has left the skating world to pursue acting, while Sarah Hughes has chosen to mostly focus on her studies at Yale. These are perfectly legitimate personal decisions for each skater. Unfortunately for professional skating, however, they have consequently failed to make the impression or build the legacy that skaters such as previous US Olympic Gold Medalists Peggy Fleming, Dorothy Hamill, Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano, and Kristi Yamaguchi have built for themselves.

"It's really what you do after the Olympics that sort of creates a name for yourself. Because people remember your name, but you've got to hit them for years afterwards hit them with stuff to make them remember you, remember you, remember you, you know? Until your name's sort of engraved in their brain. And that doesn't happen these days for some reason," explained Brian Boitano. "You know, we have had Olympic champions in Sarah and Tara, but they haven't wanted to sort of pursue a professional career."

Despite the Olympic success of Tara and Sarah, neither have become the kind of star that professional skating needs to capture the public's interest again. It's actually quite striking when looking at a list of past US Olympic Gold Medalists of the last 40 years - every single skater who has won an Olympic Gold since 1968 is still heavily involved in the sport, on and off the ice, except for the last two, whose involvement in the sport have barely lasted until the next Olympics.

Boucherle stated, "When the past two Olympic Gold Medalists aren't even skating, that hurt[s]. So when I say the ranks aren't there, there have been a number of factors, well there's a big factor right there - is that the last two are not even skating. So Sarah Hughes is not skating, per se, and Tara Lipinski's not skating. That's eight years of rotation, with respect to at least the Olympics and its ability to produce for the professional ranks qualified skaters. In the sport of figure skating, those ranks are typically filled from the amateur side, the Olympic side. And so then that's the spigot, so to speak, then it's been dripping."

Much like the rise in popularity of figure skating in the US when American skaters were enjoying a great deal of success a decade ago, Russian interest in skating has been on the upswing in the last several years. Russian or Eastern European men have won the last five Olympics, while Russian ladies, pairs, and dance teams have all been immensely successful on the international scene. Tours and opportunities are being created in Russia that didn't exist before, and skaters such as Maria Butyrskaya are treated like movie stars. This growth of skating in Russia only drives home how interest rises with homegrown success.

Similarly, although many of the points in this article address North American skating in general, skating in Canada is currently a bit more healthy than skating in the US. When the observation was made that Stars on Ice seemed to be struggling to develop new stars to carry the tour, Byron Allen objected. "Well, if you take a look at our Canadian tour this year, which has Browning and Stojko and Sale and Pelletier and Buttle and so on, I don't think you can say that. I mean I think that it just matters where the stars are, and right now the pro stars aren't in the States."

Professional skating does not just need star skaters to attract audiences. Many of the key movers and visionaries in professional skating have been former or current skaters. Tom Collins founded the Champions on Ice tour. Dick Button founded Candid Productions, which created the core of professional competitions for decades. Brian Boitano's White Canvas Productions has produced a number of skating shows over the years, and in partnership with Katarina Witt, created the Skating tour whose acquisition turned Stars on Ice into the high-production value show it is today. Scott Hamilton founded the Stars on Ice tour, and his partnership with IMG was key to that company's involvement in figure skating. Robin Cousins, working with Steve Disson, created the StarSkates series of shows, as well as Improv-Ice. Katarina Witt, Philippe Candelero, and others have all created and produced skating shows and tours in Europe. These skaters have not merely been stars on the ice, but strong proponents for the sport off the ice. The pro skating world - at least in North America - has been experiencing a lack of this kind of long-term dedication to the sport.

Kurt Browning stated frankly, "We need champions dedicated to the bigger picture, to the health of the sport. We have not had enough of this type of champion like Scott and Kristi."

The lack of skaters in the pro ranks is ultimately a bit of a chicken and egg problem. On the one hand, skaters were able to make money as eligibles while on the other, pro opportunities were disappearing. The incentive to turn pro lessened considerably, which in turn led to less skaters joining the pro ranks. As the pro ranks thinned, less skaters were available to fill out the casts of pro events, which again led to the creation and renewal of fewer pro events. Without skaters, there is no business justification for creating more events, but without events and opportunities in the pro world, skaters have no incentive to turn pro. If you are very successful on the eligible level - 2002 Olympic Gold Medalist successful, for instance - then there is work in the pro world, but these days there is less room for skaters who did not achieve that success on an international level to make a name for themselves in the pro world, as previous generations did.

Asked what the pro world had to offer a skater choosing whether or not to go pro, Brian Boitano hesitated. "Right now it's hard unless you've gotten a really great title. There's not that much work out there. I mean, it's really the NBC shows. And the tour...the tours maybe going to be [just one] tour, you know? And there's not as many cities. I think it's really hard. So what do we have to offer? I think that you need to be a success in the amateur world before you go into the professional world now. Or, you know, there's a whole another level of it, too - the Broadway on Ices, those kinds of things where people can get work if they're good."

Kurt Browning was less reserved about the benefits of pro skating. "We are important to figure skating. We are a viable place where skaters can go to grow, after they're done their Olympic achievements. Anton and Elena, David and Jamie - better than they were. Alexei is a great entertainer, and you know, he needs a place to do that."

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Fred Boucherle

Fred Boucherle has been working in figure skating since 1994, when he was working for Jefferson-Pilot Sports. JP Sports, in conjunction with Bill Graham Presents, created a number of figure skating shows coming out of the 1994 Olympics. Boucherle initially was in charge of all the business aspects of the events, including creating budgets, negotiating contracts, and managing the events from a business perspective, and then became more involved in the creative side of the business. Boucherle has been one of the producers and organizers of Ice Wars since the beginning, and has stayed with the event for twelve years.

Cristi Carras

Cristi Carras has been one of the event producers for Ice Wars since the very beginning, working together with Fred Boucherle at Jefferson-Pilot Sports. She described the evolution of their work on the event: "Fred Boucherle and I, who still produce Ice Wars together, have been involved since Day One. We both started with the event when we were employed by Jefferson-Pilot Sports. The first several years of Ice Wars were produced by Jefferson-Pilot Sports and Bill Graham Presents (a San Francisco company) until SFX Sports Group acquired the event, and Fred and I produced it for them for several years, until Clear Channel Entertainment acquired SFX Sports Group (and the event) in 2000. Fred and I have stayed constant as live event producers, and CBS has stayed constant as the network. The format has stayed relatively constant- USA vs. The World except once it was North America vs. The World, and then of course Battle of the Sexes. We called it The World Ice Challenge in 2001, two months after the 9/11 tragedy, because no one (promoters, venue, or CBS) could really "stomach" calling it Ice Wars: USA vs. The World that year for obvious reasons, but the format was the same."

Jefferson-Pilot Sports was one of the major producers of figure skating events in the mid-90s. Their events included the Men's Outdoor Skating Championships, the Ryder's Ladies Skating Championships, Ice Wars, Christmas on Ice, the Rock 'n Roll Figure Skating Championships, the Champions on Ice show for the USA network, and the Legends Figure Skating Championships, all of which Boucherle worked on.