FIS and Ski Austria: a historic agreement to build a global media product

FIS and Ski Austria have today signed a historic agreement: from the 2027/28 season onwards, the international federation will take over the marketing of the international television and digital media rights for all Alpine Ski World Cup events and other FIS disciplines held in Austria.

Behind this headline lies much more than a contractual transaction: it is the definitive step towards the global centralization of ski media rights, a move that could redefine the way winter sports are projected to the world.

The centralization of the international media rights for the FIS World Cup can be considered the flagship project of the new Lehmann-Eliasch era. Everything points to the new FIS CEO, Urs Lehmann, having made possible what for years was only an aspiration: to build a global, homogeneous, and marketable media product.

The end of the Austrian exception

Until now, Austria was the big exception in the system. While most major national federations had delegated the international sale of their rights to the FIS, Ski Austria continued to negotiate on its own. And it had reasons to do so: it hosts some of the most iconic and media-friendly events on the calendar at some of the best ski resorts in Austria, such as the Hahnenkammrennenen Kitzbühel or the season opener in Sölden, which alone attract millions of viewers.

However, the new agreement announced on September 15 puts an end to that autonomy. From 2027, all FIS events on Austrian soil will be managed internationally by the federation, through its exclusive agency InFront, until the 2033/34 season, as will be the case among the most relevant federations that had already accepted: Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Finland, France, Canada, the United States, Slovenia, etc.

For FIS, this incorporation is key: it completes the puzzle of its centralization strategy and allows it to present a homogeneous global product to the market, without geographical gaps or exceptions.

FIS makes its move, emulating Formula 1 and the UEFA Champions League

The decision by FIS and Ski Austria did not come out of nowhere: it responds to a very marked international trend towards the concentration of media rights, which has profoundly transformed the economic model of other sports over the last twenty years.

In Formula 1, the complete centralization of audiovisual rights in the hands of Formula One Management allowed the product to be standardized and its global value to skyrocket. In 2006, total commercial revenue was around $600 million; in 2023, it exceeded $3.2 billion according to Liberty Media (owner of the championship since 2017). The homogeneous narrative, total control of the international signal, the creation of the F1 TV platform, and the strategic use of digital content (such as the excellent documentary series Drive to Survive on NETFLIX or the F1 movie starring Brad Pitt) have dramatically rejuvenated its audience: in the US, the average viewer age has dropped from 38 to 32 in less than a decade.

On the other hand, in the “beautiful game,” the UEFA Champions League has been operating for years as a centralized product on a continental scale. UEFA sells the television and digital rights for all tournament matches jointly, negotiating by regional blocks (Europe, America, Asia) and generating more than €3 billion annually in audiovisual rights revenue, according to its latest financial report. This strategy has ensured unified broadcasts, high production standards, a powerful and recognizable brand in all markets, and global digital exploitation ranging from real-time highlights to proprietary streaming platforms.

Niche disciplines have also successfully followed this path. The World Surf League centralized its international rights in 2015, launching its own OTT (Over The Top) platform and quadrupling its audience in less than five years. OTT providers have control over their catalog, monetization (subscriptions, advertising, pay-per-view), and how it is delivered. And the Freeride World Tour has built international notoriety precisely thanks to the vision of its CEO Nicolas Hale Woods with a 100% centralized model, directly producing its international signal and distributing it in a coordinated manner across global networks, apps, and platforms.

What changes for skiing… and why it matters

More visibility, more brand consistency. Austrian events will no longer be sold in isolation and will become part of a global package, allowing for negotiations with large audiovisual groups, expanded coverage in new markets, and a consistent visual identity for the entire circuit.

Greater investment capacity. By centralizing revenues, the FIS will be able to plan and reinvest in audiovisual production, technological innovation, OTT platforms, and digital content, which are key to connecting with new generations.

Stimulus for athletes and sponsors. Broader international exposure multiplies the value of sponsorship contracts, which is essential for sustaining athletes’ careers and attracting private investment in a context of growing competition with other winter sports such as freestyle snowboarding and freeskiing.

However, it is not all advantages. Austria’s entry also raises questions such as the loss of local autonomy under excessive standardization, with some organizers fearing they will lose control over the narrative and production of their events, especially those with strong cultural roots. The dependence on a single operator must also be considered, given that the success of the model will largely depend on the ability of Infront (currently owned by the Chinese company Wanda Sports Group) to maximize commercial value and maintain high production standards in all countries.

The fact is that watching ski competitions on television is not always so easy. In most of Western Europe, international rights are centralized in Infront, which sublicenses them mainly to Eurosport (Warner Bros. Discovery Group) and national public broadcasters. On the other hand, countries with a longer tradition of skiing (Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, France) tend to have a “double window”: a national free-to-air signal in addition to the international signal via Eurosport.

Country/region Main channels broadcasting FIS competitions

Austria ORF (exclusive national rights, full free-to-air coverage)

Germany ARD / ZDF (free-to-air); complementary coverage on Eurosport

Switzerland SRF / RTS / RSI (depending on language region)

France Eurosport (main rights), and featured events free-to-air on France Télévisions

Italy RAI (some events free-to-air) + Eurosport (full coverage)

Spain Eurosport Spain (exclusive rights on pay TV and streaming via Max)

United Kingdom/Ireland Eurosport UK (streaming on Discovery+)

Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland) NRK (Norway), SVT (Sweden), Yle (Finland)

Central and Eastern Europe Eurosport (main pan-European operator)

International streaming Some events available live or delayed on the FIS App or on the official FIS TV website (only in countries without exclusive local agreements)

As part of its centralization strategy, the FIS is preparing a global unified streaming service for 2027/28, although this has not yet been officially announced.

A challenge in the age of fragmented attention

Beyond contractual management, this agreement reflects a reality: the battle for public attention is becoming increasingly fierce. Sports consumption has become fragmented; young people no longer sit for hours in front of the television (some have not turned it on for years), but follow sports on social media, streaming platforms, and short clips on their mobile phones.

Competitive skiing is facing a paradigm shift: it is no longer enough to broadcast races; audiences must be captivated on any device and at any time. The agreement with Ski Austria opens up precisely that possibility, allowing for the design of a comprehensive and coherent digital strategy: instant real-time highlights, vertical format production for mobile devices, backstage content, personal narratives from athletes, and immersive experiences for social media. These are tools that other sports have adopted with enormous success and that “traditional” skiing is just beginning to explore, following the example of innovative circuits such as the Freeride World Tour, which has managed to transform each competition into an audiovisual spectacle designed for digital audiences with 100% in-house signal production, live broadcasting via platforms and networks, vertical clips, and rider storytelling.

Between tradition and the urgency to reinvent itself

This agreement between FIS and Ski Austria is not only a contractual milestone, but also represents the definitive step towards the transformation of competitive skiing into a global media product. The centralization of international rights closes a chapter marked by fragmentation and individualized negotiation by a leading player such as the Austrian Ski Association, and opens another in which skiing can present itself to the world with a coherent visual identity, a unified digital strategy, and a cross-cutting narrative that connects with new generations of fans.

However, this new scenario also requires honest self-criticism of the current shortcomings of competitive skiing, which for years has been plagued by structural problems that limit its growth and appeal. The calendar, for example, remains complex and difficult for the general public to understand, with frequent cancellations or venue changes due to weather or logistical reasons that cause confusion and make it difficult to build audience loyalty. Added to this is a marked absence of human narratives and accessible storytelling: with few exceptions, athletes remain little-known figures outside their own countries, and official content rarely explores their personal, emotional, or overcoming challenges.

There is also a persistent lack of innovation in audiovisual formats and the television experience, which remains anchored in broadcasting formats that have hardly changed in decades. While other sports have evolved towards dynamic, multi-screen narratives adapted to mobile consumption, competitive skiing continues to rely almost exclusively on fixed tracking shots and traditional replays. Resources that could completely revitalize the visual experience are rarely explored, such as the use of drones to capture the landscape and the actual speed of the descents, or first-person sports cameras that allow viewers to immerse themselves in the skier’s perspective and feel the intensity of each turn. This lack of technological audacity contributes to broadcasts that are flat and predictable, far removed from the immersive standards demanded by today’s digital audience. In the digital arena, the discipline suffers from chronic fragmentation and a weak presence on social media (the FIS has just over 508K fans on Instagram), especially among young audiences, who today consume sports on fast, visual, and interactive platforms. Finally, the circuit continues to show an excessive dependence on Central Europe and a few iconic venues, with little investment in the development of new markets or in the real diversification of the competitive map on a global scale.

In this context, Austria’s integration into the centralized model may be an opportunity to address these weaknesses at their root, provided that centralization is not limited to a commercial operation but is accompanied by a profound renewal of the narrative, audiovisual production, and the relationship with fans and niche media.

Because the real challenge is not just to sell television rights better: it is to reimagine competitive skiing so that it once again excites, inspires, and connects with the public in a world saturated with sporting and cultural stimuli.

Only then can this strategic shift translate into a real boost for skiing: not as a mere contractual reorganization, but as a commitment to elevate the narrative of the white sport without disconnecting it from the mountains and ski resorts that give it meaning.