FIS President Johan Eliasch wants to tighten the enforcement of rules regarding sponsor logos on competitors’ helmets. Skiers and officials fear that this effort could have rather unpleasant consequences for the associations and the competitors themselves.
“Skiing is at risk of an absolute disaster,” warned the former head of the Austrian Ski Association, Peter Schröcksnadel, for example, for the Swiss newspaper Blick.
FIS President Johan Eliasch no longer allows the previous helmet design of Marco Odermatt, Sofia Goggia, Dominik Paris and Alexis Pinturault. Austria’s ex-president Peter Schröcksnadel fears that this ban will have catastrophic consequences… https://t.co/5QjAs6GpGI
— Blick Sport (@Blick_Sport) September 21, 2023
According to the FIS rules, the sponsor’s logo on the helmet is allowed to take up 50 square centimeters, but President Eliasch is bothered by the fact that the rest of the helmet is often in the sponsor’s colors for top competitors. It mainly aims at the typical blue and silver design of the Red Bull company, which Ester Ledecká also wears on his helmet.
If skiers start with a similar design on their helmets in the new season as well, they should face severe penalties, including heavy fines or even disqualification.
“If Eliasch bans Red Bull from having its racers wear helmets in company colors, he will have to do the same for other sponsors. And that can lead to sponsors withdrawing from the sport altogether,” Schröcksnadel outlined a possible scenario.
Even the head of Swiss skiing, Diego Züger, is surprised by the actions of the FIS. “After all, there is nowhere in the rules that the helmet cannot be in the colors of the sponsor,” he objected.
The topic was also recently covered by the skiracing.com server, which did not forgive itself a dig at the president of the FIS.
“Is Red Bull too strong a player in the system for the FIS president, who preferred to promote ‘his’ association? Would the sponsor design on the helmet be a problem if the FIS got money from it too? For example, if Red Bull bought a license to its design for a significant amount to the FIS coffers?” asks the server.
