Sponsorship dispute in alpine skiing: SRF and Swiss-Ski are (still) relaxed about the issue

Marco Odermatt (here a picture from last season, photo: SRF) holds an energy drink can in the picture. Opinions differ widely as to whether this is a problem. The German TV broadcasters no longer accept the practice, while in Switzerland they are (still) relaxed about it.

A sponsorship dispute is raging in alpine skiing. The public broadcasters - above all ZDF and ARD - have a hard time with racers holding sponsor logos prominently in front of the camera during interviews in the finish area, for example on beverage cans or drinking bottles. This common practice rubs up against the ban on surreptitious advertising to which TV broadcasters are bound.

Bottle and can ban on German stations

The Austrian ski racer Vincent Kriechmayr, who always held his drinking bottle with the logo of a dairy in the camera during interviews, went so far as to skip a ZDF interview because the broadcaster had announced a "bottle and can ban" for this season. Kriechmayr's behavior earned him criticism, because the boycott primarily affects the helmet and federation sponsors, as well as the equipment suppliers, who also want their products to be visibly displayed on television.

Support from within the company

The Austrian, on the other hand, received backing from Swiss slalom star Daniel Yule, who recently won the race in Adelboden. He would, Yule told ViewThe German television station will probably also not give an interview after a victory. "If all racers now simply accept that you are not allowed to take drinking bottles covered with advertising to the interview, perhaps television will ban us from the head sponsor in a next step. And at some point we won't be allowed to hold our skis up to the camera. We have to defend ourselves against this development right from the start."

SRF is aware of the problem

Are athletes also threatened with a "bottle spat" on Swiss television? Not for the time being, as SRF confirms in response to an inquiry from Werbewoche.ch. "In the finish area interviews, SRF currently portrays the skiers as they appear in front of the camera," says spokesman Lino Bugmann. "However, SRF is aware of the drinking bottle issue in alpine skiing and is in discussion with the associations as well as with ARD/ZDF and the other members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)."

Association pleads for peaceful coexistence

The Swiss-Ski association also sees no reason at the moment to take any measures as a result of the drinking bottle discussion. "Our main interest at the moment is that the federation sponsors are clearly visible and not covered up," says Diego Züger, Co-Director of Marketing at Swiss-Ski, "because they are our main source of income and thus finance the sport." According to Züger, it is important that the athletes' private sponsors do not appear too dominant and that a coexistence is possible. "We don't want to ban the athletes from their private sponsors, because we know that other sources of income are stagnating or even declining and the athletes depend on the income."

Ramon Zenhäusern with logo drinking bottle in an interview (Photo: SRF): Currently no problem for SRF. The Swiss-Ski association, on the other hand, would criticize in this scene that the association sponsors (for example Swisscom) are being covered up by other sponsors.

From the federation's point of view, however, the question of visibility does not only arise in connection with the well-known beverage can example, but whenever logos run the risk of being obscured - i.e. also by the skis or even the athletes' hair, says Züger.

This "side-by-side strategy" will be pursued by Swiss Ski until the end of the current season in spring. "We observe, measure, exchange information with our athletes and then reassess the situation," says Züger. "Whether there will be adjustments also depends on whether the TV stations put more pressure in the future."