Circo Bianco starts again with 40 million in revenue and the centralisation plan

The business model of the Ski World Cup will change from next year, with the International Federation (FIS) set to become the key player. Until this season, the EUR 40 million turnover between TV rights and advertising is fed by intermediaries (Eurovision for the Austrian races and Infront for all others), who buy the rights from the national federations and resell them to TV broadcasters.

From 2026-27, instead, FIS will acquire the rights from the individual country bodies and then only rely on the intermediary for contracting with the TV networks. The overall turnover is set to grow, but only with the new contract cycle will it become clear by how much.

Meanwhile, the agreement between FIS and Infront for the international distribution of the media rights of the World Championships from 2026 to 2029 (Alpine skiing will be at Crans Montana in 2027 and Narvik in 2029) is recent, with the exclusion of Switzerland and Austria (limited to the 2027 World Snowboard and Freestyle Championships in Montafon) already assigned in their respective territories to SRF and ORF. "This agreement represents a step forward and a transformation for FIS and snow sports globally. By consolidating the World Cup and World Cup rights, we are building a stronger, more consistent and more valuable proposition for our TV partners. It will allow us to maximise revenues, extend the global reach of our sports and ensure that the benefits are reinvested in athletes, events and the sustainable growth of our sports," said FIS President Johan Eliasch, while from an intermediary perspective, Bruno Marty, Senior Vice President of ProSports at Infront, added: "By combining our efforts, we can ensure that the World Cup reaches as many markets as possible, while creating a robust and transparent model that benefits the entire sport.

In the white circus that has just started, a fundamental role is also played by the Italian branch of Infront, which in each stage in which it is involved deploys around 90 people, both for the on-site management of sponsors and hospitality and for television production (to which 30 cameras are allocated). "In addition to the team working on the fields, we have a multidisciplinary team that comes from Italy and many other Infront offices around the world, with an operational, production and commercial structure to support our partners," explains Alessandro Giacomini, managing director Infront Italy. "The 20-year partnership with the Italian Winter Sports Federation is also an added value and allows us to offer innovative solutions to support the organisation, the athletes and all the partners.

The Infront team (6 professionals dedicated to the ongoing management of the project, 3 staff for back office and organisational coordination, 10-12 staff for each stage, divided into two teams and coordinated by a leader) will be engaged in 50 competitions, divided into three levels of intervention: full buy-out, partial buy-out and total implementation. The first category includes events in Italy, France, Canada and Finland, where Infront holds all marketing rights and is 100% responsible for implementation. The second category includes Slovenia, Norway, Sweden and Andorra, where Infront acquires part of the marketing rights but retains full operational responsibility. In the third and final category are competitions in Switzerland, where Infront acts as the reference partner for the execution part of the event, although it is excluded from the media rights market. At the sponsorship level, the 20 commercial partners managed are divided into local (referring only to a specific region) and international, which sponsor competitions in different regions.