A truly international winter sport
From the small core of alpine nations who built an elite for bobsleighing, the sport has expanded into a truly international winter sport.
Skeleton is the world’s first sliding sport and the only one where athletes take a face down position — creating one of the most exhilarating winter sports. After a 54-year break it returned to the Olympic Games in 2002. Today Skeleton is practiced on a competitive level by some 20 countries from all continents.
Speed and charisma
As Olympic disciplines, the sports exemplify the speed and charisma of winter sport at its most challenging and dangerous. Over recent years, bobsleigh in particular has grown from a “niche” sport to an exciting, annual highlight on the winter sports calendar. Its growing diversity is illustrated by the fact that - in the 2007/2008 FIBT World Cup - no fewer than nine nations were placed in the top ten of the two-man event and six nations in both the four-man and the women competition.
The thrilling sport of skeleton is also no exception, with increased growth in popularity and a number of top teams/ nations participating.
During a typical 60-second bobsleigh run, speeds of more than 140 km/h are reached and the crews are subject to more than four times of the force of gravity. Bobsleigh and skeleton races are usually run on artificial tracks of approx. 1,200 — 1,600 meters in length with up to 14 curves, depending on the track. There are now 16 tracks worlwide, in glamorous locations that have become synonymous with the sport, such as St. Moritz, Lake Placid and Cortina d’Ampezzo. With there new tracks also Moscow and Vancouver will enter the elite.
Growing TV audience
The Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) is embarked on a path of expansion, with steady growth in the international television audience and market share. FIBT’s events are amongst the most successful winter sports. In the 2007/2008 season FIBT World Cup competitions (bobsleigh and skeleton) reached a cumulative audience of more than 600 million viewers and a total transmission time of more than 700 hours.
Infront Sports & Media handles the marketing of key sponsorship packages for the FIBT’s World Cup and World Championship events. In 2006 it has signed an exclusive agreement with FIBT to cover the worldwide media rights for the Men’s and Women’s bobsleigh and skeleton World Championship and World Cup events.
2008/2009 FIBT World Cup
The FIBT World Cup for the winter season 2008/2009 consists of eight events staged in seven countries. All events are held in combined competitions featuring all disciplines (Bobsleigh Women and Men as well as Skeleton Women and Men) during a three-day competition at the same track.
FIBT World Cup calendar
28 — 30 Nov 2008 | Winterberg (GER) |
5 — 7 Dec 2008 | Altenberg (GER) |
12 — 14 Dec 2008 | Innsbruck-Igls (AUT) |
19 — 21 Dec 2008 | Torino - Cesana (ITA) |
9 — 11 Jan 2009 | Cortina (ITA) |
16 — 18 Jan 2009 | St. Moritz (SUI) |
5 — 7 Feb 2009 | Vancouver - Whistler (CAN) |
12 — 14 Feb 2009 | Park City (USA) |
2009 FIBT World Championships
The FIBT World Championships are held annually except during Olympic years. The 2009 event will take place from 20 February — 1 March in Lake Placid (USA). The competition schedule for the 2009 FIBT World Championships, which consists of 4-heat races in every discipline, is being formulated to gain maximum broadcast appeal.
As 2010 is an Olympic year there will be no FIBT World Championships, the first FIBT World Championships after the Olympic Games in Vancouver will be the 2011 event held in Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA).
FIBT’s signal production
The FIBT will continue to produce its own high quality television coverage of FIBT events — a cutting edge standard that the FIBT has pioneered over the past ten years. This in-house television production guarantees that the television pictures capture the unique drama of the sport and meet key criteria of sponsors, fans and broadcast media partners.
2006/2007 the FIBT introduced an upgraded international feed for general distribution and a post-race highlights package for rights holders. Infront is marketing all forms of electronic media rights including TV, radio, internet and mobile communications worldwide. Infront offers specific, segmented packages including live, delayed and highlights coverage.
The FIBT and Infront are also developing plans for the sport to expand its online and interactive media appeal to the growing fan base. These opportunities will provide further value to broadcasters and sponsors.
FIBT website
One of the joint developing projects is the re-launch of the FIBT website (www.fibt.com). Infront and the FIBT together created a online platform for its events. This website not only contains information about the federation, it also provides latest results and race statistics to its visitors. This helps to further increase the reach of the sport and its supporters.
