Zug, Switzerland – The German Ski Association (DSV) has extended its partnership with Infront Sports & Media ahead of time through to the 2025/26 season. The extended contract means Infront, a Wanda Sports company, will remain the exclusive international media rights partner for all FIS World Cup events held in Germany for the next nine seasons through to 2026.
Around 25 FIS World Cup events take place in Germany each year across the disciplines of Alpine Skiing, Ski Jumping, Cross-country, Nordic Combined and Freestyle Skiing, making Germany one of the key pillars of the FIS World Cup calendar. The contract covers international media rights for them all, including the hugely popular Vierschanzentournee ski jumping events in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberstdorf and the Biathlon World Team Challenge Auf Schalke. The DSV will continue to independently market media rights for the German market.
Commenting on the contract extension, DSV Marketing Chief Executive Stefan Schwarzbach said: "The extended agreement with our reliable partner Infront sets the German Ski Association on a good course for the upcoming years. We are in the best possible position to continue developing our various disciplines and World Cup events successfully and with a future-orientated cross-federation strategy. Besides offering us economic planning security, the extended partnership with Infront also provides us with maximum flexibility to react in an appropriate and sustainable way to the various challenges of the elite sport as well as changes in media usage."
Firm foundation for the future
Bruno Marty, Executive Director Winter Sports at Infront, added: "The extended deal means a lot to Infront. It demonstrates the level of trust between the two partners. The agreement originally ran through to 2020/21. That the DSV has extended it so early to last through to 2025/26 shows the strength of the partnership that we have built."
He continued: "Having this long term agreement supports the continuing development of ski sport both in Germany and beyond, and represents a central element of Infront’s strong international ski media portfolio. It also gives plenty of scope to further extend the DSV’s use of digital platforms in covering these events, and presents exciting opportunities to bring fans closer to the action than ever before."
Infront has agreements with all but three of the National Ski Associations (except Austria, Switzerland and Romania) that carry out FIS World Cup events worldwide, enabling Infront to market its FIS World Cup events on a collective basis, and thereby creating maximum exposure for the sport around the globe.
The 2017/18 FIS World Cup season began in Poland in July and will conclude in Slovenia (Ski Jumping) and Germany (Nordic Combined) in March 2018.
About Infront Sports & Media
Infront Sports & Media, a Wanda Sports company, is one of the most respected sports marketing companies in the world, managing a comprehensive portfolio of top properties. Led by President & CEO Philippe Blatter, Infront covers all aspects of successful sporting events – including distribution of media rights, sponsorship, media production, event operation and digital solutions – and has won a reputation for its high standards of delivery. As the number one player in winter sport and with a leading role in football, summer and endurance sports, Infront enjoys long-lasting partnerships with 170 rights-holders and hundreds of sponsors and media companies. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Infront has a team of more than 900 experienced staff working from over 35 offices across more than 15 countries, delivering 4,100 event days of top class sport around the world every year. In November 2015, Infront was integrated into Wanda Sports Group, part of the Chinese conglomerate the Dalian Wanda Group.
About Wanda Sports
Wanda Sports is the world’s leading sports business entity, founded to capture the opportunities in the global sports industry and to contribute to the prosperous international sports landscape in three key areas: 1) Spectator Sports (media & marketing business), 2) Participation Sports (active lifestyle business), 3) Services (digital, production and service business). Led by President & Vice Chairman Philippe Blatter, Wanda Sports incorporates the international sports marketing company Infront Sports & Media, the iconic endurance brand IRONMAN and Wanda Sports China. The headquarters are in Guangzhou, China.
