21 December 2004 - 20:55 Timekeeping sponsor leaves alpine World Cup in the lurch

ST. MORITZ, Switzerland (AP) _ The alpine skiing World Cup has been left in the lurch with the sudden withdrawal of its official timekeeping sponsor Swatch, the International ski Federation said on Monday.

Swatch abandoned its timekeeping and data processing duties after discovering it did not have the worldwide exclusivity it had been promised, said FIS president Gian Franco Kasper. "It's a big problem. And it's a credibility thing. We are told we have no timekeepers," Kasper said.

Kasper said that last year Swatch demanded to have worldwide exclusivity, for which the FIS council voted in favor on Nov. 12. "Swatch after 60 years all of a sudden insisted that they have worldwide rights," Kasper said. "We told our nations about a year ago and they agreed that we would make a global contract for alpine races only.

"They agreed, and then in the spring of this year, Austria had an offer, apparently with some money behind it, with Siemens." The Swiss sponsor's departure could leave FIS with a ¤4 million (US$5.3 million) bill. Individual events could cost between 160,000-200,000 Swiss francs (US$139,000-US$174,000).

Under the original agreement, Swatch provided both timing and data processing in exchange for on-screen television sponsor rights. "It was a shock that Austria didn't follow the agreement," Kasper said. "And what do you do if in (Soelden and) Altenmarkt the sponsor arrives and you don't let them in?" When Swatch arrived at both resorts, they were turned away by Austrian organizers. Both events were marred by timekeeping glitches, as well as troubled coordination between the timing and graphics.

"We need to find a new sponsor quickly," Kasper said. "A company in electronics or computers or watches, which is ready to take over the technical responsibility in exchange for on-screen identity." Kurt Hoch, the women's World Cup race director, worried about having several timing services in place, but especially about having to train new personnel every weekend.

"We have to take care of the starters," he said. "We now have other starters, not from Swatch, but from other groups, and every race (we'll need to) teach them how to do it." Swatch said it would provide its services for the races where it had pre-existing contracts _ Kitzbuehel and Wengen _ as well as the world championships in Bormio, Italy, in February.

Timing and data at this week's races in St. Moritz _ a super-G on Tuesday and a giant slalom on Wednesday _ are being provided by an Italian company called Delta Tre.

By ERICA BULMAN 
   ( 21/12/2004 09:09 )

FIS seek new time-keepers
by eurosport.com

The International Ski Federation (FIS) says it could have to pay out up to four million euros a season for time-keeping at World Cup Alpine skiing races following the sudden withdrawal of current sponsor Swatch.

Under that deal, Swatch was due to organise timing and data services at all the World Cup races in return for on-screen television sponsorship rights - an arrangement which the Austrians argued would short-change individual race organisers.

The Austrians decided instead to do their own deal with German telecoms giant Siemens for races held in Austria, prompting Swatch to pull out of the global agreement.

FIS president Gian-Franco Kasper said Swatch would, however, continue to provide time-keeping for the two "classic" race weekends in Wengen in Switzerland and Kitzbuehel in Austria, as well as for this season's world championships in Bormio, Italy.

But he told Reuters: "It was a great shock to us when Swatch said they wanted all the races or none of them."

He added: "Clearly we need to find a new sponsor quickly as the overall costs for the time-keeping and data services can total up to four million euros a season."

The Austrian federation's arrangement with Siemens got off to an inauspicious start with race weekends in Soelden and recently in Altenmarkt marred by several on-screen split-timing errors and long delays in calculating final positions and World Cup standings.

Austrian federation spokesman Jo Schmid said on Monday that there had been teething problems caused by the abrupt nature of the handover.

"Because of all the changes, Siemens were not given access to all the data they needed and that was the reason not everything ran smoothly" Schmid told Reuters.

"But Siemens have already shown their proficiency with their work in Formula One and we are confident that everything will be working properly (for the men's World Cup races) in Flachau this week."