Slicer Sabre
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My thoughts on the re-election of Usmanov...
🕑 Added 2024-11-30 14:39:50 +0000 UTCThis was always going to happen.
The international fencing community has become so unimaginative and stale that we cannot conceive of a world without him. It has become accepted as fact that the FIE only has two possible revenue streams of any significance:
1) The IOC
2) Usmanov
This model is clearly not sustainable or robust.
Fencing's place in the Olympics is not guaranteed for the long term. The IOC itself could be on shaky grounds having lost three of its biggest sponsors after Paris (Toyota, Panasonic and Bridgestone). Additionally we will soon lose the protection of ex-fencer Thomas Bach, whose term as IOC president ends in 2025. As we see popular new sports added to the Olympic program like baseball and cricket, will fencing be able to attract enough viewership to justify its status?
Usmanov will obviously not be around forever, but even in the short term how can we expect to benefit from his money when he faces sanctions from 37 countries of the FIE, including Switzerland where the organisation is based?
Need I remind you that these sanctions were what compelled Usmanov to "suspend" his presidency in 2022. What has changed since then?
Maybe Usmanov brings business expertise. Surely one cannot become so wealthy without knowing how to creatively generate revenues! So why was he unable to do so in his previous terms?
At the last congress "interim-president" Emmanuel Katsiadakis claimed that:
"We are very close to signing a contract with Nike, one of the best and biggest sports companies. Nike is a company that sponsors the International Olympic Committee. Therefore, it is very important for us to have this company working with us."
I can't imagine that a company like Nike, which in the past has attempted to market itself as socially conscious, will be eager to associate itself with the man often said to be "Putin's favourite Oligarch".
As it stands it appears that the FIE doesn't have a single commercial partner (at least none to be. In the 2024 and 2025 FIE budgets the space next to "Sponsoring" is left blank.
This shouldn't be at all surprising when one considers the stagnating viewership of the sport, demonstrated by the fact that the FIE's five most viewed videos on YouTube all date from over 13 years ago!
A prime example of the FIE's failure under Usmanov is the quality of commentary at FIE events, something that fencing fans have moaned about for years. The decision to hire David King as a fencing commentator, a man who displays very little expertise in either fencing or commentary, shows how little the FIE cares about growing its audience.
The Slicer Sabre YouTube channel has garnered more views than that of the FIE in 11 of the last 12 months. I run this channel part time and have absolutely zero media training whilst the FIE has a "Digital content/video/website" budget of over $200,000. Are we really to believe that the FIE is doing its best here?
Undeniably Usmanov's money has had some positive impact on the sport. He should also be applauded for finally assuring fencing's full representation at the Olympics.
But as any football fan knows, simply splurging money is rarely enough to guarantee success- just look at one of Usmanov's other sporting ventures, Everton Football Club, which has languished at the bottom half of the Premier League for the past several seasons. Is the FIE the Everton of sporting federations? A club with a rich history now more often flirting with relegation than with success, to me the comparison seems appropriate.
But history has shown that Usmanov will be more than happy for the FIE to depend on him almost entirely.
So be prepared for more of the same.
The same leadership, the same low resolution livestreams, the same refereeing standards and the same empty seats at world cups. The officials representing our FIE member federations clearly have no qualms about this, so why should you?
