Will There Ever be a Professional Circuit Again?

[arakwafan2006]

My question comes after this segment by Scott Hamilton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swpcf2gmgIw

I would love to hear from fans that remembered the years ( 1996-2000) where every single saturday, skating was on

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

^^^^ This is where I really got to see Denise Biellman in action because I was a bit too young in her amateur days. And she would win.

I miss the pro and the pro/am competitions.

I remember Caryn Kadavy a lot too and Liz Manley.

I also think Kristi Yamaguchi's pro years were even better than her am years.

Even tho Oksana's technical skills wavered I much preferred her in these years than in her am years.

I don't think that it will return like that in those years as times have changed, many skaters go off to college and the popularity has waivered.

 

[caseyedwards]

The demands of IJS has divorced competitive skating from show skating! There's almost no correlation and there was far more correlation in the 6.0 era! Personalities and individual artistry can't be established anymore in competitive skating.

 

[aftershocks]

I wish there would be. It was actually the 'making' of many skaters' careers, in terms of enhancing and fine-tuning their growth and development as skaters after their eligible careers, and that includes Kristi Yamaguchi, Punsalan/Swallow, Paul Wylie, Rudy Galindo, and even Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano, Dorothy Hamill, Roz Sumners, Caryn Kadavy, Denise Biellmann, Yuka Sato, et al.

There are so many skaters today who are exhibiting how boss they could be on a competitive professional skating tour, including Shawn Sawyer, Rohene Ward, et al, but there are no opportunities.

 

[leafygreens]

Probably not without another whack heard 'round the world, unfortunately. The only other way I can see is if a charismatic skater is able to cross over as some mainstream entertainer. A Sonja Henie for the new era.

 

[Sylvia]

At least Shawn Sawyer is getting an opportunity with the new Cirque Du Soleil's new "Crystal" tour later this fall: https://www.fsuniverse.net/forum/index.php?threads/cirque-du-soleil-on-ice.101309/

ETA:

Scott Hamilton tried to partner with the ISU back in 2011 for a series of pro competitions but his idea never came to fruition - from ISU Communication no. 1671 (dated April 19, 2011):

The ISU Council gave its agreement in principle to create a series of annual Open International Competitions which shall be skated over a period of three separate television competitions, to be held on three separate weeks in three different geographical locations, in principle one in Asia, one in Europe and one in North America. The participants in this series may be among eligible and ineligible skaters and should be a medallist of either a ISU World Championships or Olympic Winter Games in their respective discipline within the previous ten years.

The initiative was presented by a United States based organization called ICE - International Cup of Skating Excellence, LLC (hereafter called "ICE"), who includes as its Chief Creative Officer the 1984 Olympic Figure Skating Champion, Mr. Scott Hamilton.

Subject to receiving a satisfactory detailed proposal of ICE (location, dates, confirmed cooperation/understanding with the concerned ISU host Members, invited skaters, event format and technical package (free skating only), prize money etc), the ISU is available to sanction three competitions during the season 2011/12 that cannot be in conflict with any ISU Event and/or national championships of the concerned host Members.

Further details and the Announcement shall be released as soon as the specific ICE proposal has been received and approved.

The ISU and JSF did hold the Medal Winners Open in 2012, 2015 and 2016: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_Winners_Open

 

[alchemy void]

The demands of IJS has divorced competitive skating from show skating! There's almost no correlation and there was far more correlation in the 6.0 era! Personalities and individual artistry can't be established anymore in competitive skating.

I agree with you.

 

[Bellanca]

My question comes after this segment by Scott Hamilton

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swpcf2gmgIw

I would love to hear from fans that remembered the years ( 1996-2000) where every single saturday, skating was on

It was more than every single Saturday. Try Sunday's, and Monday through Friday, too. It has been suggested this was part of the problem, an over-saturation. It was a little much, I must admit. You wouldn't think so, but overkill comes to mind.

 

[arakwafan2006]

The demands of IJS has divorced competitive skating from show skating! There's almost no correlation and there was far more correlation in the 6.0 era! Personalities and individual artistry can't be established anymore in competitive skating.

That's a good point. If you thought the amateurs had a tough time transitioning then, try now.

 

[arakwafan2006]

It was more than every single Saturday. Try Sunday's, and Monday through Friday, too. It has been suggested this was part of the problem, an over-saturation. It was a little much, I must admit. You wouldn't think so, but overkill comes to mind.

You're right. It even got to the point that skaters with all double jumps were making money skating. I remember a ballerina who turned to skating and only had double jumps. That was when it hit an all time saturation. Still, some memorable performances happened at the World Pro and Gold Championship competitions.

 

[Scrufflet]

My fave moments were when Hamilton, Boitano and Browning would try to outdo one another!

 

[tony]

At one point we really did have skating on at all hours. ESPN/ABC/Lifetime were showing 6.5 hours of each Grand Prix event over the course of three different days (Monday night, Friday night, Sunday afternoon) and the pro events were sometimes (or often) broadcast live in primetime on the weekends. Then there was typically a show on during the weekend afternoons, maybe sometimes running at the same time as the GP/other competition.

There are two reasons I think pro skating isn't going to have as much of an appeal anymore (at least in America):
First being that there really aren't any huge household names in figure skating as far as the Americans go anymore. Second is that since there are lyrics now permitted in amateur competitions, there isn't a whole lot of difference between the two worlds in terms of how the programs would look. I'd imagine the viewership would only include all of the current fans, and I know some of us cringe at some of the pro competitions/exhibition skating so it might even have lower numbers. But if they brought back a serious World Pro Championship, I'd be down to watch.

I thought the Medal Winners Open would have been much more interesting had they used the 6.0 scale or even a cheesefest 10.0 scale.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

ESPN/ABC/Lifetime were showing 6.5 hours of each Grand Prix event over the course of three different days (Monday night, Friday night, Sunday afternoon)

I remember it well!!!!!

 

[Skate Talker]

I wish there would be. It was actually the 'making' of many skaters' careers, in terms of enhancing and fine-tuning their growth and development as skaters after their eligible careers, and that includes Kristi Yamaguchi, Punsalan/Swallow, Paul Wylie, Rudy Galindo, and even Scott Hamilton, Brian Boitano, Dorothy Hamill, Roz Sumners, Caryn Kadavy, Denise Biellmann, Yuka Sato, et al.

There are so many skaters today who are exhibiting how boss they could be on a competitive professional skating tour, including Shawn Sawyer, Rohene Ward, et al, but there are no opportunities.

I was also thinking about this as watched British Eurosport coverage of the 2017 World Championships Men's Free last night. Loosing skaters like Misha Ge, Jeremy Abbott, etc. with few chances to see them spread their wings outside of ISU competition is such a shame. To my mind, Barb Underhill and Paul Martini's pro career shows how much astonishing growth is possible after amateur competition. Such mesmerizing performances. Even with someone like Toller, who was so special as an amateur competitor, was so fascinating in his pro career, we would have missed so much. Yes, ISU competition has changed, lyrics are allowed, etc., but I see few singles skaters like Patrick Chan, who can weave together the tech requirements with the performance to truly mesmerize us. I will say, though, that a few pairs teams have really started to get the hang of it, and more dance teams, so maybe the day will come. But I still say there are true artists out there who are way too handcuffed by the ISU rules.