I'm surprised at the comments here. Besides Ilia skipping out on the event and neither of the top two pairs going, the fields are pretty good. What was everyone expecting?
Look at dance especially! Three voidy French teams, Mrazeks, World Junior Champs, Lajoie/Lagha, top 2 in the US. In men, there's still Jason, Kevin, and Mikhail. Daiwei Dai is great, Luc Economides is voidy. Alysa is going, Wakaba is a fan favorite, Lara is super voidy, etc.
Let me try to explain why I find the Skate America field disappointing and why I think that it is likely disappointing for a number of people.
First of all, I'm taking this from the perspective of someone who is considering whether to go to Skate America, which is probably an American who is a fan of American skaters. While I am also a fan of skaters from many other countries, a lot of people who would go with me are more casual fans and are primarily interested in American skaters.
In Dance, I agree that the line-up is very strong (though for me, that is my least favorite event by far).
In Men's, many people would have assumed that Ilia would be at Skate America. Ilia was at Skate America in 2022, 2023, and 2024. In recent history, the strongest US man has almost always been at Skate America (i.e., Nathan competed at Skate America in 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021). So, it is disappointing that Ilia is not at Skate America.
Furthermore, in Men's, it is extremely disappointing and really hard to believe that we will only have 2 US competitors instead of 3 as the host country. This is not what anyone would have expected.
In Women, while it is exciting to have Alysa, it is unusual to not have another American who is a top contender / well known at Skate America. In 2024, we had Isabeau and Bradie. In 2023, we had Isabeau and Amber. In 2022, we had Isabeau and Amber AND Gracie (who was not a top contender but was beloved and well known by many fans). This year, we have 2 TBD spots which will inherently go to 2 skaters who are not one of the Top 5 US contenders for the Olympics.
Pairs is dismal. I understand why this choice was made strategically but it is hard to get excited about a team that hasn't competed for a year and was very inconsistent when they did and a team coming up from Juniors who most casual fans do not know. I guess the third spot could be the reigning US Silver medalists if McBeath & Parkman are assigned but it is disappointing to not have either of the Top 2 US teams in the event.
Finally, there is no Gala, which is also disappointing.
And all of this is, of course, on top of the disappointing location choice.
As others have said, I would really love to hear an insider account of what happened to Skate America this year.