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Ari Zakarian (Evgeni Plushenko's agent and the vice-president of Armenian Figure Skating Federation) interview: https://news.sportbox.ru/Vidy_sport...skoro_umret_Agent_Plushhenko__o_krizise_v_ISU
Q: Do you work with current Russian skaters?
A: The chief manager of all Russian skaters is FFKR that deals with everything related to the skaters. I can only help if they let me.
Q: Do you help?
A: It’s difficult to have business with the current Russian team skaters because they rarely skate in shows. They participate in the ISU events all season, recover, and then prepare for the next. When they quit sport, we will discuss their future.
Q: Who is the most commercially attractive Russian skaters?
A: Of the ladies it is definitely Alina Zagitova. Among men, Mikhail Kolyada and Dmitry Aliev both of whom can be podium contenders at Worlds. Also Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. But today figure skating is at the dead end, it is impossible to make money while skating competitively. The market is extremely weak. In the 90-s, ten top skaters could easily make 3 to 5 million dollars a year. Now everything has changed. Commercially, figure skating is moving in a very wrong direction. You can only watch the situation and wipe your tears.
Q: In Russia, Plushenko and Averbukh’s shows are very popular.
A: I described the overall situation. It is good that there are still Russia and Japan who keep figure skating in the top.
Q: Why the popularity of figure skating is declining in the US?
A: It’s not declining, it has already hit the rock bottom. There are many factors, first of all, the end of the World Professional Figure Skating Championships in 2001. Secondly, it is the rule change. People are only starting to understand the grading system that had been adopted 15 years ago. In the first 5 years, we lost all the viewers who grew up under the 6.0 system. Thirdly, after the Russian triumph in Turin, all figure skating business moved from North America to Russia. And lastly, the ISU has very weak marketing: nobody is even trying to make business out of figure skating. Even though our sport is one of the best. I don’t understand why it cannot make as much money as tennis, I’m not even talking about the American football and basketball. Figure skaters deserve big salaries.
Figure skating is one of the most complex and spectacular sports. It is undervalued even by regular public. For example, it rejuvenates the organism. Look at the figure skating coaches: most look at least a decade younger than they really are. That’s because the ice releases nitrogen which rejuvenates the organism. These things need to be explained to people. Moreover, figure skating helps to develop creativity, musicality, intelligence. Figure skaters usually end up in good positions after the career ending: they start businesses, speak many languages.
Q: You don’t need to convince people in Russia: everybody loves figure skating and figure skaters.
A: Yes, in Russia the figure skating boom continues, it is very nice. FFKR is doing an excellent job, many kids are skating, there are many new ice rinks, and the skaters are real celebrities with high recognition. Besides, we learned how to make high quality ice shows. Russian are on par with the Swiss Art on Ice and the Japanese shows.
Q: After the Olympics, there is a new figure skating star in the US - Adam Rippon. He made everyone fall in love with him not with his skating, but with his charisma. Can it help spike new interest in figure skating?
A: Adam has milked the Olympic Games for all its worth. His tenth place finish was treated like the first in the US. He is a very good guy, I’ve known him since childhood. His first coach was Lyalya Sergeeva who skated in Leningrad ice ballet and then moved to America. But no, Rippon can only do the job for himself. He has a very flamboyant personality and recognition. Or take Alyona Savchenko. She is a superstar, nearly 90% of Germans watched her triumph, but there is not a single real ice show in Germany. That’s because the marketing of our sport is very weak. Figure skating needs a system.
Take the World championships that just finished in Milan. It is a city with a huge history, there must be at least 500 local celebrities. Why not invite some of them to the event? When we attract the stars to the evnts, we show the world that it is really interesting and popular even among the famous people. First row seats at the NBA matches cost tens of thousands of dollars, not just because they offer the best view, but because you sit next to the world class celebrities. It attracts people. Another thing: have you seen any former Olympic champion in Milan? It would have been so easy to get someone to say nice things about the event on TV. ISU does nothing! Now, figure skating is alive only in two countries: Russia and Japan. At this rate, our sport will soon be dead. Every time ISU makes up the new rules, but it is not what’s needed. We need global changes.
Q: What do you have against the new rules?
A: I do not want the rules to change again. The viewers have to get used to what we have now. Figure skating is a sport that should please the audience and show off the skills. It does not have to make the viewers count points in their heads like a computer. It would be much more useful to cultivate the maximum honesty of the judging, and the first step would be to introduce the contract system. Who judges the events now? Doctors and other people who have other full-time jobs. It is necessary to eliminate that, to offer good contracts. This way, if there is any documented mistake, we say goodbye and appoint another judge - the next in line. The one who is ready to work for good money. To avoid situations like we have in ice dance now: there is a very good Armenian team Tina Garabedyan and Simon Proulx-Senecal. Everybody says that they can place higher, but Armenia does not have a judge and they don’t even make the cut for free dance. Marie-France Dubreil and Patrice Lauzon who work with them tell us: "You skate very well but you don’t have your judge." It shouldn’t happen! The skaters should not suffer because they don’t have a representative among the judges.
Q: But it’s your federation’s job - to promote their judge.
A: Yes. It is difficult. Our country is small. And we will have our judge very soon, until the end of this year. But it is nonsense - to lose because you don’t have your judge. It’s a crazy scheme that makes figure skating look bad. I’ve been skating since 4, but ice dance for me is still an enigma.
Q: Do you agree that there is a Canadian lobby in figure skating?
A: There is a lobby everywhere. Until the judges start earning money for their work, it will always be there.
Q: Are you still hoping to realize your idea of a figure skating Oscar?
A: I’m tired of talking about it. It is absolutely necessary to give an award every year to the best coach, choreographer, designer… But it gets no reaction from the ISU: "yeah, okay.: It will bring an enormous attention, fame and money to figure skating. and I’m not even asking for any money: I will find it myself. And still it gets stuck. I will definitely get it done. Every year I come closer and closer to doing that.
Q: Several days ago, Evgeni Plushenko has opened the first ice rink on Maldives. Were you behind it?
A: No, it was his wife Yana Rudkovskaya. She works with him 24 hours a day. I am his agent. I can tell you about his plans. he is going to skate in 50 shows in Japan. We continue the Kings on Ice tour with Edvin Marton. So until September he’ll be working non-stop in shows.
Q: Last fall, he skated in the US for the first time in 11 years.
A: I am very grateful to him for coming, because it was a show dedicated to me. I received an award for my work in skating from the Ice Theatre of NY. Zhenya said he will definitely come to skate for that. We scheduled another show for the day after that which was sold out in two days. Maybe we will work in the US soon, but for now, Plushenko has every day planned until 2019.
Q: Does it mean that he’s a coach of Adelina Sotnikova just on paper?
A: No, Adelina also skates in shows, they see each other all the time, they can work together. I do not know the nuances of their agreement.
Q: Is Sotnikova still hoping for a comeback?
A: I do not know what she wants. It is difficult to stay on top after the Olympics. We’ve seen it now after the Games in Korea. Whether she is going to return or not, it’s her business. She does what she wants.
Q: So right now she wants to skate in shows?
A: Right now, she wants to recover from her injury and skate well.
Q: Speaking of commercial value: what about Sotnikova? There are plenty new interesting skaters in Russia.
A: Adelina is the first Russian Olympic champion. She will always have this title and will always be interesting.
Q: Still, you have to admit that this is a reality: old champions must give way to the new ones.
A: That’s if the champions really give way. What if they are not ready to leave yet? It depends on their desire to develop. We have enough examples when former champions stop working when they leave amateur ranks. You cannot make anyone skate.
Q: Do you work with current Russian skaters?
A: The chief manager of all Russian skaters is FFKR that deals with everything related to the skaters. I can only help if they let me.
Q: Do you help?
A: It’s difficult to have business with the current Russian team skaters because they rarely skate in shows. They participate in the ISU events all season, recover, and then prepare for the next. When they quit sport, we will discuss their future.
Q: Who is the most commercially attractive Russian skaters?
A: Of the ladies it is definitely Alina Zagitova. Among men, Mikhail Kolyada and Dmitry Aliev both of whom can be podium contenders at Worlds. Also Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin. But today figure skating is at the dead end, it is impossible to make money while skating competitively. The market is extremely weak. In the 90-s, ten top skaters could easily make 3 to 5 million dollars a year. Now everything has changed. Commercially, figure skating is moving in a very wrong direction. You can only watch the situation and wipe your tears.
Q: In Russia, Plushenko and Averbukh’s shows are very popular.
A: I described the overall situation. It is good that there are still Russia and Japan who keep figure skating in the top.
Q: Why the popularity of figure skating is declining in the US?
A: It’s not declining, it has already hit the rock bottom. There are many factors, first of all, the end of the World Professional Figure Skating Championships in 2001. Secondly, it is the rule change. People are only starting to understand the grading system that had been adopted 15 years ago. In the first 5 years, we lost all the viewers who grew up under the 6.0 system. Thirdly, after the Russian triumph in Turin, all figure skating business moved from North America to Russia. And lastly, the ISU has very weak marketing: nobody is even trying to make business out of figure skating. Even though our sport is one of the best. I don’t understand why it cannot make as much money as tennis, I’m not even talking about the American football and basketball. Figure skaters deserve big salaries.
Figure skating is one of the most complex and spectacular sports. It is undervalued even by regular public. For example, it rejuvenates the organism. Look at the figure skating coaches: most look at least a decade younger than they really are. That’s because the ice releases nitrogen which rejuvenates the organism. These things need to be explained to people. Moreover, figure skating helps to develop creativity, musicality, intelligence. Figure skaters usually end up in good positions after the career ending: they start businesses, speak many languages.
Q: You don’t need to convince people in Russia: everybody loves figure skating and figure skaters.
A: Yes, in Russia the figure skating boom continues, it is very nice. FFKR is doing an excellent job, many kids are skating, there are many new ice rinks, and the skaters are real celebrities with high recognition. Besides, we learned how to make high quality ice shows. Russian are on par with the Swiss Art on Ice and the Japanese shows.
Q: After the Olympics, there is a new figure skating star in the US - Adam Rippon. He made everyone fall in love with him not with his skating, but with his charisma. Can it help spike new interest in figure skating?
A: Adam has milked the Olympic Games for all its worth. His tenth place finish was treated like the first in the US. He is a very good guy, I’ve known him since childhood. His first coach was Lyalya Sergeeva who skated in Leningrad ice ballet and then moved to America. But no, Rippon can only do the job for himself. He has a very flamboyant personality and recognition. Or take Alyona Savchenko. She is a superstar, nearly 90% of Germans watched her triumph, but there is not a single real ice show in Germany. That’s because the marketing of our sport is very weak. Figure skating needs a system.
Take the World championships that just finished in Milan. It is a city with a huge history, there must be at least 500 local celebrities. Why not invite some of them to the event? When we attract the stars to the evnts, we show the world that it is really interesting and popular even among the famous people. First row seats at the NBA matches cost tens of thousands of dollars, not just because they offer the best view, but because you sit next to the world class celebrities. It attracts people. Another thing: have you seen any former Olympic champion in Milan? It would have been so easy to get someone to say nice things about the event on TV. ISU does nothing! Now, figure skating is alive only in two countries: Russia and Japan. At this rate, our sport will soon be dead. Every time ISU makes up the new rules, but it is not what’s needed. We need global changes.
Q: What do you have against the new rules?
A: I do not want the rules to change again. The viewers have to get used to what we have now. Figure skating is a sport that should please the audience and show off the skills. It does not have to make the viewers count points in their heads like a computer. It would be much more useful to cultivate the maximum honesty of the judging, and the first step would be to introduce the contract system. Who judges the events now? Doctors and other people who have other full-time jobs. It is necessary to eliminate that, to offer good contracts. This way, if there is any documented mistake, we say goodbye and appoint another judge - the next in line. The one who is ready to work for good money. To avoid situations like we have in ice dance now: there is a very good Armenian team Tina Garabedyan and Simon Proulx-Senecal. Everybody says that they can place higher, but Armenia does not have a judge and they don’t even make the cut for free dance. Marie-France Dubreil and Patrice Lauzon who work with them tell us: "You skate very well but you don’t have your judge." It shouldn’t happen! The skaters should not suffer because they don’t have a representative among the judges.
Q: But it’s your federation’s job - to promote their judge.
A: Yes. It is difficult. Our country is small. And we will have our judge very soon, until the end of this year. But it is nonsense - to lose because you don’t have your judge. It’s a crazy scheme that makes figure skating look bad. I’ve been skating since 4, but ice dance for me is still an enigma.
Q: Do you agree that there is a Canadian lobby in figure skating?
A: There is a lobby everywhere. Until the judges start earning money for their work, it will always be there.
Q: Are you still hoping to realize your idea of a figure skating Oscar?
A: I’m tired of talking about it. It is absolutely necessary to give an award every year to the best coach, choreographer, designer… But it gets no reaction from the ISU: "yeah, okay.: It will bring an enormous attention, fame and money to figure skating. and I’m not even asking for any money: I will find it myself. And still it gets stuck. I will definitely get it done. Every year I come closer and closer to doing that.
Q: Several days ago, Evgeni Plushenko has opened the first ice rink on Maldives. Were you behind it?
A: No, it was his wife Yana Rudkovskaya. She works with him 24 hours a day. I am his agent. I can tell you about his plans. he is going to skate in 50 shows in Japan. We continue the Kings on Ice tour with Edvin Marton. So until September he’ll be working non-stop in shows.
Q: Last fall, he skated in the US for the first time in 11 years.
A: I am very grateful to him for coming, because it was a show dedicated to me. I received an award for my work in skating from the Ice Theatre of NY. Zhenya said he will definitely come to skate for that. We scheduled another show for the day after that which was sold out in two days. Maybe we will work in the US soon, but for now, Plushenko has every day planned until 2019.
Q: Does it mean that he’s a coach of Adelina Sotnikova just on paper?
A: No, Adelina also skates in shows, they see each other all the time, they can work together. I do not know the nuances of their agreement.
Q: Is Sotnikova still hoping for a comeback?
A: I do not know what she wants. It is difficult to stay on top after the Olympics. We’ve seen it now after the Games in Korea. Whether she is going to return or not, it’s her business. She does what she wants.
Q: So right now she wants to skate in shows?
A: Right now, she wants to recover from her injury and skate well.
Q: Speaking of commercial value: what about Sotnikova? There are plenty new interesting skaters in Russia.
A: Adelina is the first Russian Olympic champion. She will always have this title and will always be interesting.
Q: Still, you have to admit that this is a reality: old champions must give way to the new ones.
A: That’s if the champions really give way. What if they are not ready to leave yet? It depends on their desire to develop. We have enough examples when former champions stop working when they leave amateur ranks. You cannot make anyone skate.
