What Happened to the World Professional Figure Skating Championships?

[foxboston]

Yes, I googled it:

World Professional Figure Skating Championships - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Yet, I am craving more context either in simpler or complex terms.

While we are taking a look at this... what was the deal in 1999 when we had that Pro-Am circuit with skaters forgoing the Grand Prix for the open events?

 

[tony]

The ISU saw too many skaters turning professional from that big circuit of events, so as you mentioned, they took over 10 events in the ‘98/‘99 season, becoming open events for pros and amateurs. Some of them were interesting, such as the very first one- The Grand Slam of Skating which started with rosters of 8, then cut to 4, and then a final head-to-head like in tennis. But the recently turned pro/still amateur skaters tended to dominate this stuff even if their skating wasn’t matching it. Find Lu Chen from this competition and you will scratch your head over how she beat some of the pro skaters. And Butyrskaya, who was en route to her World Championship, competed in many of them on top of the GP schedule.

Skaters like Nikodinov, who at that point hadn’t even been to a Worlds yet, were being sent to the previously very prestigious Challenge of Champions. Diana Poth was randomly added to the Canadian Open either that season or the next because she was training around there (in Detroit) IIRC.

The World Pros became the Hallmark Pros (Dick Button sold it off), and moved away from Landover/DC. I was at the final one in Columbus in late 2002, and even with a ladies field of Sato, Slutskaya (current World Champ), Hughes (current Olympic Champ), and Butyrskaya, they were giving away tickets to the event near the arena that day to try to fill up the embarrassingly empty stands.

I think SLC 2002 didn’t help the cause and many people will tell you that’s what did pro skating in. But for me, I have a feeling the ISU knew what they were doing in the fall of 1998 and they really did want to get rid of as much pro opportunity as possible. By the very next season, only a few events remained.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Simply...they let the amateurs skate. As Brian Boytano predicted, it killed the competitions. The ams could do the bigger tricks. It is really a shame.
I loved those competitions. They had their own special place. And those Pros were such special people.

 

[Skate Talker]

Yup - it was all a calculated plot by the ISU. Too bad the pro's couldn't have afforded to just refuse to compete in the pro-ams but I guess the money and the challenge of seeing how their brand of skating would measure up against the amateurs was too attractive. The moment they started them up I knew the strictly pro comps were doomed.

I have to say though, that giving the big nod to the kind of (imo crap) programs Candelero was handing out put the final nails into the pro comp coffin.

 

[aliceanne]

The ISU saw too many skaters turning professional from that big circuit of events, so as you mentioned, they took over 10 events in the ‘98/‘99 season, becoming open events for pros and amateurs. Some of them were interesting, such as the very first one- The Grand Slam of Skating which started with rosters of 8, then cut to 4, and then a final head-to-head like in tennis. But the recently turned pro/still amateur skaters tended to dominate this stuff even if their skating wasn’t matching it. Find Lu Chen from this competition and you will scratch your head over how she beat some of the pro skaters. And Butyrskaya, who was en route to her World Championship, competed in many of them on top of the GP schedule.

Skaters like Nikodinov, who at that point hadn’t even been to a Worlds yet, were being sent to the previously very prestigious Challenge of Champions. Diana Poth was randomly added to the Canadian Open either that season or the next because she was training around there (in Detroit) IIRC.

The World Pros became the Hallmark Pros (Dick Button sold it off), and moved away from Landover/DC. I was at the final one in Columbus in late 2002, and even with a ladies field of Sato, Slutskaya (current World Champ), Hughes (current Olympic Champ), and Butyrskaya, they were giving away tickets to the event near the arena that day to try to fill up the embarrassingly empty stands.

I think SLC 2002 didn’t help the cause and many people will tell you that’s what did pro skating in. But for me, I have a feeling the ISU knew what they were doing in the fall of 1998 and they really did want to get rid of as much pro opportunity as possible. By the very next season, only a few events remained.

I think the amateurs and recently turned Pros tended to win based on their jump content. During the 90's that was often the deciding factor in amateur competition. The amateurs could simply size up the competition and do one more triple jump than their rivals and they were pretty much guaranteed to win. Pros like Robin Cousins who no longer did triples had no chance of winning even though his aesthetics and choreography were far superior. There was also no way for unique skaters like Lucinda Ruh, Rory Burghart, or Gary Beacom to be competitive.

The audience for show skating is not the same as for competitive skating. By combining the 2 approaches in one competition they created a product that wasn't pleasing to either camp.

 

[tony]

I think the amateurs and recently turned Pros tended to win based on their jump content. During the 90's that was often the deciding factor in amateur competition. The amateurs could simply size up the competition and do one more triple jump than their rivals and they were pretty much guaranteed to win. Pros like Robin Cousins who no longer did triples had no chance of winning even though his aesthetics and choreography were far superior. There was also no way for unique skaters like Lucinda Ruh, Rory Burghart, or Gary Beacom to be competitive.

The audience for show skating is not the same as for competitive skating. By combining the 2 approaches in one competition they created a product that wasn't pleasing to either camp.

But that's just it- the Lu Chen example. She came into autumn-1998 with no signs of clean triples and even her spins were not there or very, very short. Skaters like Kadavy and Chouinard were much, much more well-rounded no matter how they performed. Yet Chen, at the competition I referenced, easily got herself into the next round of competition and the pros were left behind-- mistakes or not. Bobek also was falling all over the ice and I believe she was closer to qualifying than the professionals, aside from Sato.

I get that the audience doesn't always want to see a 2000 Canadian Open situation (Chouinard wiping out on a jump and still beating a clean Michelle Kwan of all people) but the rules were changed when the ISU took over to typically include an actual ISU-rules short program (and required triple/double as a minimum) and then an interpretive program, which limited the triples but still typically gave fresher faces the edge aside from the above competition.

 

[AxelAnnie]

Remember, in those days, the Pros had not earned money during their Amateur Careers. And, these comps were a way to earn something.

 

[VGThuy]

This may be unpopular, but I think pro skating, the way that it was being run, was going to die off anyway. The ISU started rewarding prize money and a lot skaters who loved competition and wanted longer careers didn't give the pro ranks the turn over it needed to stay relevant. I mean I don't blame them. Some skaters just prefer the more serious environment. The more recent pros after Nagano did not turn out to be big draws outside of Bonaly but Bonaly already had a jump start by being a familiar name among skating fans before 1998. IMO, that in of itself didn't kill pro skating.

Skating was becoming more niche, more out-of-step with what younger people wanted to watch (so many people ridiculed it and wouldn't be caught dead watching people in spandex on tv), and the older audience wasn't itself sustainable to keep it going for much longer. Plus, it was oversaturated with too many tv programs with Yamaguchi and others doing the same programs over and over, a lot of laughable competition concepts, events with questionable results, and IMO a lot of the pro programs turned skating into a joke.

I get that in America, the audience wasn't the same who appreciate high art and they were going after the middle or even lowest common denominator for entertainment and rewarding it, but I think those competitions were dependent on having a casual skating audience who would tune in or surf the channels and just stop when it was on just to see what Scott Hamilton would do next. It was not hardcore skating fans who really loved pro skating that made up those big numbers for that short time period where skating was big on TV. That audience is fickle and they either grew out of it, or simply ended up bored with it and decided to watch something else that was more entertaining for them. They didn't really care about ISU taking it over and what-not. Most of them probably didn't even know that stuff was going on. Most of that tv audience just wanted to watch big names being entertaining before the novelty lost its appeal.

I think it's too easy to blame the ISU when I don't think what they did in of itself killed professional skating. I actually think it prolonged some careers a bit. There's nothing stopping pro skating from happening now in the U.S., but obviously there's no interest in Ice Wars or Battle of the Sexes or Hip Hop on Ice or Halloween on Ice or Improv on Ice or a World Pros where it was just the same small group of friends being invited due to their name recognition competing against one another with unclear rules and judges made up of past skaters who were judging in a way that nobody understood, etc. etc. etc.

 

[foxboston]

But that's just it- the Lu Chen example. She came into autumn-1998 with no signs of clean triples and even her spins were not there or very, very short. Skaters like Kadavy and Chouinard were much, much more well-rounded no matter how they performed. Yet Chen, at the competition I referenced, easily got herself into the next round of competition and the pros were left behind-- mistakes or not. Bobek also was falling all over the ice and I believe she was closer to qualifying than the professionals, aside from Sato.

I get that the audience doesn't always want to see a 2000 Canadian Open situation (Chouinard wiping out on a jump and still beating a clean Michelle Kwan of all people) but the rules were changed when the ISU took over to typically include an actual ISU-rules short program (and required triple/double as a minimum) and then an interpretive program, which limited the triples but still typically gave fresher faces the edge aside from the above competition.

I forgot about that event. What an interesting competition that was. As a Kwan fan - I loved her skating, but that program was such a snore musically. Her skating was wonderful and the program nicely put together. I am also a Josee fan, not a fan of the theme she chose and the fall didn't help. That result was polarizing!

 

[screech]

I think people got burn-out from too much skating. There were pro competitions and pro-ams happening really often, and I think viewership started to die down because of it.

 

[Dobre]

I think even before Pro-Ams, the athletes with more jumps tended to win professional competitions. Look at all the pro events in which Boitano defeated Hamilton, and Scott was always more the epitome of a professional skater.

A few other changes/influences to consider:
1. I had never thought about it before; but it does seem likely that the push to let professionals back in the amateur ranks turned out to be one of the catalysts for the end of pro-skating as we knew it. When you look at the timing. Only a few years before the Pro-Am events. And if this did, indeed, become a battle between the ISU and professional marketers, well, previously there had been no going back. There were two distinctly separate markets. Once that bridge was crossed and also once money could be earned in the amateur ranks, one can see how it became more of a battle over the same athletes & the same revenue.

2. The GP Series. As a viewer, I used to watch both professional & amateur events. Really, when you think about it, we had a very limited amount of amateur skating available on television--in the U.S. at least. Nationals, Worlds, Skate America, Olympics. (So three to four amateur events a year? That leaves a lot of room for another form of skating on TV. And TV is where major skating revenue is earned). Then the Champion/GP Series was formed in 1995 and Fox started to carry all the events. (Fox, at the time, was not available to everyone; and at my house it was always blurry but we watched the skating on it every weekend anyway). That was the point when the number of amateur events available for viewing began to grow significantly. And now, thanks to prevalent & higher-speed internet, one can watch so many more! (Though TV coverage is still spotty and still often on channels not everyone gets).

Which brings us to another possible catalyst?

3. The internet. Which allows skating fans from across the World to connect and watch amateur competitions held around the World. The medium can work twofold--benefit the professional skating world as well as the amateur one. But it definitely creates a more competitive battlefield for skating fans.

 

[annie720]

I think people got burn-out from too much skating. There were pro competitions and pro-ams happening really often, and I think viewership started to die down because of it.

I started to really lose interest in skating when there was a competition/event on TV every Sunday. For me it was over saturation and it made the major comps that I would dearly look forward to every year seem less special.

I was fortunate to be able to attend a few of the earliest Landover comps and that was very special. It was my first time seeing any skaters live and I was simply awestruck.

 

[AngieNikodinovLove (ANL)]

I loved me pro skating events. Sure, techincal elements got watered down, but where else could you see Denise Biellman (and Karyn Kadavy) entered in 5 competitions within one month?

ahhhh the 90s!!!!!!!

I actually became a fan of Oksana Baiul when she did pro comps. I prefered her more cooked than a waify girl.

And as someone else mentioned its where I got to see more of Lucinda and Rory. And also Dorothy (I was a toddler in the mid 70s). Oh and Roz. Oh and Liz.

 

[Plusdinfo]

There's a lot I could ponder and share regarding the topic, but I think it's really sad that there has been a huge gap without the World Pros. Say what you will about Ice Wars and all the others, but I would love to see at least the World Pros, and I bet many more would be into such a competition as well. There are probably skaters, too, who would like to see at least one such opportunity, if not a good 3-6. I would happily support pros doing actual content and not some silly show with nary a jump attempted (cough, Sarah Hughes).

 

[Vash01]

When they allowed the amateur skaters to compete against the Pros, I lost interest in those competitions. The amateurs were winning simply by doing more difficult jumps. They lacked the quality of skating and artistry the Pros had.

 

[VGThuy]

But there were still only pro-only competitions for years after pro-ams were introduced and people lost interest anyway.

 

[kwanfan1818]

Dick Button's "championships" were invitationals: they were not competitions among the world's best pros, most of whom did not have a chance to qualify or compete.

 

[tony]

Dick Button's "championships" were invitationals: they were not competitions among the world's best pros, most of whom did not have a chance to qualify or compete.

That’s why I loved the Ladies Pro events that lasted for 3 years. Five programs over the course of a few weeks seems excessive and they could’ve done with less, but I like that it involved 12 ladies to start, some of which never really had much pro opportunity otherwise, and it was more of a seriously-judged competition as opposed to some of the Button or total cheese comps (Battle of the Sexes).

 

[bardtoob]

Taking money from non-eligible skating and getting it into eligible skate then speed skating was the clear goal of Octavio Cinquanta.

 

[ldec]

Yet, I am craving more context either in simpler or complex terms.

You may find this old but very extensive and well-written article interesting:

Skate Today ~ The Rise and Fall of the Pro Skating World

Skate Today

web.archive.org

 

[aftershocks]

You may find this old but very extensive and well-written article interesting:

Skate Today ~ The Rise and Fall of the Pro Skating World

Skate Today

web.archive.org

Interesting. I wonder if the article might be accessible elsewhere on an updated platform? While linked, I got a notification that the site contains a JS:lframe_AC[Trj] virus, which thankfully was blocked. Probably this happened because it's an old web article from 2006.

 

[VGThuy]

You may find this old but very extensive and well-written article interesting:

Skate Today ~ The Rise and Fall of the Pro Skating World

Skate Today

web.archive.org

That article was incredibly informative and gave a lot of history leading to the pro boom. Highly interesting rivalries at the 1988 Olympics, three Olympics in six years leading to a huge pool of newly pro skaters who had some name recognition, and a huge soap opera scandal that made the 1994 Olympic Ladies SP the 6th highest rated television program in U.S. history.

I think Kurt Browning and Brian Boitano contradict themselves a few times. They hated it when World Pros became a pro-am in 1998 and refused to participate or hated that the "amateurs" did because they didn't take it as seriously as the pros did and think the audience felt that. There was also some bitterness about lack of reciprocation from the amateur side not allowing pros to compete at the Olympics/Worlds. But then Boitano admits he didn't want to compete against Yagudin/Kulik (who had long been pros by 2006) because they could do triples he didn't want to do anymore, and Browning was angry that USFS didn't sanction many pro events to make them pro-am thus killing pro skating. Their feelings are valid, but I'm not sure if they're the most objective about this. I think pro skating relied heavily on being entertainment and when that happens TV audiences may change as demographics change and may not be interested in that entertainment any longer.

I do enjoy all the Michelle Kwan mentions though. I think they were a bit unfair to Tara though. They said she didn't try to have a professional career for long, but I thought she did for at least four years. I don't think it was lack of trying for her. I think she just saw the writing on the wall and wanted to try something else.

 

[ldec]

Interesting. I wonder if the article might be accessible elsewhere on an updated platform? While linked, I got a notification that the site contains a JS:lframe_AC[Trj] virus, which thankfully was blocked. Probably this happened because it's an old web article from 2006.

Yes, I actually found it on Kurt Browning's website: http://www.kurtfiles.com/articles/article.php?id=792&cat=KURT

Hope this helps!

 

[bardtoob]

I do enjoy all the Michelle Kwan mentions though. I think they were a bit unfair to Tara though. They said she didn't try to have a professional career for long, but I thought she did for at least four years. I don't think it was lack of trying for her. I think she just saw the writing on the wall and wanted to try something else.

Michelle was on Champions on Ice with skaters of a similar age, mostly 21 and younger, so Michelle always had friends to do stuff with.

Tara was on Stars on Ice with skaters over 21 and not the only Olympic Champion. She was often left alone in a hotel while the whole cast went out to clubs and bars. Tara was desperately lonely on tour. Pat Lipinski said she regretted allowing Tara to switch over from COI to SOI.

 

[attyfan]

Michelle was on Champions on Ice with skaters of a similar age, mostly 21 and younger, so Michelle always had friends to do stuff with.
...

Michelle wasn't always with skaters of a similar age when on tour with COI -- when she first started in 1994, she (like Tara) was significantly younger than everyone else. In fact, I recall reading stories of Michelle and Tara doing things like visiting amusement parks together while on tour.

 

[VGThuy]

I remember that. Pat Lipinski said Tom Collins knew how to take care of the younger skaters and made sure they had activities and things to do to keep them occupied and stimulated. She said Tara was left on her own on SOI and they didn't have much experience having a cast member that was so young, so she didn't enjoy her time there.

 

[Seerek]

Dick Button's "championships" were invitationals: they were not competitions among the world's best pros, most of whom did not have a chance to qualify or compete.

There were several pro skaters in interviews/podcasts in the years since (I believe with either Ryan or Alison Manley) who mentioned this very thing - if you weren't in the SOI or IMG camps, you didn't have a prayer of invitations - your only chance was the more "Open" competitions. I think Leonova/Khvalko were one of the rare "from the ground up" success stories where they built their reputation to the point where they could finally get invited to World Pros and win (plus there was a dearth of pro pairs at that point).

 

[skatesindreams]

You can talk about "over-saturation" all you like.
It sure beat the couple of hours, total coverage, per year; which we were allowed prior to that!

 

[Spiralgraph]

Yep, Dick Button's championships were invitationals, and many if not all of the skaters had appearance fees and thus were paid to participate. No wonder the same roster of skaters showed up frequently. Button probably didn't want to pay skaters he felt had little name recognition or following.

 

[tony]

And again, this is why I liked the Ladies Pro Championship- we saw skaters like Rory Flack, Charlene Wong, Marina Kielmann, and Yvonne Gomez who might have been at other occasional events, but they weren’t typically given huge opportunities. The judges even left Kerrigan out of the finals one season when she performed miserably.

The problem with a pro scene these days is the skaters are already skating to lyrics in amateurs (which I think was part of the thrill of many pro competitions), and I’m not sure how exciting a watered down event technically would be to the current generation of fans.