Cortina Requests Postponement Of World Champs To 2022, 1 Month After Olympics

Alpine Skiing Italy, united in a single body with all the institutions that make up the Cortina 2021 Foundation: Government, Veneto Region, Belluno Province, Municipality of Cortina, CONI and the Italian Winter Sports Federation, has proposed to the FIS Council to the postponement of the Cortina World Championships to 2022. The Cortina worlds are currently scheduled for Feb. 7-21, 2021.

Moving the event may cause a world of pain for other events, putting the championships one month after the Beijing Olympics and potentially forcing FIS to cancel that season’s finals in Méribel and Courchevel, France.

Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malagò revealed the plans during an interview with RAI state TV on Sunday night. “It’s a decision in which we both lose but we realize this is the best — or maybe the only thing — to do,” Malago said

“Postponing the event would allow us to put forth the best in terms of tradition and Italian organization on the path toward Milan-Cortina 2026,” said Flavio Roda, the president of the Italian federation. He added "The Italian hope is that the decision to postpone the World Cup will be taken. Sponsors and the public expect Cortina to present a World Cup of the highest level, both from an organizational and show point of view. All this can be done only in maximum health security and being able to test all the new infrastructures and operational processes behind a major international event. I think that by moving forward the appointment with the World Cup it is possible to implement the best of the Italian tradition and organizational experience and how to make the best way to launch the road to Milan - Cortina 2026 ".

The FIS Council has carefully considered the Italian proposal, promising to evaluate every aspect and therefore to take a final decision on July 1st.

The Italian desire is to run a great sporting event, in the best possible conditions and, above all, as far as possible from the effects of the pandemic that has been affecting global operations for a few months now.

The cancellation of the Alpine Ski World Cup Finals scheduled for last March has already caused significant economic and image damage, plus there was no opportunity to test all the new infrastructures and operational plans planned for the World Cup scheduled in February 2021. Finally, the revenue that would have resulted from TV rights and partnerships that could not be honored in terms of visibility was lost.

Since the Foundation is a non-profit entity, CONI and FISI have ensured their liquidity, thanks to bank loans at the Istituto di Credito Sportivo for 5 and 14 million Euros respectively.

9 months after the start of the World Cup, as requested by the FIS itself, the Foundation - and all its stakeholders - should be ready, flexible and able to manage any type of situation that may arise: from holding the World Cup behind closed doors, to a possible cancellation of the event . An eventuality - the latter - which the Foundation cannot afford to face and which would lead to a  loss of over 30 million Euros.

In particular, a cancellation at the last moment would be a serious damage to the promotion of Alpine skiing in the Italian mountains, just as it would not be possible for the Federation to face a financial loss that would go well beyond the exposures at the Credito Sportivo.