The Infront Sports & Media agency has struck an early renewal to its international media rights deal with the German Ski Association (DSV) for World Cup events held in the country.
The agreement for International Ski Federation (FIS) events held in Germany was originally due to run through to the 2020-21 season, but will now extend to the 2025-26 campaign.
Around 25 FIS World Cup events take place in Germany each year across the disciplines of Alpine skiing, ski jumping, cross-country, Nordic combined and freestyle skiing, making the country one of the key pillars of the calendar.
The contract includes the ski jumping events in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Oberstdorf held as part of the Vierschanzentournee, or Four Hills tournament, as well as the Biathlon World Team Challenge Auf Schalke. The DSV will continue to independently market media rights for the German market.
Commenting on the contract extension, DSV Marketing chief executive Stefan Schwarzbach, said: “Besides offering us economic planning security, the extended partnership with Infront also provides us with maximum flexibility to react in an appropriate and sustainable way to the various challenges of the elite sport as well as changes in media usage.”
Bruno Marty, executive director of winter sports at Infront, added: “Having this long-term agreement supports the continuing development of ski sport both in Germany and beyond, and represents a central element of Infront’s strong international ski media portfolio. It also gives plenty of scope to further extend the DSV’s use of digital platforms in covering these events, and presents exciting opportunities to bring fans closer to the action than ever before.”
Infront has similar agreements with all but the Austrian, Swiss and Romanian national ski associations that host FIS World Cup events worldwide, enabling the agency to market its FIS World Cup events on a collective basis.