– I think the big losing party here is the strong party, namely the Ski Association, says Tor Wallin Andreassen, professor of innovation at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH). Because one conflict after another has haunted the Ski Association this autumn. Earlier in October, Lucas Braathen chose to retire as a 23-year-old after a long-term conflict. Johannes Høsflot Klæbo, like Braathen, has fought the case for the athletes’ image rights. Together, they wanted to get an answer to how the athletes’ property rights to image rights affect the association’s rights to enter into sponsorship agreements. And ever since Skiesset chose to turn down the national team in April, he has been at odds with the union over a representation agreement. After intense negotiations, this ended with Klæbo getting a standard representation agreement, like everyone else who is not in the national team. A big alpine star has chosen to quit. And Klæbo, who has chosen to stand on his own two feet, now has an agreement that gives him great commercial freedom between the World Cup weekends. Which means that he can largely profile private sponsors when he is not going to World Cup races. – Everyone wants to have the big profiles on the national team. At the same time, history shows that the national teams and the community are strong, also with the partners, says Espen Graff, head of communications at the Ski Association. Both conflicts can weaken the sales product of the Norwegian Ski Association, Andreassen believes. – When these big stars fall out of the equation, this special association has a worse sponsorship package they can sell to their sponsors, he believes. This is the conflict between the ski stars and the Norwegian Ski Association. The Alpinists and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo are in conflict with the Norwegian Ski Association over marketing rights and the national team agreement. The conflict has been going on for several years, and mainly deals with the question of the extent to which the performers themselves are entitled to their own image rights. A statement from the Norwegian Ski Association’s legislation committee in winter 2022 gave the athletes complete victory in a dispute over image rights. It states that the athletes and NSF must agree on the extent to which the association will be allowed to use the athletes’ image rights in commercial agreements. This means that the athletes have the right to greater influence in NSF’s negotiations with sponsors. What the athletes are now waiting for is for the parties to negotiate a new national team agreement that is in line with the legislative committee’s statement in 2022. Although they have not yet signed a new contract, the athletes are subject to their previous contracts due to a clause that regulates the duration of the agreement . In September, Lucas Braathen nevertheless stood up in a campaign for a competitor to one of the Ski Association’s sponsors. It must have caused strong reactions. On 27 October, Braaten announced that he was quitting. In April, Klæbo turned down the national team. After several months of negotiations around a long-term representation agreement, it became clear this autumn that Klæbo will be able to make use of a standard representation agreement this winter. This means that he will have great commercial freedom between the World Cup weekends. – They must put the matter to rest Vegard Arntsen is general manager of Sponsor Insight. He believes that neither the Ski Association nor Johannes Høsflot Klæbo have benefited from the conflict that has been going on since May. – The problem probably lies with new sponsors, to the extent that you hunt for them. It is a little more difficult when there is an ongoing conflict. Knocking on doors and saying “hey, do you want to sponsor us” when there is a conflict is not the best selling thing, says Arntsen. Right now, the process around a representation agreement has been put on hold. Klæbo gets to go to the World Cup. But the sponsor manager fears the consequences should it flare up again. UNFORTUNATE: Sponsor manager Vegard Arntsen believes the conflict makes both parties less attractive to sponsors. – Conflicts are not very selling, this really goes beyond both camps. In other words, both the athlete and the association become a little less attractive as sponsors out there have thousands of options and can choose something else where there is harmony, says Arntsen and adds: – They have to let that matter die once and for all. When asked if the Skiing Association fears that a high level of conflict will weaken the association’s reputation, communications manager Graff replies: – Conflicts are never good for reputation. The Ski Association is a large and complex business, and a lot of positive things are also happening, both broadly and at the top. Tor Andreassen believes the Skiing Association must be modernised, for his part, believes that the level of conflict between the Norwegian Skiing Association and individual athletes is a sign of poor management. – Just the fact that they lose Braathen seems to me like an amateur relationship, when you don’t have a dialogue. He believes that, unlike the athletes, there is something very fundamental that the Ski Association has not understood. PROFESSOR: Tor Wallin Andreassen. Photo: Lars Tore Endresen / news – The new social media have given the athletes a different market value. As when the Swedish Sports Confederation or the Skiing Confederation have not caught on. They live in the old “Gerhard” spirit of service with one for all, all for one. – There are attitudes where I feel that the managers do not quite keep up and do not have a dialogue with the athletes, on whom they are so dependent. The second is that they have not kept up with the times when it comes to developing their contracts, he claims. Now both parties must realize that cooperation is the solution and the responsibility also lies with the athletes, he believes. – Together they are dynamite. Individually, they are quite stupid. Graff: – There is always a need for adaptation Arntsen believes that the national team model can be weakened by athletes breaking away from the national team system. – The answer is actually yes. The performers have become a kind of media channel in themselves. They have to find a good solution for that between federation and athlete, regardless of which sport we are talking about, says Arntsen. – And then I think you have to recognize that if you manage to build up a bunch of followers and have a commercial value, then you have to be allowed to take out a larger part of this yourself as well. – Is it time to change the national team model, Graff? – We feel that the national team model is solid, but at the same time there is always a need for adaptation, development and modernization, says the communications manager.
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