– I think it’s a shame that so much money has to go to lawyers, but I also think the Ski Association has learned from it. Now there is a great will to have preventive measures with openness and dialogue with practitioners, so that such cases are avoided in the future, says Karianne Løken. She is the newly elected head of the ethics committee in the Ski Association. She adds: – It’s an unfortunate situation, but if you have to, you have to. Because while the Ski Association is struggling financially, they are spending millions on lawyers in various conflicts, and the costs have increased markedly during Tove Moe Dyrhaug’s first term as ski president. This is shown in an overview that news has obtained. For example, they spent just under NOK 400,000 in the first half of the year under Dyrhaug’s lease (second half of 2022), while from January 1 until June 12 this year it was closer to NOK 1.8 million. The Ski Association’s legal expenses 2022 (from 12 June): NOK 371,623 2023: NOK 1,221,973 2024 (until June 14): NOK 1,789,825 – Lack of respect for the athletes One of the conflicts is the much-discussed dispute over a new national team agreement. There, the Ski Association hired its own lawyer, at the same time they paid a million dollar bill for the legal fees to the athletes. The conflict lasted for several years, and the solution did not come until April 2024. Despite the fact that the association’s own law committee gave support to the athletes as early as autumn 2022. The conflict between the ski stars and the Norwegian Ski Association After a long time of disagreement between the alpinists and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo on the one hand , and the Norwegian Skiing Association (NSF) on the other side, the association’s own legal committee came up with a statement that gave the athletes complete victory in the dispute over image rights. The statement said that the athletes and NSF had to agree on the extent to which the association would be allowed to use the athletes’ image rights in commercial agreements. The athletes expected the parties to jointly negotiate a new national team agreement that was in line with the legislative committee’s statement in 2022. The board of the Norwegian Skiing Association adopted a “standard national team agreement for the 2023/24 season”. In the minutes of the meeting it is described that some adjustments were made based on both feedback from the athletes and the legislative committee’s conclusion. The athletes were presented with the national team contract for the coming season. In the contract, the Skiing Association had disregarded the legislative committee’s conclusion, according to the athletes. In the same month, Johannes Høsflot Klæbo turned down a place in the national team. The then general secretary Øistein Lunde held a new briefing regarding the national team contracts for the ski board. Earlier in June, Lunde stated in several media cases that he believed that the Skiing Association had taken into account both the athletes and the legislative committee. Andreas Ekker, head of the Skiing Association’s legal and prosecution committee (LPU), briefed the board on the process surrounding the national team agreements from the legislative committee’s perspective. Later that month, Ekker came up with a concrete proposal for a national team agreement with wording that the athletes should have approved. The board decided that an inquiry should be made to the Norwegian Sports Confederation (NIF) for “assessment of interpretation issues related to current provisions in the NIF Act”. In the minutes, it is stated that board member Kristin Gjertsen argued against: “As a board, we have made it clear that the national team agreement as it currently stands, in LPU’s assessment, is not in line with laws and regulations. We have little to gain from prolonged conflict, and there are good, alternative solutions.” Lucas Braathen announced that the conflict has taken a toll on both his joy and motivation, and that he has therefore ended his skiing career. The legislative committee of the Norwegian Sports Confederation (NIF) came up with its conclusion. There, too, the athletes received support. Board member Kristin Gjertsen sent an apology to the athletes after her proposal for a public apology was voted down. The board of the Norwegian Skiing Association adopted a new national team agreement. The content of the agreement was discussed and drawn up by a committee which, among other things, consisted of athletes, sports managers, shop stewards and partners. – The revised national team agreement provides better predictability and clarity for everyone. Not least in terms of understanding and acceptance when it comes to our image rights, which has been crucial for us performers, said Kilde, when the conflict was resolved. Show more The year after the legislative committee came up with its assessment, the board of the Skiing Association still stood their ground, so they asked the Swedish Sports Confederation’s legislative committee to look into the matter. Only one board member voted against. The then ski board member, Kristin Gjertsen, is quoted as follows in the board report: – In sum, we risk a major loss of reputation, reduced income and increased costs. NSF cannot afford that in the current situation. NIF’s legislative committee was largely in agreement with the Ski Association’s legislative committee, and in April 2024 the parties finally reached a national team agreement where the athletes more or less got what they wanted. By then, the legal costs in the case had grown to around 1.4 million, according to figures obtained by news. In addition, the conflict had led to a number of negative media reports: MEDIA NOISE: The long-lasting conflict between the Skiing Association and own stars led to a number of media reports. Lucas Braathen, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Johannes Høsflot Klæbo were spokespersons. In the end, star alpinist Lucas Braathen had enough, and he chose to quit the Norwegian national team. Now he will drive for Brazil in the future. Braathen used the press conference to lash out at the Ski Association. The Braathen shock received enormous attention, and the Ski Association received criticism for its handling of the case. Before Christmas, Kilde, Klæbo and Braathen received a written apology from a board member of the Ski Association, but it would still take several months and legal fees before the case was resolved. Kilde did not hide how disappointed he was about the Norwegian ski resort. In February this year, he went very hard in an news interview, and his statements received a lot of attention. And the noise lasted until the very end. Even the composition of the selection itself, which was appointed to resolve the conflict, was heavily criticised. So what does Gjertsen say now? – The worst consequence of procrastination in the case linked to the national team agreement was, in my opinion, a lack of respect for the athletes. Fortunately, the process was finally carried out this spring so that participating athletes expressed positivity, both for the result and the final process. It also gives good hope for good interaction in the future, says the former board member. FORMER BOARD MEMBER: Kristin Gjertsen was part of the ski board until June this year. Photo: Inger Kristine Lee / news Warns action In addition to the use of lawyers in the conflict over the national team agreement, the Ski Association hired the law firm Elden when the former national team jumping coach, Alexander Stöckl, ended up at odds with the national team athletes. Stöckl left his job and filed a lawsuit against the Ski Association, before they gradually found a solution. – Without having insight into the processes that have led to all these conflicts, it is difficult to make a statement. But it seems quite obvious that the dialogue with the sports group has not been good enough, there are still conflicts. We want to work on that with the ski board soon and try to use other remedies at an earlier time, says Løken in the ethics committee. The Stöckl conflict also cost more than legal fees and severance pay. Both that case, more jump noise and bad finances have received a lot of attention in the media: MEDIA NOISE: It’s not just the noise surrounding the national team agreement that has created negative headlines. The conflict surrounding Alexander Stöckl received a lot of media coverage earlier this year. The same was true of the long-running dispute between the Ski Association and the then head of jumping Clas Brede Bråthen. The federal economy has also led to notices in various media. This case is from June this year. A few days later VG wrote that the salary of the ski president had been heatedly discussed. VG further wrote that it is moving towards dismissals. A few days later it became known that the Ski Association will lose its main sponsor after the coming season. And just before the weekend, the Ski Association announced that the national team ski jumpers must now pay a property of NOK 50,000 each. Communication expenses have also increased in recent years. It should also be mentioned here that a person from the communications department of the Ski Association has now been leased to the WC in Trondheim. The Ski Association states that, very roughly speaking, they receive money for this leased resource and use the money to bring in external help. Have to fork out to be on the national team In total, since Tove Moe Dyrhaug took over as president in June 2022, the Ski Association has spent around 7 million on externals, excluding a brand project that was started before she was elected. The use of money breaks down as follows: The Ski Association’s costs for external legal expenses: NOK 3.38 million Cultural project, structure and internal follow-up: NOK 1.05 million Communication: NOK 523,000 Advisers in media and TV agreements: 1.15 million Advisers on facilities, development and projects : NOK 832,000 In addition, a branding project was completed in 2023 with a new logo, font and brand building. The total cost of this was 3.2 million. Some of this has been expensed before June 2022. Now the Ski Association is in a situation where the ski jumpers have to shell out an asset of NOK 50,000 each to be on the national team. Ex-board member Gjertsen has warned of a “real danger of bankruptcy within a short time”, and at the end of June VG wrote that downsizing is on the way. Recently, it was also known that cross-country skiing will lose its main sponsor after the coming season. But it is out of the question to cut the administration. Secretary-General Arne Baumann told news at the beginning of June. He then said that they had addressed the financial challenges and decided not to replace positions that they have had vacant. – Is it the case that the administration has been slimmed down as much as possible? – Yes. – There is nothing more to go on? – No. GENERAL SECRETARY: Arne Baumann in the Ski Association. Photo: Norwegian Ski Association / NTB The administration numbers, according to the Ski Association’s website, 24 people. One of these is now rented out for the WC in Trondheim. Løken in the ethics committee emphasizes that she does not have the whole and complete picture, but says: – The perception is that they understand well what kind of economic situation we are in now. The Ski Association has adopted a long-term budget where better cost control is important. In general, I think that you should speak a little more openly and loudly about what you have done wrong and how you will correct it in the future, she says. Baumann: – We have to learn lessons. The Ski Association acknowledges that they spent too much time, and therefore too much money, on the work on the national team agreement. On the other hand, they believe that the use of lawyers is not problematic overall. – The Skiing Association is a large organization with a budget of almost half a billion kroner. We do not employ lawyers, and that means that we have rather chosen to spend money on external legal help when there is a need for it. The biggest expenses in the last year concern the process of the national team agreement, says general secretary Arne Baumann. GENERAL SECRETARY: Are Baumann has been the top administrative leader of the Ski Association since August 2023. Photo: Geir Olsen / NTB – They have spent around 1.4 million on the national team agreement, and some money has also gone to other conflicts. To what extent could these conflicts, and thus also the use of money, have been resolved at an earlier stage, so that they could use the money for other things? – In this specific case, we have recognized several times that it should have been solved much earlier, even though there were several different perceptions and interpretations of the legal matter, says Baumann and adds: – My assessment is that we must learn from how we solved the challenges with the national team agreement. For several different reasons, it took a long time to get the selection together around the same meeting table, but once we got there we established a common platform and found a common solution. – In light of the current financial situation in the association, what do you think about these legal expenses, Baumann? – It is not a good sign when parties in the same organization use lawyers to discuss internal matters. Through open and trusting dialogue, we should jointly seek to solve our internal challenges, and we must do what we can to ensure that this does not happen in the future. The Ski Association will probably also have to spend money on lawyers in the future, it is absolutely necessary in our business, says the general secretary. Published 13.07.2024, at 16.32
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The Ski Association has doubled its legal expenses in two years – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
