The Olympics rely on television. What a surprise, right? The networks that buy the broadcasting rights are the ones who foot the bill and pay a lot of money, but there's a problem: they can't pay more. From the fever between Barcelona 1992 and London 2012, with a 300% growth, there has been a certain stagnation.
In the last three editions —Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, and Paris 2024— the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) television revenues were similar: from 2.868 to 3.251 billion dollars, an increase of 13%. That's why everything lately is about innovations. Skateboarding, surfing, climbing, breakdancing... Anything is possible in the upcoming events.
But several leaders point to another path: the Winter Olympics.
An essential competition in countries like Norway, Canada, the Netherlands, or Switzerland, for most fans from other parts of the world, it's just a snack between summer editions at best, and therefore it generates barely a third of the television profits of its bigger sister. A pity? No, an opportunity.
On the eve of the start of the Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo 2026 Olympics, to be held between February 6 and 22, several IOC leaders have proposed a total revolution of the winter events to match the summer ones.
The President of the International Association of Athletics Federations, Sebastian Coe, and the President of the International Cycling Union, David Lappartient, have joined forces to demand the destruction of the rule stating that all Winter Olympic sports must be "practiced on snow or ice."
Both want to include cross-country races, through the forest, one on foot and the other on a bicycle.
"I have always wanted cross-country to return [it was an Olympic sport a century ago]. It is obvious that it is historically and traditionally a winter sport, and it would also give Africa a serious chance to be part of the Winter Olympics, which we see as a sign of hope," Coe commented weeks ago.
The former athlete knows that, once that door is opened, the sky's the limit. The 2030 edition will be held in the French Alps, so mountain races could be included, with the legendary Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) as a reference, or even various indoor disciplines.
"And why not move handball to the winter, which always holds its major championships in January, or judo, which is also held indoors and has one of its major events in February with the Paris Grand Slam?" he recently pondered, sparking an angry reaction in traditional disciplines.
The resistance of the purists
For the President of the Winter Sports Association, which includes skiing, skating, curling, and ice hockey, the Italian Ivo Ferriani, the change "would dilute the brand, legacy, and identity of the Winter Olympics."
"Innovation should come from purely winter disciplines," Ferriani added as part of a debate that will need to be resolved in the coming years within the International Olympic Committee itself.
Snowboarding has gained prominence, as has happened in stations worldwide, and in Milan-Cortina d'Ampezzo 2026, there will be two significant novelties.
Firstly, NHL players, from the American ice hockey league, will return, not participating in the Olympics since 2014. Secondly, there will be ski mountaineering. Skimo, with a popular base, has entered the Olympic Charter with three short events —men's sprint, women's sprint, and mixed relays— for some countries to dream of new medals.