FÉDÉRATION INTERNATIONALE DE LUGE DE COURSE INTERNATIONAL LUGE FEDERATION

STRATEGIC PLAN FOR THE FIL

PUBLICATION DATE: 2011

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I. OVERVIEW

Since the last strategic plan implemented by the FIL, artificial track luge has become a core sport of the Olympic Winter Games. In addition, the IOC has included the Team Relay into the Olympic Winter Games program as the fourth discipline in our sport. Thereby, FIL has fulfilled the earlier objective of anchoring the sport in the Olympic Movement.

Overshadowing this accomplishment was the tragic death of Nodar Kumaritashvili during the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. This event caused the FIL to implement numerous new safety measures as well as reinforcing the priority of safety in the sport. The implementation of these safety measures overrides any items in a strategic plan and is therefore not included.

As an organization, the FIL has taken major steps towards implementing the needed components of being a sport on an Olympic level, such as in the areas of television and sponsors. Today, the FIL has all its artificial track events covered by television and has sponsor agreements in place which provide a meaningful financial resource in addition to the monies received from the IOC.

Finally, the FIL has continued to grow its financial support to the member national federation through already established support programs, but has also implemented new support measures since the creation of the last strategic plan such as the track voucher program to help offset the ever increasing cost of participating in the sport.

On the natural track front, reaching an Olympic status was the clear priority from the last approved strategy plan. However, after several aggressive attempts through the sports political channels to achieve such a goal, the IOC rebuked the efforts. The lack of nations participating in the sport along with the limited number of nations reaching top placements in the sport resulted in a too large deviation from the set criteria of the IOC to allow inclusion. But, unlike previous efforts, the IOC has laid out clear guidelines for achieving this objective and offered its assistance to realizing it.

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II. CURRENT STATUS OF THE SPORT OF LUGE

The following entities can be considered the foundations for the sport of luge:

1. Athletes 2. Event Organizers/Track Operators 3. National Federations 4. Governing bodies of the FIL 5. Sponsors/agencies/media

1. The athletes Participating in a sport on an Olympic level has reached a stage where a year around involvement is needed. This has resulted in athletes on the international level have a difficult to impossible task of either completing their education or work a job at a meaningful level. The task of creating a path where an athlete can participate in international competitions yet prepare for their lives after their sports career primarily falls on the national federations. Herein lays a great divide of the opportunities offered to an athlete. To this end, the FIL must work with the national federations to assist where possible.

2. Event Organizers/Track Operators a) Artificial Track Luge The following tracks are currently being utilized for international FIL competitions on artificial track:

Asia: Nagano (JPN)

Europe: Altenberg (GER) Cesana (ITA) Innsbruck‐Igls (AUT) Königssee (GER) La Plagne (FRA) Lillehammer (NOR) Oberhof (GER) Paramonovo (RUS) Sigulda (LAT) St. Moritz (SUI) Winterberg (GER)

North America: Calgary (CAN) Lake Placid (USA) Park City (USA) Whistler (CAN)

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Considering North and South America as one continent, artificially refrigerated tracks are located in every continent where luge is practiced, with the exception of Australia/Oceania. In 2008, a 360 meters long luge track was opened in Naseby, New Zealand, which gives both artificial and natural track athletes in Oceania the opportunity to get to know the sport of luge.

The number of tracks has increased since the last strategic plan was implemented by the FIL so that it clearly outnumbers the amount of World Cup events and FIL Championships to be awarded per year. In addition, the tracks are spread out over the entire world making the logistical issue an even greater priority. The cost of operating a track today is such that there is a constant pressure to increase track fees.

Event organizers are an important foundation of the FIL. For each World Cup or Championship, an individual contract is signed between FIL and event organizer. Through the efforts of events organizers and with the help of the FIL Evaluation Commission, which was established in 2004, the quality level of all events has been improved significantly. b) Natural Track Luge The following tracks are currently being utilized for international FIL competitions on natural track:

Aosta ITA Deutschnofen ITA Dolenja Vas SLO Frantschach AUT Garmisch‐Partenkirchen GER Grande Prairie CAN Gsies ITA Jaufental ITA Jesenice SLO Kindberg AUT Kreuth GER Laas ITA Latsch ITA Latzfons ITA Longiarü ITA Lüsen ITA Moos/Passeier ITA Novouralsk RUS Obdach AUT Oberperfuss AUT Olang ITA Schleis ITA St. Lorenzen ITA St. Magdalena‐Villnöß ITA St. Sebastian AUT Turka UKR

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Umhausen AUT Unterammergau GER Zelezniki SLO

3. National Federations The FIL currently has 48 ordinary and 5 provisional national federation members. 30 National Federations participated in the 2010/2011 World Cup series artificial and natural track. Many of the national federations are dependent on FIL to participate in the sport of luge. One of the main tasks of the FIL is to support these countries through the FIL development program. The challenge is to build strong and self‐sufficient national federations.

4. Governing bodies of the FIL The FIL consists of several governing bodies, with the Congress as its highest authority. The Presidium and the Executive Board are the authorities responsible for the daily operation of the FIL. The FIL structure furthermore comprises several commissions and working groups.

The FIL Office now has a staff of five employees and deals with many additional issues that did not exist when the last edition of the FIL Strategic Plan was implemented, such as anti‐ doping or internet. Furthermore, the FIL works with other companies on a contractual basis, e.g. in the fields of television and press.

5. Sponsors/agencies/media The FIL works with two marketing agencies in artificial track, which serve as a liaison with the FIL’s three main sponsors. Besides this, the FIL has signed contracts with several other partners. Sponsors have become a considerable source of income for the FIL.

In the past few years, the FIL has also successfully found new sponsors for natural track luge, although no long term commitments have come to fruition.

The FIL maintains a contract with SportA, the television rights agency of the main German public television stations ARD and ZDF. An international signal is produced at the competition venues, which is provided to television networks all over the world. This contract not only generates revenue for the FIL, but also ensures good television coverage in Germany.

In the 2009/2010 season, the total broadcasting time of artificial track luge amounted to more than 204 hours reaching an estimated number of 355.227.000 viewers.

Outside Germany, luge is covered among others by ORF (Austria), RAI (Italy), Viasat (Baltic countries), Universal Sports (USA) and TSN (Canada). Eurosport with its channels Eurosport, Eurosport2 and Eurosport Asia/Pacific bring live coverage and recorded shows to 59 countries.

The coverage in television and media has enabled the FIL to sign marketing contracts with agencies who in turn has secured sponsor agreements for the FIL.

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III. Vision Statement

It is the goal of the FIL to strengthen the sport and its organization, expand member federation support and increase athlete participation in governance, while at the same time realizing greater transparency. Concurrently, the FIL will also focus on youth development to create a solid foundation for the future of the sport. It is also the goal of the FIL to conduct the sport in a safe and environmentally sensitive manner. It is further the goal of the FIL to improve the global awareness of the sport through the utilization of cutting‐edge technology and new media. Finally, the combination of fulfillment of these goals and the criteria already set by the IOC are deemed to open the way for the inclusion of natural track luge in the Olympic program.

IV. Major goals

1. Improve global attractiveness of the sport of luge

2. Globalize media efforts

3. Expand awareness of sport through utilization of new media

4. Increase member federation support

5. Broader development of youth component of the sport to ensure growth

6. Increase athlete participation in governance

7. Strengthen FIL organizational structure

8. Closer cooperation with FIBT to enhance safety, track construction, events, and environmental footprint

9. Fulfill the IOC criteria for the inclusion of natural track luge in the Olympic program

10. Explore ways to increase or generate new revenue

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V. Strategies for achievement of goals

1. Improve global attractiveness of the sport of luge ƒ Increase the number of World Cups staged each year ƒ Review the geographical spread of events ƒ Work together with the FIBT to stage joint events ƒ Improve spectator interaction through activities surrounding the sports events ƒ Greater use of technology to enhance TV coverage, e.g. sled cam, speedometer ƒ Implementation of new race formats (e.g. sprint competition) ƒ Work towards globalization of sponsor base ƒ Work together with event organizers to make events profitable ƒ Encourage the development of low‐cost luge tracks using new technologies

2. Globalize media efforts ƒ Better use of electronic media to broaden reach ƒ Improve worldwide geographical appeal and reporting of media stories ƒ Optimizing content on the FIL website ƒ Improve skills catering to world‐wide culturally‐diverse media outlets ƒ Increase the television exposure of natural track luge

3. Expand awareness of sport through utilization of new media ƒ Exploring new media such as Facebook, Twitter, etc. ƒ Use internet to compliment television coverage ƒ Integrate mobile applications in communications efforts

4. Increase member federation support ƒ Establish long‐term system of grants that requires and produces results ƒ Reevaluate distribution of money (new NFs vs. traditional NFs) ƒ Hire additional coaching staff for FIL Group ƒ Purchase equipment for FIL Group ƒ Stage sled preparation courses ƒ Provide continuing support for programs already proven successful ƒ Increase Patenschaft program ƒ Provide accessible equipment for all NF’s, in particular in the area of sleds ƒ Schedule World Cup events for at least two years in advance ƒ Explore scheduling more ITW’s to help NF athletes get more experience ƒ Help educate NF coaches by offering coaching clinics ƒ Explore the establishment and operation of international training centers.

5. Broader development of youth component of the sport to ensure growth ƒ Evaluate and improve program and support for young athletes to better prepare for the transition to General Class ƒ Continue to increase the quality of junior events ƒ Expand FIL support for youth development ƒ Showcase sport of luge in a best possible way at the first edition of the Youth Olympic Winter Games

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6. Increase athlete participation in governance ƒ Athlete participation in governance ƒ Forward feedback from FIL athletes’ meetings to Expert Commissions to be further discussed

7. Strengthen FIL organizational structure ƒ Streamlining of the organization ƒ Install working group to review structure of the FIL ƒ Improve internal communication and networking of individual governing bodies of the FIL with NF’s

8. Closer cooperation with FIBT to enhance safety, track construction, events, and environmental footprint ƒ Professionalize track construction and homologation ƒ Incorporate persons with the appropriate expertise on track building commission (i.e. engineers) ƒ Oversee construction of new tracks more closely ƒ Continue to work on accident prevention in cooperation with the Medical Commission ƒ Evaluate scheduling effort to result in cost savings for events and television by considering the staging of events back‐to‐back at each track

9. Fulfill the IOC criteria for the inclusion of natural track luge in the Olympic program ƒ Ensure long‐term development rather than concentrate on short‐term activities ƒ Achieve the goals described to us by the IOC (letter from the IOC) with the purpose of having natural track luge included in the 2018 Olympic Winter Games ƒ Define certain milestones to be reached and react if they have not been reached ƒ Review IRO to increase inclusion of developing nations

10. Explore ways to increase or generate new revenue

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