Secret Note Reveals: Jump Boss opens up to break away from the Skateboarding Association

Jumping director Clas Brede Bråthen (54 years old) opens up in an internal memo to cut all financial ties with the Norwegian Ski Association.

This was revealed in the document sent to the Board of Directors and Secretary General of the Norwegian Ski Association in October. Today VG can reveal startling details from the 20-page memo.

He describes the mistrust between the ski jumping camp and the management at the ski union.

Warnings are mounting about the consequences of significantly reducing the number of employees.

The branch lacks several million kroner in sponsorship money for next season. But the calculation is not that simple, says Klaas Brede Braathen.

We will come back to that.

“The way the organization is put together, it’s hard to get around the fact that the NSF was built for a different time and essentially tailored to the interest of the majority, which is cross-country skiing.” Braathin writes.

And the:

“The situation is dire, and it is probably only the independent NSF Jumping as its own legal entity that can secure the future of jumping in Norway as the most important jumping country in the world.”

Financial relief from the ski federation – but still formally under the ski board – is one of three proposals Bråthen is considering in the memo.

After being confronted with VG’s information, Bråthen sent a text message on Friday morning to a larger group of people whom the 54-year-old described as “jump friends.” Bråthen refers to this letter when asked to comment on the matter.

He begins the letter by lamenting the appearance of an internal document in the media.

– The document aims to serve as an open, honest and constructive approach regarding the challenges facing the Skating Federation. The desire was that in this way I could give the Secretary-General and members of the Ski Board an idea of ​​what the world looks like from my perspective, and perhaps contribute to important decisions on a broader basis, Brathen wrote.

Skateboarding president Tove Moe Dyrhaug is aware of the memo, but says it’s not the skateboard that will be dealing with it.

– It must be addressed in the Jumping Committee first, and recommendations must be submitted from the Jumping Committee to the Ski Board. Then it can be processed there and the Ski Council or Ski Parliament can decide that. “This is how we organize,” she says.

Patron of drought

It has been two years since the shocking conflict between the ski jumping camp and management at the Ski Federation was shelved. Since then, both President Eric Rost and Secretary General Ingvild Britten Berg have left the association.

But according to Klaas Breid Bräthen, the conflict is still causing problems: in the memorandum read by VG, it was stated that several tens of millions of kroner have been lost as a result of the issue.

The reason: Sponsors have become skeptical about opening their wallets.

“Hope faces a high risk of negative contagion through too close contact with NSF, and sees significant benefits from building an independent reputation and credibility. The management’s actions in 2021 have seriously damaged Hoppe, and thus internal conflicts in the Alpine branches and across the country have also had a negative impact on Hope Branch Conflicts, among other things, help define sponsors’ perception of NSF as an organization.“, writes Braathen.

The conflict, which occurred two years ago, had its origins in financial resources and allegations of a lack of transparency. It’s also central to the document the ski jumping director sent to the skateboard:

Because at the same time that the jumping branch lacks a major sponsor and therefore has budgets exceeding ten million kroner with uncertain income, Klaas Brede Braaten believes that the sport of jumping In reality It generates much more money than can be seen at first glance.

The memo refers to a meeting with the union’s financial director this spring. Figures were then presented that showed jumping represented 44 per cent of the skating federation’s event income.

This money does not go directly to the hops, but to the larger community of the association.

According to Braathen, Hope has contributed more than NOK 400 million to the mutual fund since 2011.

– Lack of commitment

At the same time, he writes, jumping is a specialized sport that operates on its own within the association. The 54-year-old believes they do not need the large shared services provided by the Ski Association.

“Hoppsporten management has long suffered from a lack of commitment and support from central NSF management, including the Ski Board. This has likely led to a lack of understanding of the unique nature of show jumping as a niche sport with a large commercial market, which has been well documented by International television and media personalities. He writes in the internal memo.

Brathen believes that the reduction in the size of the jump will have serious consequences for the ski federation centrally as well: the head of the jump claims that important coaching expertise will disappear abroad.

“Jumping’s position as one of the top jumping countries in the world is being challenged, and Norway is rapidly moving from being a country A to a country B or C.”he is writing.

And the:

“NSF cannot expect to maintain the level or number of events. Event income is therefore highly vulnerable.”

“At the same time, it is difficult for me to accept that after supporting what is, in my opinion, a very large corporate department for many years, and being the largest value creator for this department, Hope will now scale back its activity. This appears to be NSF ‘shooting itself in the foot.'” Oh Your family Your family It means to destroy a large part of something, or to greatly reduce it in number or quantity. It is often used metaphorically to refer to major losses, whether in terms of population, resources, or something else. (Source: Chat-GPT)“Jumping into the current situation will have far-reaching consequences for everyone.”

Three solutions

Brathen writes that the situation that arises has three possible outcomes:

• Reconciliation: According to Braathen, the solution should include separate agreements that change the relationship between the jumping and the ski federation centrally.
• Reducing costs and downsizing
• A purely financial break with the Ski Association.

Thus, in his proposal, official ties with the Norwegian Ski Association were not severed. Jumping will remain regulated by the head of skiing, Tove Moe Dierhoog.

But financially, the hops will stand on their feet.

“It would be better for Hope to be allowed to continue under its own care, rather than for the skateboard to practically eliminate Hope to play an insignificant role among the world’s jump nations. With such a solution, the NSF does not have to take responsibility for Hope’s operation. Hope himself is responsible for his income and expenses , while the joint management and the Skating Board avoid what they themselves define as a “problem” with Hop. Writes clutches.

In the text message he sent to his “jumping friends” on Friday morning, he confirmed that he stood by everything he wrote in the document:

– There are no other intentions in this than to create a better future for the sport of jumping and the skating association. Since our branch has been portrayed as a challenge to society, and we sometimes feel that the same society can limit our development, I took the liberty of offering suggestions on ways forward.