Our columnist reflects on the new format for the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Series and Final.
Over its more than 100-year history, the FEI Nations Cup™ series had become dated. It was time to reset the priorities, and 2013 brought significant changes.
This prestigious team event was in danger of getting lost in the shuffle, in part due to the competitive schedules of the top horses and riders. It was time to focus on finding the right blend of national pride, team competition and individual competition. In reality, we had to decrease the commitment for a rider, owner, horse and country in order to increase the importance. These stakeholders want to support their country, and riders and owners want to send their best horses, but it has to be done in a way that is realistic in terms of finances, time and horsepower.
How It Works
The addition of new ideas and a generous, four-year, $21 million sponsorship package from the Saudi Equestrian Fund brought about the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ series. The world was divided into seven regions, and every country that has a federation that is a member of the FEI was included. Every federation that has a minimum of four riders on the Longines World Ranking List is eligible to try to qualify for the Series Final in their region.
Each region is allocated a certain number of spots in the Final based on population and strength of field within the region. A series of qualifying Nations Cups determine a ranking in the region, and the highest-placed countries earn their place at the Final. By streamlining the process to qualify so it was very clear for all stakeholders (fans, riders, owners, media, organizers, etc.), the hope was that there would be an increase in interest and participation. We also hoped that by using this league system, countries would be incentivized to hold Nations Cups, causing growth in new markets.
The Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup Final in Barcelona was held the last week of September, which fits well into the global calendar as this is the traditional end of the outdoor season and the beginning of the indoor season. Of course, in many parts of the world this is different, based on local geographical concerns, but this is the customary understanding that made sense within the landscape of the whole of the sport.
The top 18 national teams qualified to compete for $2.7 million, with roughly $2 million for the Final, $410,00 for the ninth- through 18th-placed teams in the Consolation Final and a $273,000 bonus to be shared among individual riders who were double clear.
Barcelona hosted a fantastic Final. The atmosphere was absolutely perfect, and everybody seemed to be in agreement that it was a very successful first Furusiyya Final.
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Looking Ahead
Immediately following the Final, the FEI Jumping Committee met to debrief. Every comment from every stakeholder was put before the committee and considered. The Jumping Committee intends to bring recommendations forward to the FEI Bureau at the General Assembly in November, and the Bureau will then make decisions on any changes or adjustments to the series moving forward.
My personal view is that we shouldn’t change too much too fast because we have to give the fans, the athletes, the media and the sponsors the chance to understand the series and the Final and learn how to work within the system. I personally don’t have the wisdom to know how each of these stakeholders will operate within the system, so what I don’t want us to do is change too much until we see how this develops. I think the product could become something better than any of us imagine by giving all these people the chance to learn about, evaluate and grow within the system.
The Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup series and Final were major accomplishments for the FEI in nurturing the commercial development of a series. Jumping events can all be classified in different tiers within a pyramid.
The top tier of the pyramid are the championships, such as the FEI World Equestrian Games™ and the Olympic Games. These are put out for bid, and sponsorship is acquired by the FEI and/or the International Olympic Committee and various organizations that sanction these games and championships. Very stringent predetermined rules govern all these events, and the commercial aspects are handled 100 percent by the governing bodies, such as the FEI and the IOC.
The next level of the pyramid are the FEI-named series. The two existing series are the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ series and the Longines FEI World Cup™ series. At this level of the pyramid, the FEI secures and manages sponsorships. The sponsorship benefits are delivered to the organizers of events who choose to be a part of the series.
The next level is FEI-sanctioned series, such as the Global Champions Tour. At this level, organizers handle the commercial aspects of their events, and as a sanctioned series, rules are agreed between the organizer and FEI.
Then comes the broad base of support for our sport, that being the individual events. We see great examples of individual events at the highest level, such as the Spruce Meadows Masters (Alberta). We also see many examples of great individual events, from the one-star to the five-star level, whose organizers work very hard to provide a great product for our fans, sponsors, media and athletes. This is the foundation of our sport for all stakeholders and is obviously incredibly important to the development of the horses.
It’s critical to understand the level of commercial involvement and governance involved in each of these levels of the “pyramid of events” by FEI. At this point we know Furusiyya will continue its involvement through 2016, and while we hope they will continue beyond that, nothing is set in stone.
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It’s imperative to continue to develop a series that is commercially viable and to continue to develop relationships with existing and potential partners to produce series, finals and championships.
Championships need to be managed; series need to be presented and sold to commercial partners; sanctioned series need to be overseen, and individual events need to continue to be the broad base of the sport, free to develop and sell what they have worked so hard to create, within the rules of the FEI.
The importance of the structure of the Furusiyya FEI Nations Cup™ Final cannot be overstated. We saw a fantastic finish this year, with the United States winning the Consolation Final in a two-way jump-off with Switzerland. The next day we witnessed a dramatic finish to the Final with a scoring system that was clear to media and fans, presented in a 90-minute package particularly well suited to television. That’s incredibly important to the sale-ability of the series.
By having a final that can compete with other professional sports for fan and media attention, we can continue to appeal to commercial partners of the FEI. These commercial partners convert to huge prize money for the riders and owners.
We all feel that the FEI Nations Cup™ is the pinnacle of our sport. We have to give federations, riders and owners the opportunity to appreciate the fact that there is tremendous prize money for this event because it’s important, not making the event important because there happens to be a lot of prize money.
By having this annual Final for which every country around the world can qualify, we’ve given federations tangible goals that haven’t existed in the past–equal opportunity and a clear road to the Furusiyya Final–which has put the FEI Nations Cup™ back where it belongs as the premier event in our sport.
John Madden, Cazenovia, N.Y., is married to international grand prix rider Beezie Madden. Together they operate John Madden Sales Inc., where they train horses and riders. The horse business has encompassed John’s entire life, and in addition to his business, he was the organizing committee chairman for the Syracuse Sporthorse Tournament (N.Y.) and is chair of the FEI Jumping Committee. He began contributing to Between Rounds in 2008.
