Anyone wanting to be sure they get the chance to watch America's greatest ski racer compete next season will have to go to Italy December 22. Bode Miller has signed a contract to compete at the Paganella Ski World Alpine Rock Fest and also has accepted the Paganella resort as a personal sponsor.
Paganella? It's the not so small ski area in Andalo, Italy that became an official ski team training site back in 2006. In December the site will host the World Alpine Rockfest centered around a race between invited top end World Cup skiers in a winner take all 100,000 Euro pay-out and big time rock and roll on the stage being built at the finish line.
Miller said he was still undecided about racing on the World Cup circuit or at the 2010 winter Olympics, but said he would train and prepare for the Ski Rock Fest, an event precipitated by former U.S. coach Phil McNichol's Top Out Sport.
"For the rest my future still is not defined," Miller is quoted by Gazetta Delo Sport. "The only certainty is the contract that I have signed with the organization of the Top Out Sport for this new competition."
"I will compete for sure at the WARF and am the ambassador for Andalo Paganella Ski resort," Miller said at the announcement, according to McNichol.
Among the guys who set up the team training site at Paganella was former U.S. men's coach Phil McNichol. To say he's involved with the World Alpine Rockfest would be an understatement.
"I guess," he says, "you can build Rome overnight… if you're willing to stay up all night."
What he and a consortium of the ski resort, Andalo and the Trentino Region, and MTV Europe and an event specialist in Italy called Speedy Factory have built may exceed Rome's legendary appetite. April 12th the event, scheduled for Dec. 22, was announced.
Paganella is one of few sites where it would even be possible to think about a venture like this, one that's going to cost about $2million to pull off. But since the area became a training site it has continued to boom. Business this season, McNichol has been told, was up 20 percent.
The athletic side of the venture will feature a field of 16 top male World Cup athletes going head-to-head on short GS styled after the old pro format. A dozen "ski sport celebrities" will start off the competition by inviting two fellow competitors (the Italian representative gets to invite four). The invitees will have a shoot-out, a single run speed event with the fastest four getting into the mix with the original 12 for the chance at the grand prize.
Other racers announced include Italy's David Simoncelli, Ted Ligety of the U.S., Felix Neureuther of Germany, Julian Lizeroux of France, John Kucera of Canada, Mark Buechel of Liechtenstein and Mattias Hargin of Sweden. The organization expects to sign a dozen choice competitors who in turn can each invite two friends to compete in a run-off for an additional four starting positions in the 100,000-euro, winner-takes-all purse.
While some other competitors may have already agreed to participate no further announcement is expected until October.
"Bode was a big one," said McNichol, "and would have overshadowed others. We will wait and announce others after (the World Cup opener at) Soelden. We've got eight names out and are still locking in others."
According to the Gazetta Delo Sport, athletes have been selected based on popularity, sports success, their style, reputation and nationality.
The race is specifically scheduled to take advantage of the World Cup holiday break. "They'll be and hour and a half away at Alta Badia," McNichol said, "so it made sense."
He said there are "more hoops" to jump through with the Austrians. "Austria is a tight house," he said, "but we are very committed to having an Austrian appear and will work to make that happen. They truly have great ski sport celebrities. We want to give them the opportunity to not be (just) Austrian and show they're just like everybody else, just fast on skis."
The actual racing, he said, will be before a pretty exclusive audience. The stadium, up the mountain, will hold just 4,000. The big part of the show will be downtown.
The athlete lounge will allow guests to rub elbows with the stars and allow the athletes to take part in promoting their sport, much like Nascar or Formula One formats.
The concert is at the race finish, about mid-way up the gondola and is expected to attract many more than those who get to watch the racing from the stands. Bands Nickelback, Audioslave and Pink are mentioned as bands in "negotiations,"
"It's about a major concert and we want people to understand the magnitude of the rock bands we're bringing in."
No comments:
Post a Comment