Colorado Springs, Colo. — The World Skating Federation has fired its first major salvo at the International Skating Union, claiming, among other things, that ISU president Ottavio Cinquanta demands excessively high fees for television coverage so that he may receive kickbacks.
The charge is contained in a lawsuit the fledgling organization has filed against the ISU and Cinquanta in U.S. district court in New York.
The WSF alleges the ISU and Cinquanta engaged in anti-competitive conduct "designed to improperly maintain a monopoly" in figure skating by threatening to blacklist or banish anybody who supports the WSF.
A report from The Associated Press said Cinquanta, travelling from ISU headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, was not available for comment.
The WSF, formed with the goal of replacing the ISU as the sport's governing body, made itself known at the world figure skating championships in Washington last March.
In a prepared statement released yesterday, WSF president Ron Pfenning said that the ISU and Cinquanta, "fearing a new democratic organization and fighting to protect its autocratic control of the sport and its lucrative TV contracts, responded by threatening to blacklist or banish anyone connected with the WSF."
A copy of the suit obtained by The Globe and Mail yesterday indicates its charges against Cinquanta demanding high television fees is based upon "information and belief," adding that various international broadcasting companies, including CTV/TSN have refused to pay the high fees "associated with Cinquanta's graft."
Because of Cinquanta's alleged kickbacks, the suit charges that Cinquanta has a "personal economic interest in conspiring with the ISU to allow the ISU to maintain its control over the sponsorship of figure skating competitions."
Television contracts are the ISU's commerical "crown jewel" because they are substantial sources of revenue for the ISU, the suit charges.
The suit alleges the ISU has pressured governing skating bodies of various countries, including the United States, to intimidate or blacklist people who wished to support the WSF and lists several alleged incidents.
According to the lawsuit, Cinquanta sent out a letter in March informing members that anyone who joins the WSF would automatically be in breach of the ISU constitution that says members must support ISU activities and not to participate in any activities that go against the interests of the ISU.
The lawsuit alleges that the ISU also sent a letter to Australian skating federation president Donald McKnight threatening punitive action unless he resigned as an ISU office holder. He had been on an ISU appeals committee but had showed support, along with British federation president Sally Stapleford, of the WSF at the world championships.
The suit alleges that on May 7, the ISU sent a letter to Sonia Bianchetti, acting vice-president of the WSF, saying the ISU council had decided to withdraw her stature as an ISU honorary referee. "Although new awards have been discontinued, the awards previously conferred were issued for life," the lawsuit says.
The suit alleges several ISU members have helped the organization to quash the WSF.
During the world championships, the president of the Hungarian federation removed its judge from the panel of the women's event less than an hour before it began.
"Upon information and belief, the (Hungarian) president was acting on a request from the ISU," the lawsuit said.
The suit also mentions Skate Canada's open letter sent out on April 22, telling its members that anyone who supported the WSF was a "person not in good standing with Skate Canada."
In short, the ISU's actions have been done to erect barriers to prevent anyone else from encroaching on its monopoly over the market for sponsorship of skating, the suit alleges.
The WSF is asking for a permanent injunction restraining the ISU from additional anti-competitive conduct.
In a statement, Pfenning said yesterday the suit would subject the ISU's alleged anti-competitive behaviour to judicial review.
"I am confident that justice will be done and that they who subscribe to the WSF's principles will be allowed to freely express their views in the near future," he said.
The WSF is represented by lawyer Melvyn I. Weiss, whose U.S. firm is known for its successful class-action litigation, including cases involving victims of Second World War human-rights violations.
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