Ski jumping – Four Hills Tournament: mass spectacle and million-dollar business

Oberstdorf is buzzing these days. The fact that almost all accommodation here in the shadow of the Nebelhorn is fully booked between Christmas and New Year is not just due to the wonderfully snow-covered mountains in the German winter sports mecca. The opening competition of the 73rd Four Hills Tournament also brings a lot of wealthy visitors to the town. The competition, which took place on Sunday, was completely sold out with 25,500 spectators back in September. In the qualification the day before, the organizers expect that the world record, which previously stood at 16,300 fans, will be broken.

This astonishing crowd of spectators at the prelude to the start of the tour is unique in the world. Most other ski jumping World Cups don’t even come close to reaching this number in real competition. This proves the pulling power of the ski jumping Grand Slam, which in its history since 1953 has developed into the world’s most important annual winter sports event alongside the legendary alpine race on the Kitzbühler Streif.

According to the independent international rating platform YouGov, the Four Hills Tournament is the most popular sporting event in Germany, with the handball Bundesliga and the footballers’ Champions League coming in behind. »We are of course very pleased with this result because it corresponds to our experience. The atmosphere on site is always sensational and the TV broadcast ratings are really great,” says Peter Kruijer from Oberstdorf, who was president of the Four Hills Tournament until last summer.

This puts a lot of money into the coffers of the four tour locations Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Innsbruck and Bischofshofen. Oberstdorf’s tourism director Frank Jost once revealed during the Corona period that the Bavarian market town had lost out on “20 million euros in sales” in accommodation establishments and restaurants in the tour week alone due to the restrictions in force at the time. Even the spa tax brings in 25,000 euros on these days.

Oberstdorf is the number one German winter holiday destination with more than 2.5 million overnight stays every year. In addition to the three large ski areas around the town and numerous other activity offerings, the opening jump of the Four Hills Tournament also makes a decisive contribution to this success. The importance was also underlined in the “Oberstdorf 2020” tourism strategy: “With its variety of Alpine and Nordic skiing offerings, Oberstdorf is the leading winter sports destination in Germany. The year-round mountain hiking offerings, the international sporting events and the training opportunities for top and amateur athletes demonstrate the expertise in this area.«

Ski jumping is also the most important event of the year in Bischofshofen, the Austrian tour final destination, and brings many visitors to the Hochkönig region. Things are a little different in the Tyrolean metropolis of Innsbruck and Garmisch-Partenkirchen, where ski jumping doesn’t play such a big role because of the much more international clientele. In December 2023, for example, around 70 percent of overnight stays in Garmisch-Partenkirchen came from abroad – mainly tourists who wanted to see and experience the Zugspitze, Germany’s highest mountain at 2,962 meters, and experience it on skis.

Last year only six percent of guests in Oberstdorf came from abroad. Many German holidaymakers reveal that they were also attracted to the town by television broadcasts of winter sports events. That’s why the Nordic World Ski Championships 2021 in Allgäu were held in the worst Corona phase – even though not a single spectator could be there live and millions in revenue were lost.

The Four Hills Tournament is a guarantee for the best TV ratings: more than five million viewers tuned in to the opening competition a year ago, and more than six million watched the following legendary New Year’s competition in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The advertising value of these broadcasts for the locations adds up to a double-digit million value; television stations recently raised more than 30,000 euros for a 30-second commercial. The marketing of the ski jumping Grand Slam each brings in an estimated two million euros per year for the ski associations from Germany and Austria. In addition, with more than 100,000 spectators, there are additional millions in revenue from the competitions in the four tour locations alone. Money that at least partially flows into youth work in the local ski clubs.

Incidentally, the ski jumpers like the current high-flyer Pius Paschke from Munich, who make all these sales possible, are paid comparatively little. The overall winner of the top event collects 100,000 Swiss francs, small change in the million-dollar Four Hills Tournament.