By Gavin Kentch
Welcome to Nordic Insights 2.0. We’re still working out what weekly coverage will look like this season, but I can tell you now that we are sending Peter Minde to 2027 U.S. Nationals in Cable, marking the fifth consecutive year that we will have in-person coverage from the most important domestic races of the season. We truly believe in the value of boots-on-the-ground reporting, but, real talk, I will lose money on this venture. Peter will lose even more money. You should donate here to help cover his travel expenses so that he loses less money. Thank you for consideration, and thank you, as always, for reading.
If you are reading this article, you presumably saw last week’s dual press releases from FIS and U.S. Ski & Snowboard announcing a new streaming option for American and Canadian viewers during the upcoming 2026/2027 season. In case you missed it, the organizations promised free broadcasts on YouTube, both live and on demand, for all races held in Europe (viz., all World Cup nordic races this year). Cross-country skiing, nordic combined, and ski jumping are all set to receive this treatment for all races. Para sports will see streaming for “multiple” World Cup races.
This is a legitimately exciting development imho, and I truly have nothing snarky to say about it. Even the wags over at Skirious Problems are on board with this, which is telling. Broadcast availability has long been a bête noire for the sport — “my parents are always asking me, How can I watch the races,” literally a World Cup skier told me at a trailhead last week soon after this news broke — so if FIS has managed to solve that problem here, major shoutout to them.
(I will even, grudgingly, put up with some degree of advertising if that is necessary to underwrite the product [find out more about the economics of this venture here]; as an agèd millennial, I am old enough to remember when we watched shows on “broadcast television,” where they were interrupted roughly every 7.5 minutes for “two minutes of ads.” Okay, in practice if that is the content:advertising ratio here I will riot, but you see my point.)
Anyway. Big news, good news, exciting stuff. Well done FIS. But all that said: Who is going to be the color commentator for this?
“Every event will stream live with English commentary,” the USSS press release says of European World Cup races hosted on the relevant YouTube channel, so it sounds like this will be more than just a mute broadcast of the world feed catering only to the true sickos. So far, so good.
But who will be on the call? “I have not been approached” for this new platform said Chad Salmela, probably still the most recognizable name in American nordic ski broadcasting.
“I don’t even totally know what to say,” echoed Ryan Sederquist, last seen (okay, heard) absolutely crushing broadcast duties for the Lake Placid World Cup this March.
“I guess you could say that I haven’t been contacted by anyone at US Ski and Snowboard or Infront or anywhere else regarding my involvement in future broadcasts,” Sederquist continued, “but I am interested in working and have thoroughly cherished each of my opportunities in the past. ….And also that I found out about the new platform at the same time, in the same manner, as everyone else.”
I reached out to both FIS and USSS a few days ago for comment on this; neither organization has yet responded. I have also contacted C15 Studios, the entity behind this new venture, but given the time zones involved they will not see my email until tomorrow their time. I will update this story should I receive something back from them.
In conclusion, if FIS currently has someone lined up to provide English-language commentary on these races, I don’t think it is giving this humble site too much credit to surmise that he or she may well be reading this article. Should you like to show yourself, and/or if you are not doing this personally but you do know anything else about potential candidates for this role, I may be reached at info (at) nordicinsights.news with tips or gossip. Barring that, the season begins in Ruka in a month, and we will all need to, well, stay tuned for more.
