Still, you can't compare figure skating to professional team sports in terms of audiences.
In part because the kinds of coverage provided by US networks up to and including the 1990s skating boom tended to have as much in common with what is now reality TV performance contests as they had with coverage of ball (or puck) sports.
How would ISU and USFSA contracts ca. 1996-2002 compare with NHL or MLS contracts of the same era?
I have no data. But I would guess that even at their US peak figure skating contracts were well behind the NHL.
MLS was still relatively new, so their popularity might have peaked later than skating did (and not yet have declined).
In part because the kinds of coverage provided by US networks up to and including the 1990s skating boom tended to have as much in common with what is now reality TV performance contests as they had with coverage of ball (or puck) sports.
How would ISU and USFSA contracts ca. 1996-2002 compare with NHL or MLS contracts of the same era?
I have no data. But I would guess that even at their US peak figure skating contracts were well behind the NHL.
MLS was still relatively new, so their popularity might have peaked later than skating did (and not yet have declined).