Dream Grand Prix Locations | Golden Skate

Dream Grand Prix Locations

litenkyckling

Final Flight
Joined
Jun 6, 2018
After ice troubles in IdF and Cup of China proving to be a tad Cup of Disaster again it got me back on the subject of where I wish the Grand Prix locations were.
Where would you put the Grand Prix competitions?

I would love for Grand Prix France to not be a thing, especially in Grenoble. For totally selfish reasons mostly. Grenoble is so incredibly awkward and expensive to get to in November from Scotland. It's not on the schedules for low-cost airlines because it's not yet their real winter timetable and if it is, the flights are once a week. If it's not in Paris, I don't want it.

Obviously, I would love to have it here in the UK, but I know that that probably isn't realistic. Finland is good, but again expensive to get to for me. I would move it to either:

a) Barcelona (accessible with a reasonably good international airport and have proven they can host a Grand Prix event).

b) Milan (proven they can host a good event, would be nice for Italy to have a home GP, accessible city).

I would also move Cup of China, mostly because I think that Korea deserve to have it instead.
 

CaroLiza_fan

EZETTIE LATUASV IVAKMHA
Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2012
Country
Northern-Ireland
After ice troubles in IdF and Cup of China proving to be a tad Cup of Disaster again it got me back on the subject of where I wish the Grand Prix locations were.
Where would you put the Grand Prix competitions?

I would love for Grand Prix France to not be a thing, especially in Grenoble. For totally selfish reasons mostly. Grenoble is so incredibly awkward and expensive to get to in November from Scotland. It's not on the schedules for low-cost airlines because it's not yet their real winter timetable and if it is, the flights are once a week. If it's not in Paris, I don't want it.

Obviously, I would love to have it here in the UK, but I know that that probably isn't realistic. Finland is good, but again expensive to get to for me. I would move it to either:

a) Barcelona (accessible with a reasonably good international airport and have proven they can host a Grand Prix event).

b) Milan (proven they can host a good event, would be nice for Italy to have a home GP, accessible city).

I would also move Cup of China, mostly because I think that Korea deserve to have it instead.

It would take too long to find where I originally posted my thoughts on the Senior GP Series quite a few years ago, so I am just going to repeat what I wrote in the British thread when you brought this up in there a few months ago:

I still think it would be more fair on competitors and fans if the French GP was instead the Cup of Europe (or something) where the GP moved every year much like it moves from state to state in the US. I know it would be complicated with different feds therefore politics etc but one can dream!!

Still stand by my proposal for improving the GP Series - 8 GP's in total with 2 GP's in each of figure skating's big markets:

  • North America (fixed as America and Canada)
  • Western Europe (2 rotating between France, Germany and Italy)
  • Eastern Europe (1 fixed as Russia and the other rotating between the likes of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary)
  • Asia-Pacific (2 rotating between Japan, China and South Korea)

But, it'll never happen.

CaroLiza_fan

That said, with the way that we always seem to get problems in France, I would now prefer Finland to take France's place as part of the rotation with Germany and Italy.

CaroLiza_fan
 

surimi

Onward and forward, Sota!
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2013
For me Prague, hands down. An event where I wouldn't have to pay for anything but tickets would be pure bliss for me. And it's quite an inexpensive location. It's nice to dream that one day, an important skating event could return here, but I guess zero interest and/or zero money are kind of killing it...
 

MGstyle

Crawling around on the ice after chestnuts
Medalist
Joined
Sep 1, 2015
MIlan would be fab. If not Prague or Budapest!
 

ruga

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Antarctica!!!!! On a serious note, I wish there were at least partly rotating locations like in JGP. I assume it's not that easy to get people to come but with reasonably priced tickets and advertising, it could be possible. If I had to make up something completely new:
GP Italy (Turin or Milan)
GP Spain (Barcelona)
GP Korea (Seoul)
GP Australia (Sydney maybe?)
GP Finland (Finlandia Trophy was a success, so maybe Espoo)
GP Mexico (time to introduce FS to new countries!)

Other possible locations: New Zealand, Switzerland, Kazakhstan, Sweden, UK, Germany, Israel+6 original ones.
 

Step Sequence4

JULLLIEEEEETTTT!
Final Flight
Joined
Jan 12, 2018
I think it could be interesting to make a change where there's at least 1 (if not 2) rotating GP's. Keep Skate America, Skate Canada, NHK & Rostelecom, but change at least one of Idf or CoC to one that rotates between interesting locations mentioned above. Although, I'd say enforce a rule where it can't be in the same continent for more than two years in a row to avoid them getting stuck in smaller euro countries without much of a FS audience like the JGP.

Rotate between places like: Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, France, Korea, China, or other places mentioned above.

Although, I think the only problem with GP at the moment is the ice conditions at Idf (But hey, they gave out medals this year!)
 

MaiKatze

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 4, 2012
My European centric view: Back when the GP was in Germany it was in Gelsenkirchen, but I'd rather have it in Dortmund or Berlin when it comes to Germany. (I love Oberstdorf, but it's a pain to travel there for non-germans and it's too small for a GP, imho) For me personally I'd also say Paris or Strassbourg, anywhere in the Netherlands, Belgium or Luxembourg would be great. I wouldn't mind it staying in France, but it shouldn't be held in Grenoble all the time. Rotating between scandinavian countries would also be cool, not only Finland, but Denmark, Sweden and Norway. There need to be sponsors though and the federation of the countries must be willing so I doubt it'll ever come back to Germany or to countries that are really not that invested in the sport through medal candidates. So I do understand why it's in the 6 countries right now, these 6 are the most invested and have the biggest stars.
 

surimi

Onward and forward, Sota!
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2013
I think it could be interesting to make a change where there's at least 1 (if not 2) rotating GP's. Keep Skate America, Skate Canada, NHK & Rostelecom, but change at least one of Idf or CoC to one that rotates between interesting locations mentioned above. Although, I'd say enforce a rule where it can't be in the same continent for more than two years in a row to avoid them getting stuck in smaller euro countries without much of a FS audience like the JGP.

Rotate between places like: Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, France, Korea, China, or other places mentioned above.

Although, I think the only problem with GP at the moment is the ice conditions at Idf (But hey, they gave out medals this year!)

I don't think it's fair to compare JGP and GP audience sizes. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think junior events are massively attended anywhere except Japan and Russia. (And to some extent, this is true for Challengers and senior Bs) For instance European Championships in Minsk and Ostrava, were both a big success, and if memory serves me well, it was the same in Bratislava.
 

theharleyquinn

Medalist
Joined
Feb 25, 2014
I think it could be interesting to make a change where there's at least 1 (if not 2) rotating GP's. Keep Skate America, Skate Canada, NHK & Rostelecom, but change at least one of Idf or CoC to one that rotates between interesting locations mentioned above. Although, I'd say enforce a rule where it can't be in the same continent for more than two years in a row to avoid them getting stuck in smaller euro countries without much of a FS audience like the JGP.

Rotate between places like: Finland, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, France, Korea, China, or other places mentioned above.

Although, I think the only problem with GP at the moment is the ice conditions at Idf (But hey, they gave out medals this year!)

I think this is a really great idea.
 

Winnie_20

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
It’s popular to complain about IdF, but it was a pretty nice vacation for me. Cheap, very easily accessible (just fly to Lyon), easy tram to the rink, cheap hotels, the best food ever, and some really nice skating (bad ice? Please go ask P/C and Bell and Kostornaia etc.).
You do need to bring a raincoat or umbrella, but at least it wasn’t cold outside.
I’m happy for them to stay in Grenoble. :) I am not going to selfishly wish a GP here in the Netherlands (we have no GP skaters, so it wouldn’t attract much local audience... or sponsors. Recipe for disaster!)., I can make the effort and travel a bit.
 

NanaPat

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 25, 2014
Country
Canada
Melbourne
Lausanne
Mexico City
Helsinki
Barcelona
PyeongChang

They'd be carrying skaters off the ice on stretchers.

Some altitudes (rounded to nearest 50 ft):

Salt Lake City. 4250 ft
Colorado Springs 6050 ft
Mexico City 7350 ft

At least you didn't suggest Cuzco, which is 11,150 ft.

Believe me, when you get off the plane in Cuzco, you feel like you've aged about 30 years. And that's not attempting anything athletic.
 

Harriet

Record Breaker
Joined
Oct 23, 2017
Country
Australia
They'd be carrying skaters off the ice on stretchers.

Some altitudes (rounded to nearest 50 ft):

Salt Lake City. 4250 ft
Colorado Springs 6050 ft
Mexico City 7350 ft

At least you didn't suggest Cuzco, which is 11,150 ft.

Believe me, when you get off the plane in Cuzco, you feel like you've aged about 30 years. And that's not attempting anything athletic.

Well, there was a JGP event there back in 2013. If the kids have to suffer I don't see why the grownups shouldn't!
 

surimi

Onward and forward, Sota!
Record Breaker
Joined
Nov 12, 2013
It’s popular to complain about IdF, but it was a pretty nice vacation for me. Cheap, very easily accessible (just fly to Lyon), easy tram to the rink, cheap hotels, the best food ever, and some really nice skating (bad ice? Please go ask P/C and Bell and Kostornaia etc.).
You do need to bring a raincoat or umbrella, but at least it wasn’t cold outside.
I’m happy for them to stay in Grenoble. :) I am not going to selfishly wish a GP here in the Netherlands (we have no GP skaters, so it wouldn’t attract much local audience... or sponsors. Recipe for disaster!)., I can make the effort and travel a bit.

That's quite a subjective word unfortunately, which is why some of us would be thrilled for something of big importance to take place in central or Eastern Europe for a change. Nothing against France, the atmosphere seemed to be great this year, but still.
 

jenm

The Last One Degree
Medalist
Joined
Jan 28, 2014
S. Korea please (PyeongChang/Gangneung Ice Arena)
 

Winnie_20

Record Breaker
Joined
Feb 24, 2013
That's quite a subjective word unfortunately, which is why some of us would be thrilled for something of big importance to take place in central or Eastern Europe for a change. Nothing against France, the atmosphere seemed to be great this year, but still.

Is it, though? Far as I know, the tickets are pretty cheap compared to other events. Also, Grenoble in November is not a tourist destination, which means it’s easily possible to get cheap accommodation. And you can bring your own food etc into the hall, and the prices inside for food / drinks were very reasonable, too (big cup of tea, 1 euro!)

Of course, the downside of hosting a cheap event is that some things just aren’t as spiffy as elsewhere. C’est la vie. ;-) (Where did they find the munny for those medals, anyway?)

Edit: just realized what you mean, though. I guess compared to some countries in Europe more to the east and central areas, everything in the west would be expensive...
 

vesperalvioletta

Medalist
Joined
Oct 20, 2017
Country
United-States
Selfishly, it would be my dream come true if Skate America was held in Pittsburgh, or at least somewhere within driving distance for me. Its very difficult for me travel long distances during GP season, so all of these West Coast destinations have been really cramping my style.
 
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