FIL at SPORTEL: “Only Those Who Show Up Can Play”
Patrick Öffl, Head of Broadcast at the Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (FIL), attended SPORTEL Monaco - the world’s premier convention for sports media rights. A conversation about fragmented markets, new partners, and why reach in luge means more than just ratings.
Patrick, SPORTEL Monaco isn’t exactly a household name outside the broadcast world. What actually happens there?
“SPORTEL has been the most important gathering place for the sports media industry for over 30 years - broadcasters, rights holders, technology providers, federations, agencies. It’s about media rights, distribution, and the technologies that will make sports broadcastable in the future. Monaco isn’t a coincidence: the setting is compact, everything is close together - and in three days you can have more strategic conversations than in six months of regular office work.”
Who’s actually there?
“The range is wide. You meet decision-makers from major public broadcasters right alongside representatives from streaming platforms, technology providers, and other international federations. I ran into colleagues from other Olympic winter sports federations, for example - federations facing very similar challenges to FIL: we all offer a high athletic level that needs to hold its own in an increasingly fragmented broadcast landscape.”
How important is it for a federation like FIL to have a presence there?
“FIL was there for the first time this year, and honestly - it’s very important to be there. The sports media rights market is more fragmented than ever - traditional free-to-air TV, pay TV, streaming platforms, digital channels. If a federation doesn’t actively go into that market and build relationships, it loses reach. And reach isn’t optional for us - it’s the foundation for luge being noticed, for young people discovering the sport, and for sponsors being willing to invest.”
What did you actually bring back from Monaco?
“A set of conversations I couldn’t have had in any other setting. With partners from the public broadcasting space, with a Spanish broadcaster that actively approached us, and I was introduced to additional TV-teams. I also got connected with big players in the U.S., which matters if we want to grow our digital reach in North America. And I met with several technology providers whose solutions could feed into FIL’s digital strategy. I’m not coming back from Monaco with a finished deal - but I’m coming back with relationships that we’re now actively building on.”
You mentioned the collaboration with public broadcasters. How does the value of close broadcast relationships show up in day-to-day operations?
“Very tangibly. This season alone, the close coordination with ARD and ZDF shows what’s possible when you’re not just a content supplier but a real communications partner. We talk about airtime, about formats, about the questions broadcasters have - and about the questions we have. The result is broadcast slots that wouldn’t have been a given a few years ago. That’s not a coincidence - that’s what consistent relationship-building looks like. And that’s exactly the mindset I’m taking back from Monaco: only those who show up, who seek out the conversation, can play.”
