Thus read the most important proposals of a round of experts headed by FIL President Josef Fendt which discussed last weekend, among other things, how the competitions can be modernized and be made more media-oriented.
Participants of these talks in Berchetesgaden were a number of different experts and insiders of luge sports: Trainers of the leading luge nations, athletes, television commentators and further media representatives as well as marketing experts.
The central element of the new conception is a considerable streamlining of the course of the races which is intended to make the competitions more exciting and more attractive, not only for television viewers, but particularly also for visitors and spectators at the race tracks.
According to the proposals of the expert round, there could be in future on Friday, the first competition day, a qualifying race so that not all of the present athletes would participate in the races on Saturday and Sunday any more.
In addition to this shortening of the races, it is also intended to increase the number of competitions.
These measures shall create more tension at the race track and on the television screens.
The proposals of the expert round were also already discussed by the FIL Sports Commission.
This commission also held a meeting last weekend together with the other expert committees of the World Federation, the expert commissions for artificial and natural track. The discussions during this meeting centered around the evaluation of the past luging season, the scheduling of the World Cups and of the championships for 2003/2004, the present state of the preparations for the Olympic Games in Turin in 2006 and the promotion of young talents.
During their official meeting at the end of April, the FIL Executive Board will decide on measures how to further increase the attraction of luge sports.

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