Over 34,000 spectators made the pilgrimage to the Landiwiese last September for the 20th anniversary of the freestyle.ch event. Despite its success and popularity, the freestyle sports event will not take place in 2015 due to a lack of sponsorship. According to the organizer freestyle.ch AG, it has not been possible to generate sufficient sponsorship money in recent months despite promising negotiations. The euro-franc exchange rate has also contributed to the reluctance of potential sponsors.

Last year, the event was broadcast live in 14 countries and achieved over 2000 hours of TV coverage worldwide. An event at this level and with such international coverage has its price - and is therefore difficult to finance with local funds. The current lack of sponsorship money means too high a financial risk for the organizer to hold the event.High costs for the infrastructure
According to the organizers, the costs for the infrastructure alone amount to over CHF 1.5 million. In the past, these were largely cross-subsidized by other business sectors despite sponsorship income, ticket sales and catering revenues. Following the conversion of the Landiwiese, the organizers are expecting additional costs of around CHF 150,000 for set-up, dismantling and recultivation.Return planned for 2016
For the above reasons, freestyle.ch will take a break for 2015 and do everything in its power to hold the event again in 2016 - planning is already in full swing. "We are using the one-year break to find a healthy financing model and new marketing opportunities for the event in Zurich. Accordingly, the existing structure and orientation are already being revised and repositioned in the respective areas," says Peter Hürlimann, owner of freestyle.ch.
Mountain bikers also at the start on the Landiwiese

Dirt jumpers at the start since 2012
Mountain bikers have also been taking part in the dirt jump competition at freestyle.ch since 2012. The Züritrails association provided a pump track and the facility was a real crowd puller. Despite the presence of dirt bikers, the action sports showcase on the Landiwiese was not used much by the Swiss bike industry to present itself to the predominantly young audience. Manufacturers who are active in other action sports disciplines besides mountain biking, such as Scott, Zimtstern, Ion and Dakine, were always present.

No organizational point of contact with the Bike Days
FAF AG was originally responsible for freestyle.ch and Bike Days, the Swiss cycling industry's rendezvous. Due to restructuring, these events are now organizationally and legally separate: freestyle.ch was detached from FAF AG in 2013 and is now organized by freestyle.ch AG. The Bike Days had been under the wing of FAF AG since 2007, but the event in Solothurn was given a new structure in 2013 and has been organized by BikeDays.ch GmbH since then.

www.freestyle.ch
www.bikedays.ch