freestyle.ch received approval from the FIS (Fédération Internationale de Ski) to include the sports of snowboarding and freeskiing as an official World Cup in the overall program. This would also mean that freestyle.ch and the snowboard discipline would be part of the official qualifications for the 2018 Olympic Games in South Korea. Such sporting relevance would put freestyle.ch on a par with other major sporting events in Switzerland.

In order to meet the requirements and make freestyle.ch World Cup worthy, a larger big air ramp is needed, among other things. However, the space available on the Landiwiese is limited for a ramp of this size. In September 2015, the organizers submitted an application to the police headquarters of the city of Zurich to support the inrun ramp outside the Landiwiese. Unfortunately, the organizers only received a negative response from the responsible authority three months later. The uncertainty about the location made it even more difficult to recruit sponsorship money. It was not until January and February of this year that a possible solution for the future emerged thanks to the support of city councillor Filippo Leutenegger.

In the parallel search for alternative venues, a solution was found in Bern - the capital could thus become an attractive alternative to the business metropolis. It is not only the large area of the location and the lower infrastructure costs that make Bern an interesting partner. The city, canton, region and Bern Tourism have already expressed their strong support and financial backing. A possible implementation in the capital is being pursued for 2017.

In summary, it can be said that despite difficult circumstances, the organizers were able to get things moving. However, in an already difficult sponsorship environment, the uncertainty of the location and the associated delay made the situation of securing the necessary funds from the public and private sectors for 2016 even more difficult. For these reasons, freestyle.ch cannot be held in 2016. The organizers will provide information about the 2017 event next autumn - the hope for freestyle.ch lives on.

Source: Press release