This is a 2 part question.  Been thinking of the crazy fandoms of Yuna and Yuzu and the waning interest in figure skating in  general.  I read that even in Japan skating shows don't always sell out when Yuzu isn't involved. 

 

Let's say Yuzu had decided to retire.  1. How do you think you would have responded  2. And what impact do you think it would have had on skating in general?

 

hmmm, been thinking about this lately, and I came to my own thought:

 

answer:

1. When he retire, I will be feel mixed of emotion for sure, in one side, I'm happy with whatever he decide for himself, it is his life his career, in the other hand I would feel sad because figure skating competition wouldn't feel the same anymore at least for me. Lately  I try to focus on what I had  this time, which is Yuzu intention to compete more and land 4A. Furthermore, I know I will always follow his journey on or off ice as long as I can, because Yuzu is very special to me. My regret is that I just found him in 2016,  so from now on until he retired , I willcheer on him more and more.

 

2. I'm not sure about the impact, I think the skating world will be like it used too, but when he retire there will be impact at least in term of viewers in arena, I don't know what will happen in the future, looking at ISU lately they tried to hype and create another stars to maintain the level of interest onto to the sport, but I'm not sure we will see another star like Yuzu, but who knows. Yuzu is very special for many people, he is the star of the sport, he is the role model, the one that people look up to, but in the other hand I hope he can live his life fully after his competitive career.

For me, realistically, I think I will go back to being a casual viewer until someone really grabs my attention again. I'll still check this board regularly and a couple others casually, but most of my time on skating is spent on finding more about Yuzu so I don't see how I could be nearly as interested in the sport once he's gone.  

 

With Japanese fans filling the arena, I'm curious how much of it is specifically devotion to Yuzu or it's more a matter of they only have so much money to spend on skating so they're spending it on their favorite skater (i.e. once Yuzu is gone, they'll just spend the money on their next favorite).  Hopefully for the ISU, the situation is the latter because if it's not, they, and skating viewers, are in real trouble if they can't create another star.

Prob a mix of 2 and 3. I still watch Yuzu's shows ofc. Other skaters I'd watch if there's time, or casually get updated of who's in the scene rn. Ofc there's no way I would be interested and invest as much as I am now.

For sure I will always come to this forum, this is special forum for me to keep update and kudos to all members and admins who work hard to maintain this place

I am a yuzuru fan and casual viewer of this sport. Even now I think I'm inactive fan who is only interested Men single.

Sometimes, I go to forum and observe other skater things  and topics. But regarding yuzuru, everything daily check haha. 
 

As a view of an observer, this sport viewer always complain about rules, judge , unfairness, ISU...etc  and keep worring

this sport's future prospect and popularity.  I've never seen other sports fan debating so many things. 

 In our sports, star power is very important for selling tickets and gathering focus.

To be a star in figure skating,  need looks, personality, talents, rivalry, success and dramas. Of course, many past star skaters, yuzuru and there will be manystars in the futures.

But only stars can't represent the whole skating world.  At first,  I think my skater is really special and  don't understand who don't like my skater. But through years,

I think every skater has devoted fan and nobody has right to impose one's taste.

 

Anyway, I disliked these comments on youtube. " Figure skating is dead. I won't watch figure skating ever  because my favorite skater retired." yes, it's their right but look not good especially on other skater's video. Instead of nasty comments, " there will be no one like you"  this way is better.

 

 Anyway,  Figure skating is attractive sport. good looking people, pretty costumes, various music and drama. And human have infinite of potentials for both artistic and technical aspects. 

I think yuzuru will go down in history with all his success and influence. so proud of that. But sometimes I'm afraid when I imagine future things that he will retire, his record will be broken. 

if another dominant skater appear with all quads. maybe some jealous, dejected or relived feelings.

 

But, in the future I think yuzuru will stick to skating no matter what. so I think I will continue watching skate. maybe more ice show routine than competitions.

Honestly, if not skating, I'm afraid we wont't know yuzuru news frequently. so I get my heart ready  post yuzuru era myself. not worry about figure skating world at all , especially JPN, RUS. They are more than depending few star skaters. 

So this season is very cherish to yuzuru fans, I hope yuzuru can do everything he wants. no regret no kuyashii please!!

1. If Yuzuru were to have retired (and when he does), i'd be upset. Not dramatically so, or anything, but athletes like Yuzuru dont come around often, the last skater to win golds back to back since Dick Button in 1952.

 

The sport would lose a major figure and it would feel different. His retirement would leave a very noticable void for some time as people adjust to the new change that Yuzuru is no longer a main player. 

 

Personally, id take a break from watching skating for a while until the rawness of it all wasnt so bad. I'd still watch skating, but more casually.

 

 

2. When he does retire, it depends largely on the fans he brought in with him. How many have fallen in love with the sport to remain? Is there another skater they will choose to follow as actively? Or were they more drawn to Yuzuru? I think for a time revenue may go down, but i dont think it will be too dramatic.

 

When Evgeni retired i thought it was the end of an era (im a bit dramatic lol). However, Yuzuru rose up to command the stage it seemed. So, sooner or later, i think another skater would take up the mantle and interest would get rekindled.

I barely became a fan after these Olympics and now you're talking the r-word...:<

Just kidding, I get it.

I didn't vote in the poll though, because I honestly don't know what I'd do.

I am definitely interested in FS in general, and would most likely continue watching, but I have no idea if anyone would grab my attention the way Yuzu did, and these things can't be predicted. However, I'd be super happy if anyone did, and would invest as much resources in them. 

Of the currently active skaters, I enjoy watching a lot of them during competitions, but I don't keep track of their doings off season, etc, and wait with excitement for their program announcement, like I do now with Yuzu's  (Yuzu drop the program music already yo!)

So it's just a big IDK for me, what I'd do. Guess I'll see when it happens, but I'd rather not think about it at this point

 

4 minutes ago, TallyT said:

I honestly don't know - I only became a fan just after the Olympics (oddly, my interest wasn't sparked by Yuzu! I'm not into sports at all usually, I was looking for a piece of music, saw a pair skating to it, thought it was pretty and clicked on a few more...) and I do quite like several of the other skaters still going (Shoma, Boyang, Deniss... and Conrad over in Canada looks like he could be fun in a few years) but it's definitely Yuzu and Javi that I love best. And Javi's winding down. 

I know that when reading about other great stars' retirements (Takahashi comes to mind) there were wails of how the arenas would be empty, everyone would lose interest, no one would be as popular ever again. And then our Yuzu overtook them all, proved to be pure lightning in a crystal cage, having the charisma, the looks (god, the camera loves him), the personality, the heroic backstory, the pure G O A T brilliance.

 

We can't say there won't be another equally as famous and loved, we don't know... Shoma is very beloved in Japan too (would he, Boyang and Nathan be more so if Yuzu wasn't in their way every time they want to be The Greatest? maybe)  But it'll take a long time, I think.  For a start, breaking his records is not going to be easy, especially those dozen times he took a WR and that little ol' backtobackolygold one

Lightning is, after all, almost impossible to cage once, let alone twice...

 

Sorry about the way this turned out, when I'm sleepy, I do seem to make double posts (not two posts, one post with the wordage twice!) without the slightest idea how...

Talking about the sport's popularity potential, I swear I have never seen our country's TV show anything FS since new scoring system. It showed a lot during 6.0 system era thou, I even knew some skaters even when I'm not fan of the sport or anything. I rmb FS as such beautiful sport, with beautiful skaters and gorgeous performances. But since then, up until Yuzu, the sport was completely out of my sight. 

 

Honestly Yuzu's surge in popularity doesn't really push the sport for long term. Must say a majority of that new surge is from his look, image, and extraordinary accomplishment in his life that resonates with public (like an "ideal" image u want from a person, be it ideal child, ideal lover, ideal human being etc.), not about FS itself. In FS, there was old stars, there will be new stars, but they're just stars among FS fans, they need more than FS to reach the public.

heartbreakingly, i think im in it for the long haul with figure skating. there have been plenty of times where i could have / i felt like just completely cutting off from it and not watching anymore over the past couple of years i've been a fan and so far... haven't succeeded in going through with it whenever i tried. the problem is, is that it just never ends. there's a new season, new programs, new skaters, over and over. the cycle never stops, and for the foreseeable future, i don't see myself really being able to disconnect from it all. i follow a lot of skaters closely, incl. juniors, and i'd be too curious too, to see where their careers are going.

 

i'll miss yuzuru immensely, when he does retire though. no other skater can bring the emotions out of me like he can, and i think it'll be a while before i find another skater that does to the same amount. it's crazy! i never used to cry this much, i swear. 

 

as for the impact on skating, i think it'll be quite a hard hit. he obviously sells out arena's like no one else right now, and a lot of the men like having him there to chase, evident by how things played out at all of the top competitions he didn't attend this season, and how different the atmosphere was when he did at the olympics. 

I have thought a lot what will happen when Yuzuru is no longer skating competitively. I was a skating fan before I found Yuzuru. I wasn´t exactly a casual viewer, I had opinions and favorite skaters, but I wasn´t so into it as I am now because of Yuzuru. A lot will change, for example I won´t be waking up in the middle of the night just to watch figure skating competition, and I won´t order expensive magazines only for the pretty pictures. I do those things only for Yuzuru.

But I will still have other skaters to follow. I won´t know every little detail of their programs and I won´t be having a nervous breakdown during their performances, but it will still be a fun experience, just different. Maybe for a time it will be too painful to watch men´s competition. If that happens I will focus more on other disciplines. And I see myself going to the big figure skating competitions if the opportunity comes, because I love watching figure skating live.

The bigger issue for me are the changes that ISU is considering after the next olympics. If they come true, I don´t know what will happen to my interest. But now there is still time to enjoy the sport and then we will see what happens.

But whatever happens I will always be a Yuzuru fan. It will be intresting to see what role he will be taking after competitive skating. I have this feeling that he has already great plans for the future and we just have to wait patiently for him to reveal them.

Regarding the issues involved:

1) I've followed figure skating before Yuzu rose up (I'm older anyways XD), so should Yuzu decide that PC was it, I'd probably still follow. Maybe not as tightly and maybe I won't attend competitions live, but I definitely would still follow, just a tad more casually. Also, I don't think Yuzu is the type to just dissappear from the landscape of figure skating-he loves the sport too much. He'll be involved in one way or another, even if he takes a break (probably a short one), in the from of shows, judging or even coaching. Some Yuna fans may disagree with me, but I think Yuzu whether he likes it or not, is more likely the ambassador for figure skating at large.  Personally, I think he realizes it and maybe even accepts it as much (and the pressure that comes with such a role), and there are things that somewhat comes with the role, so he'll still be in public in some form or shape. Personally, I hope this forum is still up even after he hangs up his competition boots (and I'd be happy to donate to such), because I don't think he's done yet, and having such a fanbase that is supportive of him is something that may be useful in the future.

 

2) I think Yuzu is Yuzu, Yuna is Yuna; they're all individual skaters, and there will be no skaters who could imitate or replace them in the future, simply because individual skaters are all different. I think we may have all followed Yuzu initially due to his skating or looks or whatever, but in the end we like him for "him" as an individual, not just the skater/kawaii looks or anything. It's the combination super package. But that also means, in the future there may be skaters we like for their skating, there may be other skaters we like for their own combination package. There might be no individual skater alone who can drive the market as much as Yuzu, but there might be a few skaters who when their fandoms combine, may achieve a similar effect. I don't think that skating fanbase or market will exactly die without Yuzu's presence in competition- it just might take more than 1 skater to fill that void, but that void may still be filled.

 

9 minutes ago, lajoitko said:

The bigger issue for me are the changes that ISU is considering after the next olympics. If they come true, I don´t know what will happen to my interest. But now there is still time to enjoy the sport and then we will see what happens.

-Seconding this also, the rules are more the issue here, because that will determine which skaters will thrive and which will not get results. Unfortunately, casual fans look first at results to determine which skaters they should look at and in what order.

 

As for market- figure skating is a niche sport, but it's possible to make it more financially lucrative than it is right now. We don't need to be as popular as say, football, but there are more popular, semi-niche sports we could look at. For example, cycling, formula 1 racing perhaps?

1. I will cry ofcourse it’s natural to happen and i know that but i still will be very sad. I don’t think i’d be a fan of any other skater as i was of Yuzu’s. I’d be watching his programs and videos till eternityxD Also he wont disappear, he will still be in the field i believe and i’ll still be following him. I’d still watch some competitions maybe but wont bother to live stream with the same enthusiasm or i won’t have the urge to buy stuffs. Also i watched figure skating before but i have never feel the emotions i feel while i watch yuzu skates, never cried while watching a program and i doubt that will ever happen again. 

 

2. Impact on skating? Many people will cryxD we won’t see intense pooh rain again. Idk maybe the competitions may not be sold out as it was for a while but it’ll be turning back as it used to.

As a newer fan (been following the sport for only 2 years), it is hard to say how I would react to Yuzu's retirement. Like everyone else here, I am sure I will continue following him because he will definitely still be active even if he doesn't compete. For the sport, I don't know. I like FS a lot and there are many skaters in all disciplines that I enjoy immensely and support wholeheartedly, but Yuzu is very different. 

Following the sport is actually really hard because of the time difference and commitment required. Attending competitions is even harder especially if you are in a faraway country. I feel like I need a strong investment and  emotional attachment to the skater to be able to forgo sleep or pay a fortune just to watch them. Unfortunately, I can't seem to be able to forge such connection with any skater other than Yuzu. I guess being a Yuzu fan sets the standard too high  

 

As for the impact on the sport, I think it depends on the ISU. Some fans will lose interest but many may be willing to stick around longer, but the ISU needs to make it easier for them. This is the information age where everything is accessible with a click and people's attention span and preseistance is very limited. The ISU must make the sport more accessible to retain those fans who found the sport through Yuzu and keep them interested. That also includes not ruining things by changing the sport very drastically every four years and alienating fans who are barely getting invested