Prestigious Nations Cup shows such as Spruce Meadows (Alta.) and Aachen (Germany) will have to consider date changes and abandoning their grand prix classes if they wish to stay in the new-look official Nations Cup series announced by the Fédération Equestrian International on May 1 at its sports forum in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The Saudi Equestrian Fund has come in as major new backer of the 2012 Nations Cup series. But a potential five-year extension of the series-saving deal is conditional on involving dozens more of the FEI’s 120 member federations, including developing show jumping interests in the Middle East, Eastern Europe, China and South America.
Both the eight-team Top League and the secondary promotional league are currently heavily Eurocentric.
The new scheme replaces the two leagues with a simple knock-out format, but only seven shows could potentially be involved worldwide, forcing historic venues to re-bid and also agree to drop their valuable grand prix class.
The Nations Cup has struggled to attract a wholly commercial sponsor since 2008, when Samsung ended its 13-year support of the series. Last year the FEI subsidized the eight Top League events to the tune of more than $250,000 each, and FEI secretary-general Ingmar de Vos emphasized this was not sustainable; stakeholders had to accept that the series would not exist beyond 2012 without radical intervention.
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Under the new scheme, first rounds will be seeded and involve two strong nations competing alongside developing countries not necessarily from the same continent.
The core concept was generally well received by anyone other than an existing CSIO organizer. It has to be ratified by the FEI bureau at its annual assembly in November.
John Long, CEO of the U.S. Equestrian Federation, congratulated the FEI jumping committee for the “intriguing concept,” though requested more details about whether or not the new sponsor would assist with transportation costs.
The Saudi Equestrian Fund agreed in December to back the series, pre-dating the positive dope tests incurred by horses ridden by two of Saudi Arabia’s star riders.
