The corona pandemic and the government's decision not to change the rule for 50 spectators hit the Swedish World Cup organizers hard, who are already preparing a scenario without an audience.

The competition in Ulricehamn, 16–17 January, is heavily exposed.

- I read that the world cup organizer Ruka in Finland will lose hundreds of thousands of kronor.

Here we are talking about millions, says Johan Falk.

He says that the World Cup event in Ulricehamn has so far had a budget of minus 1.5 million kronor.

It can get even worse.

- We can not get it together.

Now we will budget for a deficit of a couple of million kronor, says Johan Falk.

Uses saved money

The reason is the expected loss of audience.

- We have got used to the idea of ​​zero audience.

But our soul is in the audience.

Everyone knows how many have previously come to the competitions in Ulricehamn, says Falk.

In recent years, 30–40,000 spectators have followed the competitions on site in Ulricehamn.

Can you arrange the competitions?

- As it looks now, we can handle it.

But there must be no new surprises.

We can use the money saved from the competitions in 2017 and 2019, says Johan Falk.

400,000 minus in Falun

The organizer of the Swedish Ski Games in Falun, January 30-31, does not budget with an equal loss:

- We are preparing for competitions without an audience and a budget of minus SEK 400,000, says Swedish Ski Games' CEO Ulrika Back Eriksson.

She explains why Falun is doing better than, for example, Ulricehamn:

- We have a permanent ski stadium and buildings, and are finished with most of the infrastructure.

Falun is also preparing for competitions without an audience.

- We want to take social responsibility and not risk the Swedish Ski Games becoming a source of infection after the event.

Therefore, we have already decided to receive only a few spectators, who are in special zones, or no audience, says Ulrika Back Eriksson.

Next week, the International Ski Federation (Fis) is expected to nail down the winter World Cup program.

According to preliminary signals, the competitions will be run as planned, with a premiere in Ruka, Finland, at the end of November, and with a clear set of rules to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.