Olympic classes: Laser begins first test for monopoly review
by Richard Gladwell 1 Jun 2018 19:07 PDT
2 June 2018
International Laser - 2016 Olympic Regatta, Rio de Janeiro © Richard Gladwell
In the first, and possibly a test case of its self-styled "Anti-Trust" Reviews, World Sailing has announced an invitation to tender for the Men's and Women's One Person Dinghy Equipment for the Paris 2024 Olympic Sailing Competition.
The World Sailing body has chosen to put the Laser class, the largest of the Single Manufacturer One Design (SMOD) classes, and the most protected by patent and copyright, up for review as a boat to be sailed in the 2024 Olympic Regatta in Marseille, France.
Or in simple terms, the Laser has to re-apply for its own Olympic spot. Times two when you include the Laser Radial.
World Sailing has got itself stuck between a rock and a hard place. "A courageous decision, Minister", as Sir Humphrey Appleby would say.
If they decide to stay with the Laser and the Laser Radial for the 2024 Olympic competition, then they risk falling foul of EU anti-trust laws, in that they are continuing to endorse a monopoly supplier for Olympic equipment.
If they decide to drop the Laser the current Men's and Womens Singlehander for the 2024 Olympics - World Sailing is walking away from one of the most successful classes in sailing history.
Such a move breaks with one of the International Olympic Committee's tenents - Universality - which in IOC-speak means the distribution of the class around the world, along with those who compete. Over 200,000 Lasers have been sold worldwide.
The third option is to try and open the boat up to allow the entry of multiple builders, but the Laser is the most tightly controlled by patent and copyright - already tested in Court cases - even between the builders and separately with the designer.
World Sailing's chances to "evolve the current Equipment" in the quaint language of its Regulation 23.6.4, could only be done with the co-operation of the existing copyright and licence holders.
The Fundamental issue facing World Sailing is that the Olympic Sailing facet of the Laser class is small in comparison with world numbers of the class. World Sailing does not have a lot of bargaining power in this argument. The Laser was a highly successful class in the 20 years before it became Olympic with 24 nations sailing in its first World Championship in 1974.
The Laser is even more difficult to dislodge because it has permeated into the Youth classes and Regional Games - an achievement only really matched, but to a lesser extent by the RS:X Windsurfer. World Sailing in its wisdom has also chosen to put the Olympic Windsurfer class under review. However, that process would seem to be moot with World Sailing looking set to drop the RS:X in favour of a "Formula" type of windsurfer.
In a roundabout way, the Universality issue works in favour of the Laser.
Changing only one of its "Universality" classes will have an impact on the geographic participation of Sailing in the short-term at least. But changing both for the same Olympics is decidedly disruptive in emerging sailing nations where state-funded sailing enjoys the same priority as space-travel.
In other words dumping a modest fleet of Lasers and RS:X windsurfers and replacing them with several new classes is just not an option for the emerging nations.
For many years, World Sailing and its predecessor, the International Sailing Federation have been doing the wrong thing for all the right reasons.
The Laser was the first SMOD to be selected for the Olympics, offering the ability to chose a boat which could be sailed as a supplied fleet, that had no measuring issues or process, and was readily saleable after the event - usually by the container load.
As Olympic classes (or Equipment to again use IOC-speak) changed, some after evaluation trials, the tendency was to edge closer and closer to the SMOD model for the same reasons of perceived equality of equipment.
The licenced builder system used since the inception of one-design classes into Olympic Sailing allowed multiple licenced builders for hulls only. For the rest of the boat there was complete freedom of choice for the rest of the parts, sails and spars in the class. Measurement of these items is restricted by tight tolerances in class rules.
While that approach allowed normal market forces to prevail, it did have a significant measurement overhead at major regattas, including the Olympics.
World Sailing/ISAF licenced the builders on the advice of the International Class Association - which was democratically run by the sailors in that class. Effectively the sailors controlled their class.
Of the current six Olympic classes only two - the 470 and Finn - are run under the Licenced Builder system. Both are subject to a separate Event review process by World Sailing at its Annual Conference in November, in Sarasota, Florida in late October 2018.
In terms of satisfying the anti-trust requirements of the European Union, the licenced builder model passes with flying colours. There is plenty of history to show that it is price competitive, supply competitive, and within the constraints of the class rules, is structurally competitive. Plus it has stood the test of time across many classes - both Olympic and International.
For the SMOD classes, World Sailing has asked for a "please explain" in its four-page "Olympic Equipment Re-Evaluation Procedure" where the world body requires: Single manufacturer worldwide. Capacity, location and justification of the reason why selecting the monopoly would benefit the consumer and/or the sport
It's an easy question to answer from a marketing theory perspective. But not so easy when a Standard Laser sail in the Southern hemisphere is listed at $990, and the Rooster equivalent is listed at less than half the price at $430. It is a similar situation in the Northern hemisphere with Rooster equivalent listed at £215, and for the official sail, the list price is £540.
And therein lies the Catch-22 for World Sailing and the Olympic SMOD classes.
For the Invitation to Tender and associated procedures click here