The Development of the Modern World Pro Ski Tour

Keefe Gorman is a director of investments and wealth management with Merrill Lynch. When not serving clients of Merrill Lynch's Ithaca, New York location, he enjoys a range of outdoor pursuits. An avid skier, Keefe Gorman has competed in the World Pro Ski Tour (WPST) multiple times.

In 1969 Bob Beattie , the then-current ski coach for the U.S. Olympic team, created World Pro Skiing, using the dual-slalom format. As opposed to Olympic skiing, the race format readily engaged audiences. Beattie’s incarnation of the series lasted until 1982, when he left the organization and racers went on strike, when Ed Rogers, an ally of World Pro Skiing, created the U.S. Pro Ski Tour. The competition gained a foothold in sports broadcasting on multiple networks, but it did not find a lasting home, with Fox hosting its last races in 1998.
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In the succeeding years interest in competitive skiing continued to grow, so in the 2017-2018 season Rogers and his supporters revived the WPST, with major changes. Not only did the tour broadcast on the CBS Sports Network, but it employed a dual-slalom, single-elimination format. Announcers also engaged with fans via online polls and social media discussion of events in real time, to align with other televised sports events’ practices.