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≡ FEI GENERAL ASSEMBLY ≡
The 2025 Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) General Assembly starts on Tuesday and will continue through 7 November, in Hong Kong, following a very good year in 2024, when the Paris Olympic equestrian competitions in Versailles were spectacular to say the least.
The FEI is also considered to be fairly well managed and its finances demonstrate careful husbanding of financial resources … but also show that even a well-run federation is still significantly dependent on the quadrennial television rights dividend from the International Olympic Committee.
Equestrian, sometimes seen as a sport only for the privileged, is pretty vibrant, with events up 77% from 2009 to 2024, to 4,721, primarily in jumping (1,718), with the U.S. (541) and France (504) hosting the most events last year. The federation has 44,107 registered members (24,879 in jumping) and 79,647 registered horses (52,606 in jumping).
The financial report for 2024 shows a fairly healthy situation (CHF 1 = $1.24 U.S.):
For 2024:
● CHF 84.756 million assets
● CHF 25.475 million reserves
● CHF 68.499 million income
● CHF 67.094 million expenses
● CHF 1.404 million surplus
For 2023:
● CHF 72.325 million assets
● CHF 24.070 million reserves
● CHF 58.462 million income
● CHF 54.963 million expenses
● CHF 3.489 million surplus
So with the Olympic year, revenues went up by 17.2% and expenses went up by 22.1%, both related to the IOC TV dividend of CHF 16.112 million (~$20 million U.S.), of which CHF 12.848 million (~$16 million U.S.) is tucked away, to be distributed to the FEI’s budget in 2025-26-27-28, with another IOC payment coming after the Los Angeles Games.
This is safe and sane financial management. And the budgets filed at the General Assembly for 2025 and for 2026 show a continuation along the same track, but without any breakthroughs:
Budgeted for 2025:
● CHF 57.579 million income
● CHF 57.579 million expenses
● CHF 0 surplus
Budget proposed for 2026:
● CHF 61.348 million income
● CHF 60.837 million expenses
● CHF 0.511 million surplus
Still, it’s worth noting that the FEI’s reserves, even with the Olympic revenue in the bank, are CHF 25.475 million at the end of 2024, against annual spending of CHF 54.093 in 2023, CHF 67.094 million in 2024 and the budget of CHF 57.579 million for 2025.
The FEI spends most of what it takes in and keeps enough for emergencies, essentially. But compared to its expenses, it is underfunded, taking in sponsorship, broadcast and other marketing revenues of just CHF 27.503 million in 2023 and 26.636 million in 2024. The budgets for 2025 and 2026 show just a little more:
● 2025 commercial revenue: CHF 29.079 million
● 2026 commercial revenue: CHF 27.908 million
And while sponsorship revenues are shown as CHF 26-27 million per year, the costs of that support are CHF 15-16 million per year. The FEI loses about CHF 4.5 million a year on broadcasting, with income only between CHF 844,000 and 912,000 in ‘25 and ‘26.
So, even what appears to be a well-run federation is still small on the revenue side, and any serious interruption of its revenues would create serious problems very quickly.
This is an issue which is being discussed with more and more urgency by the International Federations with the IOC, including through the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), whose President is … FEI President Ingmar De Vos (BEL).
He has a big task in front of him, on behalf of all of the other International Federations, and for his own.
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