Lithuanian organizers put European Figure Skating Championships budget at EUR 1.5 mln

KAUNAS – The 2024 ISU European Figure Skating Championships in Lithuania's second-biggest city of Kaunas may cost around 1.5 million euros, with the city and the state expected to contribute financially.

"The budget of the Championships will definitely be over one and a half million" euros, Vytautas Jasutis, president of the Lithuanian Skating Federation, said at a press conference on Friday.

Part of the funds will be provided by the International Skating Union (ISU) and some are expected to be raised through ticket sales, he said

Kaunas Deputy Mayor Mantas Jurgutis said that the municipality is ready to contribute to "the ambitious project".

"We will contribute as much as we can, (…) in terms of human resources, experience and material resources," he said.

On Monday, the ISU officially named Lithuania as the host of the ISU European Figure Skating Championships in 2024.

Kaunas will host the event on January 8-14.

Some 500 athletes and their teams are expected to arrive in the city for the tournament, with hotels already booked for them. Volunteers will be recruited for the event.

An ISU commission will come to Lithuania on July 4 to inspect and assess the infrastructure and preparations.

According to Jasutis, the Championships will be a great international advertisement for Kaunas, because figure skating is very popular in such countries as Japan, the United States, Canada and France.

The federation's president noted that the finals will be held on the symbolic date for Lithuania, January 13, when the nation marks the Day of Freedom Defenders to honor the victims of the Soviet crackdown on unarmed civilians in Vilnius on January 13, 1991. 

The initial plan was to hold the Championships in Budapest.

However, Hungary in early May withdrew from hosting the event due to Russia's war in Ukraine and "its impact on the economy and the energy prices that have a significant impact on the sport of skating".