IGLS, Austria (AP) – Soccer’s World Cup forced the cancellation of a luge World Cup.
The International Luge Federation said Monday that what was scheduled to be the opening weekend of its World Cup season — Nov. 26 and 27 in Igls, Austria — has been canceled.
The reason: The FIFA World Cup took up too much of the available TV schedule, and that meant luge events could not be broadcast live in Europe.
The Luge World Cup now begins on the weekend of December 2, a weekend of racing previously scheduled also in Igls. The FIFA World Cup group stages will be complete by then, and fewer matches in Qatar each day opened up more potential television windows for luge.
The FIFA World Cup starts on November 21 and has four matches a day from that date until December 2. The schedule starts to lighten up from the knockout phase which starts on December 3, with no more than two games each day.
Luge officials said they intend to reschedule the November race and have nine World Cup weekends, as originally planned.
There are two North American stops scheduled as of now: a Dec. 9-11 race weekend in Whistler, Canada, and a Dec. 15-17 race weekend in Park City, Utah.
___ More AP Sports: i