Smoke and Mirrors

Friday, 31 July 2009 00:00

By Nick Carroll

Recently you’ll have read a bit about rumours of a new, super rich, elite pro surfing ultra-circuit in the offing.

What is it: $1.5 million a contest? Or was it $1.8 million? Were there 12 surfers gonna be involved? Or was it 16? Or 18? Eight events? Six?

Your correspondent thinks it’s time to throw some cold water on it all.

This extra Tour is pure smoke and mirrors.

Here’s how this sorta thing works: a bunch of hyped up go-getters at a US-based sports TV network, in this case ESPN, decide there’s a way in to a small-time pro sport. Maybe they’re tipped off that a major star is unhappy, or something else about the sport is looking shaky. So they work up a proposal, guarantee TV time on their network (but precious little else), and start beating the drums.

Salesmen call it a “float”. Chuck it out there and see if anybody bites.

Unfortunately for ESPN, they don’t have a buyer. Never did. Indeed, they’re trying to sell it to the surf industry.

Perhaps they are hoping the surf industry will respond thus: “Oh OK, here’s $40 million a year of money we don’t have so you can white-ant the world tour that we’ve just spent a decade and a half reshaping in our image.”

They’ve had a few bites, notably from Quiksilver. You can see why Quik might be a little more interested than others; their top young American star, Dane Reynolds, is struggling on the WCT, and their all time King, Kelly Slater, is off the 10th world title run he was expected to make in 2009. If Dane’s not there and Kelly’s bored, world tour-wise they’ve got nothing.

Plus of course Kelly’s energetic manager Terry Hardy has been a central figure in chucking the “float” out there like nobody else.

But otherwise? Huh.

Things like this have been “floated” before. One recalls the IS Tour idea of 1999, “floated” by Derek Hynd with the tacit support of Jack McCoy and a number of never-quite-named wealthy backers; the Super League of 1996, “floated” by Graham Cassidy as an alternative ASP; the stand-alone Triple Crown of 1983, which never quite “floated”, but managed to ruin the career of Hawaiian great Dane Kealoha in the process.

Something amazingly similar to this current proposal, in fact, was “floated” back in the dot-com days by a pro footballer manager named R J Kors, who was working in partnership with ESPN at the time.

Yet R J’s proposals vanished along with the rest. The only time a “float” has taken was in 1982, when Ian Cairns came to the surfers with the idea for the ASP. But the ASP had a backer, it was a full blown global improvement on the very thin-on-the-ground IPS, and every single pro surfer in the world wanted a major change in how things happened.

When these “floats” are chucked out there, it’s always wise to take a cool look at who stands to benefit; and in this case, other than those thrusting ESPN executives, it’s just the 12 surfers who happen to be invited. Or the 18. Or the 16. But how are they chosen? On the basis of popularity with the ESPN execs? And what happens to everyone else?

More dryly even than that: What happens to, err, the chicks?? (Don’t mention the chicks!)

Not a whole lot in it for anyone, in fact, except said TV execs and a small number of yet to be named professional surfers whose careers will no doubt have been long established by their appearances in, oh yeah, ASP WCT events.

One of the big reasons why “floats” generally blow away with the next strong breeze is because – guess what? – professional sports are a lot harder to organise and run than the floaters care to admit. They don’t spring into being out of thin air. Yet nobody outside ESPN has been approached except in the hope of money to fund it. There’s nobody working on a computer judging system. Nobody being employed to develop all the boring yet critical infrastructure that makes multi-event global sports tours function with sanity and credibility. No connections being made within the sport beyond the headline US surf corpos.

ESPN’s got TV time to burn, but other than that, they got nothin’. And until they get somethin’ – a lot more than somethin’, in fact – you can forget about it.

The only sense that’s been talked so far in the whole shemozzle has been by Kelly Slater back in J-Bay, after being encouraged to help the “float” by e-mailing the top 45 to try to get ‘em on side (and then rapidly backing away when he realised he’d suddenly become the floater du jour).

What Kelly said about ASP WCT event timing, about the uneven webcasting, the sluggish response to changing needs in the sport, is quite true. God knows the ASP hasn’t figured out how to work its media property rights. God knows the “Dream Tour” hasn’t changed in years and is beginning to look stagnant. God knows there could be a lot more money, life and energy injected into it. (For the latest ASP initiative click here)

But the best thing pro surfing has going for it is an unopposed, undiluted world championship. It’s what’s put the sport ahead of pretty much all the other supposedly “Xtreme” sports of the past three decades. It’s what has allowed the surf industry to build the global marketing platform it so fundamentally needed – and continues to need – in order to grow its businesses beyond its old Aussie/US base. It lets new surf nations in the door of the sport; gives their top surfers a clear goal.

If you’re going to white-ant that in favour of something else, you want to be damned sure you know why.

EDITOR'S NOTE: ASL has been in contact with Kelly Slater regarding the proposed tour since first reporting on it during the Billabong Pro in South Africa last month. Two days after we published this story, we recieved an email from Kelly which answers quite a few of the questions posed in the comments section below. You can click here for Kelly's thoughts on the proposed tour, and the coverage it's been getting.

Comments (64)

While we're playing who's who.

"Taking bets now" is either:

A) Brodie Carr
B) Richard Grelmann
C) Any other ASP employee desperately trying to cling onto their jobs
D) or possibly Neil Ridgeway

I know this is off topis, but I must just respond to ”Taking bets now“s list of 'five corrupt individuals' from a couple of days ago.

A) Matthew Tinley
B) Terry Hardy
C) Bob McKnight
D) Kelly Slater
E) Greville Mitchell

Mate I don't know the top four enough to comment, but I know Greville Mitchell to be one of the most selfless people ever to be involved in pro surfing. I'd say the rest of the guys on your list have made a bit of coin out of the sport, and fair enough to em... but Mitchell, on the other hand, has only ever given. And given alot.

ESPN is the worlds largest sporting company, second follows Nike.

That is all.

Hi Nick, great article. I also read the Slater side, and I think that what could be a solution for this impass is to ASP ratings get closer to what it is in pro tennis.
A full year ranking, grand slams on great locations with big money and huge TV coverage. The ranking will provide the seeds to this and that contest. You can have contests for 128 guys, 64, 48, and grand slams could be the best 24 or 32... Everybody would be forced to show up here and there to score points and enter the big events.
Abraço!

So ESPN are going to package a special 1 hour programe on each of the 5 or 6 events.
Thats about 8 million per programe, based on industry experts estimated 40 million overall budget for this rebel tour. Thats insane, they'd never be able to recoup that outlay in advertising- never, ever, even in a strong advertising market.
As far as non-surfing corporates, coke has had involvement in surfing and various beer & phone companies such as boost. Guess what if it worked for them they'd be back quicker than you blink.

people get over it- prosurfing is not that popular- never will be. It's a niche sport that get backing from surfing companies.

Nick,

Your article is getting hammered at PostSurf.com

Although some might like to pretend,

There is no moat surrounding the the AS freaking P.

You have no idea what is about to run you over.

I thought Kelly was a pretentious asshole when he was on the ASP...this puts him in a whole new realm. Honestly, maybe the trick to hitting the mythical "next realm of fan bases" is actually being a decent humab being and supporting the tour you're on. I mean, the dude has nine world titles, and the year that Parko looks to be ascending the thrown, he goes and starts a rebel tour...words cannot express how disappointing that it.

jo blo eats wang

So...to recap...Kelly is upset at the tour because it has made him world-famous, garnered him millions of dollars in endorsements, and allowed him to spend the last 20 years of his life traipsing around to exotic locales and surfing perfect waves...yeah, that sucks. What a fuckin' douchebag.

Taking bets now...Jo Blo is either:

A) Matthew Tinley
B) Terry Hardy
C) Bob McKnight
D) Kelly Slater
E) Greville Mitchell

Geez, I think I nearly threw up on my screen just then. If that's not the most corrupt group of individuals I have ever seen, I don't know what is,

For the record, I reckon Carroll is the only journo with the balls to slice though the hype.

Carroll just PWND Jo Blo...sick! Carroll is right, no money, mo problems. Fast talkers without backing have nothing and considering that the promoter Matthew Tinley has a history of failing to pay his athletes and other contracts, then I think Nick is spot on the money.

There is one thing that no one has stated here, how about these so called Deserving Pro Surfers take a leaf out of Moto GP and F1 and see just how these guys help promote the sponsers and the organizers of the races and events, and not to mention the sponsors who support them, realize there are a lot of people working there fucking ass off behind closed doors so these guys can get paid their millions of dollars, designing, Sewing selling, fucking paying bills and paying surfers, Why do they deserve more if they are not professional enough to be putting in for their sponsors, working for the money not just thinking that going surfing is enough. Why should it be, if someone was paying me millions to go surfing i would be doing what it takes to support them, through what ever means. They say surfing is more professional these days?? Im yet to see this, the attitude of the surfers need to change in order for massive corporate companies to want to be involved, again go watch Valentino Rossi at a Press Conference or Presentation, the guy makes sure all logos from his sponsors and event sponsors are showing and also the whole events banners etc when he poses for media images, even holds up the champagne provider so they get a hit, its a 2 way street in this sport, the sooner that everyone realizes this the better! its not the ASP Holding back surfing its actually the Athletes themselves.

Hi jo blo, I can assure you PR is the furthest thing from my mind.

The fact is that so far there are no facts.

A wise old journalist once told me it's best to follow the money in these cases, and guess what, so far there's no money, either.

I have absolutely no doubt that Kelly's acting out of what he perceives as the sport's best interests, he always means well and has been frustrated as fuck with the ASP for some time. And it may well be that the outcome will be a healthy advance for professional surfing as we know it.

However, a cold eye on history, both on TV sports networks' treatments of smaller pro sports and on new breakaway pro surfing super tour ideas, tells us they tend to wipe out.

Without facts or money anyway.

Till they show up, like I said, it's all smoke and mirrors.

This whole article sounds like nothing more than a bit of clever PR for the ASP and surfing brands (who incidentally fund this very magazine through advertising). Perhaps you should get your facts right about this new tour there is a whole lot of information you have missed here- it's not going to be 'invitational'. This new tour will be amazing for the whole sport. not just the big brands cashing in on surfers working their ass off- some of whom actually lose money funding their way around the so called dream tour each year. Finally the surfers are standing up to the ASP and surfing brands who have been whoring them our for years

The brands are freaking out because finally the surfers are realising they can stand together and get what they deserve- a professionally run tour. Not one completely dictated by surf brands who keep the ASP afloat. Not one goverened by a company who can't get their shit together to keep ONE single sponsor for the tour. Surfing finally has an opportunity to grow, sure there are kinks in this new tour that need to be ironed out- as in every new venture. But I think the effort to improve a tour that currently does not work, one that (as Dean put perfectly) is presented through a clothing brand's website should be applauded not ridiculed.

gee whizzzzz.....espn must be desperate....along with the surf clothing guys and their sponsored wct stars. hello....surfing (which enjoyed a blip in 2003 thru 2005) is out of vogue with the non-surf sports population, in which espn depends on. didn't anyone notice.....espn dumped surfing from the x-games....why??? because it's not extreme. nothing death defying about it.....and that's what folks want.

seems that everyone has either ignored or just doesn't want to admit it. surfing is in decline, at least with the general population. maybe it will cycle back into the limelight someday...but not anytime soon. you can rearrange the deck chairs (on the titanic) all you want.....but the fact remains....surfing is on the downswing. the girls are all but gone.....the old guys are dying out (or out riding their harleys) and the youth of america would rather be twittering than surfing. arguments and moaning by wct players smacks of self importance. guys....you're on your way out.....and NOBODY cares.

Yep, mates, Kelly's washed up. Last year was a fluke, all six of his wins. So was Brazil last month.

The fact is that the ASP has already taken its bat and ball away. It has a stranglehold on the surfers and what they can do. (Remember the "investigation" on Parko and Occy's Corona event in NZ?) The ASP has kept surfing a small fries sport with shit technology for webcasts and events owned by sponsors. Will this thing be worse for top pros and the progression of the sport? No chance.

nice article. i enjoy reading nick's stuff. i've been curious about this new tour rumour and have been having a hard time finding good information. there is plenty off room for improvement in the asp and this may force them to lift their game. on the other hand, all this money and industry stuff is miles from the realities of the vast majority of surfers. we just wanna surf uncrowded waves. more exposure equals more crowds. fuck em i say... i'm going surfing.

Some of youse guys are only making arguments for yourselves. What about Parko? He doesn't deserve to be paid similarly to other world #1's? ASP surfer purses are pathetic in relation to our boys' skills and disgraceful compared to how much money the brands make selling t-shirts off their image. I think this'll happen because someone is finally offering to pay these athletes what they deserve.

This coming from one of those grunts who was behind the scenes during so many surf events. Nick, insightful as always. There is this strange split personality in surfing. We don't want crowds, but we broadcast the good days missed to all our friends. We want surfing to have soul, but we laugh (sadly) up our lycras at other "athletes" making ten times what surfers do. We get 100,000 people on the beach in California, yet most events are in remote "wave filled" unpopulated locations. In Australia surfing is recognized as a respectable solid sport, in the U.S. it is a novelty by the media. Infuriating corporate structure has ass wiggled its way into the surfing industry, and it is not a pretty picture. A once soulful friendly band of miscreants are without work while desk jockeys and bankers "market the image". Seeing the over production pollution and economic havoc corporate dumbhood has wreaked on the business side of surfing, I cringe at what a bunch of tassel loafered pudge thumps in Connecticut have in store.

Way to take a stance, Nicky.
What is interesting is that ESPN has not had much public to say (that I know of, anyway) and that most everything is being floated out there like smoke in the wind.
As someone who has been involved in the surfing industry for almost three decades as a journalist, event owner, athlete manager, etc.., I can from experience say that the ASP is a mess and has never reached its potential for either the organization or the athletes. Here we are coming off the biggest boom in the history of our sport and the ASP still has no big media deal or significant sponsors outside of the industry. From that point, it has been a failure but still it does crown an undisputed world champion and has done so for more than 30 years.
I have worked with many other professional sports organizations on the event side, and the ASP is the worst in terms of what they demand of and provide for event owners -- nevermind the athlete.
What really needs to be done is a complete overhaul of the ASP from the Top down. The surf bro' mentality has to go. Bring in educated and experienced people who not only know how to run organizations and events but especially know how to market and how to sell.
Rather than storming off in a new direction that may or may not work, the surfers need to overtake and exert their influence on the ASP as they are owners. Last I checked, the ASP is nothing without the surfers. And, to date, vice-verse.

are you kidding me - are you guys actually saying you wouldn't want to see the contests on TV - at least down under you have seen your Aussie contests on TV for years. In the states it doesn't happen - its on a 3 inch box on the internet. And are the guys who fall off the tour, requalify, only to fall off again, the back 28, really that interesting to watch lose their heats to the top 16?

So if ESPN can show me surf contests, on TV, as they happen, that I can watch on my 40" in HD, packaged with the guys i want to see surf, then I'm all for it.

Should Kelly prove that he can bring surfing to a larger, youth-driven, consumer market (and not just 2 million Australians), then raising funds to fuel a Rebel Tour is not only possible, it is easy. The cost of the entire ASP world is negligible relative to the budget of mega-corporations. Several south-east asian Telecom companies make more bottomline earnings annually than all the surf companies combined. Let alone, the Toyotas, Targets, Walmarts, Nokias. So if money is the issue, than any surf company's (bathing suit makers really) role is immaterial.

The ASP is Australian-centric, almost xenophobic as are the surf companies and the management entrenched therein. A Rebel Tour would democratise surfing.

I'd love to see the Chinese surf. The central americans and southeast asians (whose geography gives them the best waves on the planet), and not just a bunch of overstaying obnoxious beer guzzling anglos crowding the line-up and for the most part, utterly disrespectful of the local culture. I would rather see Indonesians and Nicaraguans crowd their own line-up.
Huge population. Fast-growing middle-class. Consumerist aspirations. A big network with worldwide coverage will introduce surfing to a new young market numbering in the hundreds of millions trying out the joys of surfing IN THEIR OWN WATERS.

The big-money will professionalise surfing even more. May even introduce dope-testing. Which is good. A proliferation of cokeheads seem to populate the ASP ranks.

The ASP may not have it 100% correct as yet, but they are always on the improve. I mean come on, they have done a fantastic job getting the sport to where it is today, especially considering the amount of money available. These are surfing companies, not mining companies!!! Sure the surfers need a pay rise (who doesn't!), but I don't think a million bucks a win is going to make them any more "professional".
Lets hope they remain aligned with ASP, it would be a shame to see our sick sport go down the tube for the sake of a greedy few (not mentioning anyone!).
Good article Nick, great to finally hear someone talking sense. The ASP has been crucified by just about everyone else...

Fuck, who cares. Waves were good out the front today.
Only bored kooks really care about this argument.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

Blah, Blah Blah!!!!
'tis the season to be jolly, Parko's season 2009.
Kelly is a business man and after his tour of duty , he has to make a buck somewhere.
Let him do his so called 'dream tour', watch it fold underneath him, just like this year's WCT Tour "10" campaign.

the super tour concept smells. The ASP do a good job and people don't realize that behind the scenes, the board, the ASP management, the CEO, the media man, the workers, the event staff ARE ALL SURFERS. Who wants a tour run by people who don't have passion for the sport? fuck that. Give the ASP a break, sure, they could work out a global TV deal and bring in some big dollars so the boy's get the prize money they deserve, that would be insane. If you have had the pleasure to sit in the channel at Chopes or on the deck at J-bay or in the stands at Bells and watch a killer heat between the best surfers on earth you would protect the structure in place, because it rocks! Why don't ESPN just come in and work with the ASP and the brands to make what we have better? No need to reinvent the wheel, just improve it.

ps -nice words nick, great stuff.

pps - beat it kelly, support the tour that has made you what you are. Park09!

What a load of rubbish , Kelly,you should be ashamed of yourself . The ASP put you on the map, without them your just some ripping freak from the good ol US of A, your freakish talent is now known through out the world,and thats not because of the ''Florida times'' . Change is needed in some areas of the ASP and it will happen, but for you to take the rights off gromets world wide to have thier name along side yours and other world champions is a discrace . Wake up kelly, if you cant put somthing positive back into the sport and people that have helped you all allong then just F off and be a rock star or something,see if you can cut it there . Its Parkos year , just face the fact.

So "retro" you argument is that good surfing in "inconsequential" so long as exposure goes up. These are sick, sad times indeed.

I reckon if this happens, either with or without the ASP, professional surfing will die quite quickly (perhaps some of us would like to see it that way).

The sport will become a mockery of itself, a hollow sideshow spectacle where nothing remains but marketing initiatives.

Hard-charging, rail-gouging surfers will be replaced by celebrity "it" muppets like Heidi and Spencer Pratt in favor or ratings, and I'll personally swallow a bit of throw-up every time it comes on television...and by television, I don't mean ESPN or even ESPN 2 (where the new tour is actually buying time).

No, the subjectivity and patheticness of Kelly's new tour will be lucky if it's even picked up by the Ocho network in a couple of years.

Retarding the progression of the sport, surfboards, athletes, etc. back a few decades and sending the whole community into very dark times indeed.

so over kellys dramatics...parko is the new shit

I think it's important for everyone to breath and take a look at the comparables at the moment.

The surfers, like Kelly, are complaining that they're not receiving as much attention from the mainstream as other action sports (ie skateboarding, snowboarding, etc.)

This is incorrect. Other action sports actually envy professional surfing in that it has an established organization, the ASP, that crowns an undisputed world champ.

The other sports are not unlike boxing in that they have are disjointed and have no major impact upon society because infighting (much like Kelly and his management are creating here) has broken them apart.

We shouldn't be so quick to smash the ASP for all its flaws.

I mean, really? Does this really sound so bad to you? Check out the link below. I have a feeling that in a year's time, when you're forced to deal w/ ESPN production standards (I'll guess a lot better than they are now??) you'll come around.

Besides, these boys need to get paid. They're some of the best athletes in the world. They deserve it.

http://www.grindtv.com/surf/blog/7226/inside+sources+separate+new+dream+tour+fact+from+fiction/

This is not a forum to bash Kelly. However, he made his bed when he threw in his lot partially with the likes of Terry Hardy and Matthew Tinley. I don't think Kelly should even be involved with them anymore. I think it's a bad concept, inviting 16 surfers to compete for a world title, and I think it's a bad idea to get someone like Tinley involved, given his heritage. I would like to see Kelly working with the ASP instead of fighting with it. I'm disappointed he hasn't tried to already.

We should perhaps look at this like rational human beings:

Fact 1: Kelly's renegotiation with a financially-struggling Quiksilver las December went poorly.
Fact 2: Both Kelly and his manager Terry Hardy were upset by the outcome of the renegotiation.
Fact 3: To make up for lack of financial rewards to keep Slater on, Quiksilver made a deal with the devil, Kelly and Hardy to back the new exhibition concept.
Fact 4: Bob McKnight (Quik CEO), whose company sits on the ASP Board), in what can only become an egregious conflict of interest, called a clandestine meeting of surf industry insiders before the Fourth of July to talk about the new exhibition concept.

The outcome...we cannot let these shady bastards glam their way into professional surfing. Protect the sport.

Carroll! Carroll! Carroll! Carroll! Carroll! Boom! About time someone of note poked some holes into the already-swiss-cheese-like proposal that lays before us. I DO NOT want to rapidly change professional surfing just because Kelly is having a cry about things this year. I agree with "hank", this id disgusting behavior that takes the attention away from Joel Parkinson this season. Parko should be pissed. Kelly is undermining the fact that Joel is the best surfer in the world right now. Parko would smoke Slater in a man-on-man at the moment. Time for change people, not the ASP, but our heroes.

No, in fact, Kelly has distanced himself quite quickly from the prospect of this within the media since it was prematurely reported on during J-Bay. Given the information at hand, he would be wise to continue to distance himself from it. It is the worst idea in the long history of terrible ideas to hand the sport over to a sleazy manager (Terry Hardy) and a corrupt, failed boxing promoted who is being sued by his athletes for extortion, theft, defamation among other things (Matthew Tinley). The whole thing is a joke and if Slater hadn't had the poor judgement of lending his name to it in the first place, we wouldn't even be considering.

Quik Bong Rip Curl all small companies. Asia is the fastest growth area in the world. With waves too! Massive companies like Nokia, beer companies, beverage, the automotive industry, private equity funding etc will gun for this. And the billions that reside in the consumerist youth market therein.

Kelly will work well in this case. Attractive champion. Something youthful Asians aspire for. He'll find funds outside of the surf industry easily considering the untapped markets of East Asia alone.

Australia is inconsequential. Sure they have good surfers. But the market is 20 million people. All already tapped and over-advertised to. So boring place in terms of growth. Small population vs the billions in southeast asia alone.

Yep, kelly will find the funds for this easily.

yes yes... journalism is all about baseless speculations... let's keep the sport run by the people making the bathing suits

Has Kelly even spoken directly to the press about this thing? Do any of you wankers who call shit on all these people know anything about the reality of this thing or what it involves? Do any of you know all the surfers themselves or the fact that they are all being consulted and involved in the process? How 'bout the fact that surfing is the only sport in the world run by an incestuous group of sponsors holding half the vote on the board and most of the power of the industry not to mention event media rights? ASP was started as a better option to the IPS. There is most assuredly something better than the ASP and the stranglehold that the big 3 and a few others have on the industry and where it goes. This looks like a forum to discredit and throw mud and your jealous feelings at our current world champ. You should all take a look in the mirror. Pretty f'ing lame.

Way to go NICK!!! About time someone called bullshit on this. I don't want ESPN. I don't want McDonalds. I want surfing and ripping, which means (at least this year), I don't want Kelly. Parko is the new dynasty!!!!!!!!

I have been a Kelly fan since I can remember, but sadly, this whole drama is nothing more than history's greatest surfer having a temper tantrum and throwing the toys out of the cot. It pains me to say/think this, but Kelly has put in a cowardly effort this season, riding weird boards, not taking things seriously, etc. He was too scared to put it on the line for 10, and now that the world's gaze is shifting to the unbelievable surfing of Joel Parkinson, Slater is prepping to take his bat and ball and leave. It's really pathetic, and I am a Slaterhead no more...

Thank you Nick. It's about time someone stopped being glamored by the big shiny words of "Kelly", "New", "ESPN", "Money" and actually analyzed what was proposed. The fact is, very little has been proposed. And the proposals are ever-changing. It seems to me that those involved in the development on this new concept have not though about much aside from themselves - who will get rich? who will have the spotlight on them? I find it disappointing that Kelly would associate himself with something like this as it makes him look disrespectful. He's not winning this year, and to take away the validity and honor of Parko's world title run with this sideshow is a very low ordeal indeed. Kelly is not the alpha and omega of surfing. Surfing will exist after he is gone...if he continues down this path, I hope we're rid of him sooner rather than later.

Great work by Nick and ASL to keep us updated on the biggest drama in Pro surfing.
"Smoke and Mirrors" or "Wheres their Smoke theirs Fire",,Kellys backing raises a lot of issues regarding current ASP.
ASP events should be the showcase for state of the art surfing.
However ASP events are BOOORRRING,,,two safe waves ,,then take a risk.
The high performce,aeirals,new move action is all in the free surfing BEFORE the main event.
Because ASP judgeing format has never changed.
NEW ASP RULES - Beach and point breaks surf.Min two aeirals to score out of ten.
Freesurfing with coloured singlets.

who cares? f the lot of them.

who cares?

nice article. I can't believe this float had so many biters in the first place. who wants to replace a free webcast with a pay to view epsn coverage anyway? everyone talks about money being the answer but its only going to come from one place, marketing, and therefore more and more crowded line ups. cyclists don't try and win the tour de france because of prize money, nor do footballers the world cup. winning the 'ct should be about pride and prestige not a fat check.

The ASP need real marketing pros. They have never had any. The ESPN thing is a joke. Those souless bastards in Bristol, Ct will ruin the sport. Have them buy the Webcasting or TV rights like they do with all other sports in America (NFL, NBA, NCAA etc.) That's it. Screw the new tour...I'm worried about RoboSlater http://nugable.wordpress.com

This could be great for the surfers and the fans. The fans will get a high quality webcast and top-notch production on TV. The surfers will be treated like the premier athletes they are. We will see the sport progress with guys vying for a spot on the elite tour. No crazy shit and you're done! I can't wait.

On top of that, ESPN and the x-games have helped turned other action sports into respectable professions with something to watch for people who will likely never participate but are psyched to check it out.

If you're happy watching the greatest sport and some of the greatest athletes in the world on a little box from a clothing brand's website, then yeah... you've got a reason to be upset. Come on fella... a lot better can be done than the ASP, and it's jumping the gun a little to sledge an attempt.

If you're a magic eye in the sky/Nostradamus incarnate, I take back everything I just said.

Disappointing to se Kelly stoop so low with his manager and Quiksilver. He's clearly not out for what's best for the sport or his peers. He's only out for himself.

Apparently, there is money buying up the time on ESPN, and the backer is none other than shady, former and disgraced boxing promoter Matthew Tinley. Tinley is the former CEO of America Presents, a boxing promotion company that went down in a hail of criminal accusations and lawsuits by athletes.

Promotion firm America Presents down for count

By Dan Rafael, USA TODAY

Denver-based promotional company America Presents burst on the scene in 1996 with the signing of Olympic gold medalist David Reid and quickly established itself as a force.

It secured an exclusive deal to televise fights on Fox Sports Net and had contracts with top fighters such as David Tua, Hector Camacho Jr. and Joel Casamayor.

Now it's going down in flames under a heap of unpaid bills and lawsuits from fighters.

"We're going through a tough time, but we still have some good fighters," says embattled owner Mat Tinley. "I'm doing the best I can under difficult circumstances."

Jeff Fried, the company attorney who took over day-to-day operation after Tinley forced president Dan Goossen to resign...

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/boxing/stories/2002-03-22-america-presents.htm

Kelly is being a petulant cry-baby. Word on the street is that Quiksilver couldn't afford to give him what he wanted during their contract renegotiation last December so he and his manager Terry Hardy threw the toys out of the cot and said Quiksilver had to back the new tour concept. Fast-forward a few months and we have Bob MckNight calling for a clandestine industry meeting in the US with marketing directors from all companies to discuss with Terry. I'll ignore the ridiculous fact that Bob McKnight's company, Quiksilver, is on the ASP Board of Directors creating an egregious conflict of interest, and I'll even look away at the horrid template the concept has provided (16 surfers invited...perhaps from Kelly's phonebook). What I won't ignore is the fact that Kelly is acting like a spoiled child. You're better than that man. Grow up and put something back into the sport that gave you everything.

FINALLY!!! Someone has called bullshit on this crap. I'm sick and tired of the media catering to Slater and ESPN on this whole deal. It sounds like a terrible terrible terrible idea. What's wrong with the CT? Oh, I know, it's because Kelly isn't winning this season and he wants to take his bat and ball and go somewhere else. That's pathetic man. Why not be respectful and appreciative of Joel's success this year? Why does everything have to be about him. Good on ya Nick! About time someone stepped up to call people on this crap.

ASP is dead in the water (all puns intended). The 'Dream Tour' has been stinky for a good few years and 4 days to run an event (in the old format) was tiresome. Who wants to see shithouse surfers who are 44th and 32nd in the world fight it out in epic conditions when the next day the current number 1 and 3 go head to head in 1ft slop. Rubbish.

Bring on the Super Tour....

Great article Nick!

Most of us sit back and have the privilege watch great surfing happen at, by and large, excellent events all around the world and take it for granted.

Considering as well that unlike most other sports you need to create significant but very short term infrastructure at sometimes remote locations, you also have to hope for good weather and get the ocean to play along, it's amazing any event ever happens.

I've spent this year back in Singapore and so no waves which means these webcasts are crucial to me to get a fix and keep me close to sane. They are patchy and occasionally the commentary can be cliched or just plain bad but then again when your staring out to a becalmed ocean during a 20 minute flat spell anyone would probably run out of things to say.

I hope we can see constant improvement in circuit and that the unsung heroes that keep all that is there now running don't get disillusioned by the current froth.

Because I would really hate to see some wankers exploiting some temporary issues take the whole thing back 10 years and destroy some more careers along the way.

THE current tour is boring horse shit anyway. WHO CARES something different would be good.

Oh Dear ..did you hear that sinking sound??

I think it was ESPN's credibility!!!

Could not of been written with so much truth Nick .Thats what journalism is all about .

Someone keeping us all honest !!

Nice work !

nice words nick... agreed

Well said...

Way too many guys on the WCT tour. Cutting the tour down to 16 would be the best thing. Then invite the top 4 guys from the WQS or a few locals to each event. If the ASP doesn't make those changes then some so called 'float' will. Somebody needs to lead the way.

Thanks for the update! Keep surfing different from other sports and espn is a bunch of shit anyway.