Is the Surfing Industry Pushing the ASP into the “Kiddie Pool” of City Waves? 0
This story comes from the Wall Street Journal:
As the sport of surfing swells, a battle is brewing between profits and waves.
Under pressure from corporate sponsors keen to sell board shorts and other surfing paraphernalia to the mass market, surfers are turning away from monster waves off remote islands to compete in coastal cities such as New York and San Francisco, where the waters are tamer. Leading surfers in the most recent tour event in late February vied to become Australian Open Champion on Sydney’s Manly beach—a playground for amateur surfers, but where waves rarely rise more than several feet high.
The shift is at odds with surfing’s rugged image of men and women defying 20-foot (six-meter) waves as depicted in documentaries, novels and even given a Hollywood gloss in movie blockbusters such as the 1991 film “Point Break.”
While sensitive to charges the sport is selling out, professional surfers say holding competitions in relatively benign waters near big cities is a necessary change. Surfing’s ability to attract the next generation of wave-riders is being challenged by the rise of other extreme sports. City events allow surfing to broaden its appeal by including skateboarding contests and musical acts such as performances by MGMT and Jimmy Eat World at last year’s U.S. Open of Surfing in California.
Money is also driving the change. Grand-prize purses are meager by the standards of professional sport, where even winning a tour event rarely brings in a paycheck of more than $75,000, leaving most tour surfers dependent on endorsements. That frequently means showing up at events on the doorstep of sponsors’ core customer base. And the most decorated surfer in history, Kelly Slater, with 30 major victories since 1991, has banked prize money of just $3 million. The total prize money for the Pipe Masters, one of the biggest tournaments of the year, is only $320,000.
“The sport should be about crowning champions, even if the industry is about selling board shorts. It’s a tough marriage to work out sometimes,” said Hall of Famer Wayne “Rabbit” Bartholomew, the charismatic 55-year-old former World Surfing Champion immortalized in the award-winning documentary “Bustin Down the Door.”
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