.jpg ". Jordy and the sort of surfing that will be the staple of a new and vastly more cutthroat tour. Perhaps, in this very setting. A scrumptious proposition, no doubt. But will it happen and who will have the cojones to jump first? Photo: Augustin Munoz, Redbull.")
Rebels behind closed doors
When Quiksilver announced it had re-signed Kelly Slater for another five years in June, chief executive Bob McKnight said Slater had “some great ideas that we will work on together to enhance the marketability of surfing and bring surf competitions to a broader audience in new and innovative ways”.
The significance of that statement is only now becoming apparent. An insider in the sport has told me that both Kelly and Bob have invested heavily in the rebel tour that has become the biggest story in surfing during the past month.
The tour, as you've heard, would involve 16 surfers at eight events over a five-month season, with each event offering a prize pool of $US1.5 million.
Attempts to contact both Kelly and Bob have so far been in vain. One journalist did manage to contact Kelly over the weekend, but neglected to ask any difficult questions, such as how much money, if any, Kelly stands to earn from the breakaway, how the breakaway will help the ASP to nurture the grassroots, and whether there are reasons to believe Mat Tinley, the rebel group's main broker, has an inappropriate background for this kind of deal.
You may have read elsewhere that this is a repeat of previous failed attempts by outsiders to take over the pro tour, which is true. This deal is remarkably similar to the one put up by sports production and management company CSI in the mid 1990s, which the surfers, including Kelly, emphatically rejected.
However, there are two reasons why this latest proposal has been treated as a more serious threat by administrators, sponsors and some pro surfers. First, the webcast has proved you can deliver events live without needing to squeeze it into TV schedules. Nobody is making money out of webcasts yet, but it won't be long. The webcast commands an audience that is prepared to sit through long periods of inaction to see occasional bits of surfing; it can only be a matter of time before an entrepreneur realises it is begging to be jammed full of ads.
Second, TV sports broadcasting has exploded. There's even a 24-hour sports channel on free-to-air in Australia, which is so desperate for content that it broadcasts poker tournaments. Despite its inability to guarantee a live broadcast, surfing would still be attractive to these new sports channels in the form of quickly produced event highlights packages.
There are another couple of factors that make the threat more compelling this time: three big companies - Nike, Target and Red Bull - have dramatically increased their presence in the sport, and are possibly waiting for the right moment to fire a shot across the bow of the established surf industry. And, most sensational of all, this rebel tour has the endorsement of our nine times world champion. Even if it fails, which it might, this latest challenge to the surfing establishment raises issues and exposes vulnerabilities in the sport that only a fool would ignore.
Few people object to Kelly's ideas about a slickly produced elite tour. Even the ASP is willing to consider his ideas. “If Kelly's manager can bring something that is wonderful and great, then that's the path we should go," ASP CEO Brodie Carr told me last month. "You don't hold onto something just because you always have.”
It was the way he went about it - leaping into the arms of a former boxing promoter instead of running it past the ASP first - that has rankled the establishment and left Kelly looking like a spoilt brat.
The ASP board and various event sponsors held a video conference on Monday, August 3, which resolved to continue talking to the rebels. Brodie said Tinley and his partner, Slater's manager Terry Hardy, could make significant contributions to surfing. "Terry has a good understanding of the sport,” Carr said. “And Tinleydoes have a lot of background in TV, so it’s worth exploring. If ourstakeholders thought he didn’t have a lot of knowledge of TV wewouldn’t be exploring it.”
Brodie wants to know who is backing Tinley. "I have one outstanding question for Matt," he told me yesterday. "Who are the shareholders of the company that will put on the tour? I've said that if I'm going to be giving the sport over to someone, I'd like to know who it is. He still hasn't told me."
Last week, the ASP board's new surfer's representative, Mick Fanning, met with Tinley's partner, Slater's manager Terry Hardy. Fanning described Hardy as "very confident".
Similarly, Greville Mitchell, the man behind the surfers union, World Professional Surfers, who reportedly has also met Hardy, declined to return calls or elaborate on rumours that the WPS has reached an agreement with the rebel tour.
Another insider has told me the world's top surfers are "seriously scared" about what they should do next. "They don't want to be the only one who didn't jump ship if it happens," the insider said. "Nor do they want to defect and be penalised by the ASP if the whole thing fails." - Fred Pawle
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Reply #55 on : Thu August 06, 2009, 13:47:46