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Surfing Sold – Myths and Facts of the ASP Takeover
By Craig Jarvis | 16 October 2012 |
 The sport of surfing has been sold. For many people this means nothing, as they believe that the sport was sold a long, long time ago. Still, in the biggest fundamental change in professional surfing in 30 years, the ownership of the sport is set to change hands. Should we be pleased with this? Oh yes, and wholeheartedly. Should we be nervous with all of this as well? Fuck yes. The company that has bought surfing is called ZoSea, and it apparently comprises an equity group made up of ‘the best media partners and sports execs out there.’ Which is great on paper, but the theory is that they have bought the sport of surfing, lock stock and firing barrels. Which means that there is lucre involved. Filthy lucre. Contrary to what has been published so far, the ZoSea/ASP deal comes off a very solid and far-reaching business plan. The very idea that the entire concept and ownership was signed off with, and I quote, “no solidified business plan” does seem hard to believe in hindsight, doesn’t it? The board members, the surfers reps, the brands and everyone else involved in ASP surfing over the last 30 years are notoriously shy when it comes to signatures, and are also famously picky when it comes to the small print. They would not have signed away an entire sport if there weren’t a solid business deal in place that showed endless promise, total foresight, all the cold-hard-facts, as well as a ticked off balance sheet that had all the plus signs and the zeros in the right columns.
Contrary to what has been published and speculated so far Terry Hardy is not the pivotal figure behind the whole deal, and he is not going to be the main man behind ZoSea when it takes control. Terry, who is Kelly Slater’s manager, is merely an interim spokesperson for ZoSea and will apparently have no executive role with ZoSea when the deal comes into place. Paul Speaker [pictured left] is set to resign from his seat on the Quiksilver Board of Directors when everything kicks in, in order to assume his role with ZoSea.
"C’mon, there is no way this would be going forward if the business plan wasn’t crystal clear!"
The ASP as we know (and love) it right now will cease to exist over the next two years – and from the ashes a new phoenix will rise and settle in Los Angles. Yes, the new ASP is going to be based in Los Angeles. The current ASP management team will remain untouched until the end of 2013, and by then we will see a few changes. ZoSea will run the World Championship Tour events, while the ASP will continue to run the World Qualifying Series and the Prime events, which will feed to the WCT unchanged.
What is fact is that ZoSea will take over the majority interest of the ASP board. According to our source, the control of the big three has been broken and no one party can control the pure surfing aspects of the tour anymore. Which is a good thing – in case you were wondering. Everyone is asking about non-surfing companies charging in to take over, but it’s really not as simple as that. The full quotas of events are confirmed already for 2013, and no new licenses are going to come into being. There is a new event already signed, and it’s going to be a fucking cracker of an event, (it’s going to be held in Indonesia somewhere) but we’re not going to suddenly see an influx of fast food chains and soft-drink companies hijacking our sport. Not just yet. What are the changes that we as end users and stakeholders can expect in amidst the impending upheaval? Are we going to have to pay-to-view webcasts? Is there going to be a high-end stream for paying customers, and a low-end buffering stream for free? What else are we going to have to pay for to watch our favourite surfers in the best waves in the world? No one really seems to be able to answer this question, or want to, but the underlying rumour is that there is a lot of dead time during webcasts, and this is going to be replaced by advertising slots. So instead of waiting for two surfers to paddle up the point at Jeffreys Bay (which might verily return to WCT status under the new system) we will be forced to watch advertising slots. They are going to be mighty irritating at first, but everything we watch is interrupted by advertising these days, and eventually our brains will figure it out, filter what needs to be filtered, and allow us to concentrate on the surfing. And really, what is worse? Watching a beautiful girl in a bikini trying to sell us a cold drink or watching two surfers sitting silently next to each other in a flat ocean between sets while two over-the-hill ex-pro commentators try their best to keep the interest up by repeating facts and retelling monotone stories ad nauseam of when they were contenders and ferocious competitors? Just saying… No matter how you dissect it, the sport of surfing has been sold, and it is, as mentioned, the biggest fundamental change in 30 years. Despite the impending seismic change, it seems to be in good hands. Don’t forget that in 1982 the IPS became the ASP when Ian Cairns, along with unanimous surfer support, took over from Randy Rarick and Fred Hemmings. It’s 30 years down the line and history is repeating itself. – Craig Jarvis
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Competitive surfing is kinda interesting in a "We're tops now", 'beat the Seppos' etc fashion but its a fairly easily defined line. Watching 20 minutes of Maccas ads per hour of broadcast and I might just head down the beach instead.
we need a profitable tour so the $$ flows down to the junior level.
yeeewww. just an opinion. cheers. LETS GO SURFING.
like most 'businesses', management has no idea how it works, they just look at 'the bottom line'. ask the surfers for input on any planned changes.
Kelly is still the benchmark. keep him on the tour for as long as possible, or pro surfing will lose a lot of paying customers, which is what the suits don't want to happen.
i just hope they don't fuck it up, as in similar sports, eg
rugby league and the superleague war.
if the suits push it too far in the wrong direction, i can see a 'rebel' tour happening.
what's happening with the master's tour that has been on the cards for so long? that would have a lot of appeal to us fatoldguys, that can't do the skateboard moves of the new crew.
if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
There is a business plan, but I haven't seen it, i have been assured one exists.
The new event - I can't tell you just yet as there is still a signature forthcoming. It's going to be in the Bali area.
Mattyboy: you're funny, and pretty passionate about the sport. That's a good thing. Sorry if i got your goat there. it wasn't my intention. I would go for a surf but it's howling onshore and raining here in JBay.
Craig
unfortunately thats about the only 'fact' in the article the rest appear to be mere myths fabricated by craig so he could write an article, next time bring on the facts boys, do some research and give us substance not what might as well be an opinion piece fabricated from what someone thinks is happening rather than what is, lies lies and lies not worth anyones time
I’ve heard many of the surfers say that domination by the big three is not good for the sport. But I fear we’re trading the big three for a colossal one!! And who are they (Zo Sea) anyway? For a company that only has a temporary spokesman, they seem to be a fair way down the road. My dad always said where there’s smoke there’s fire.
I would much rather listen to the insights of Potts , Barton, the Occy Stamer and the Slater silk, the Patto Jibber or Toby`s angle that some un-related advertsiement would replace it with. Its real live and gives the sport depth in viewpoint important beyond our shallow control freaks of reality TV who seem to be denigrating the whole structure of existing industry infrastructures.
Good thing you could "write" this because obviously you tongue is so far up someone ass that you couldn't speak it.
I especially liked the "cmon! there is no way!" quote from a "source" being repeated and headlined in a effort to make it factual.
You suck at this, shut up and go surf wanker.
While the rest of us pray that a actual writer with facts might do your job for you while your gone.
You write that there's a new event and it will be a cracker, but how can you be sure if you don't know where in Indonesia it will be held? Or do you know but you're not prepared to tell us readers?
It feels like this article is written for (or by) the industry bros, not the fans.
Unfortunately I disagree, they would not have made a change if there was not a better return for the investor.
In a age where so much is sacrificed for higher returns, no matter what the cost!!
Who knows maybe for the better - Only time will tell hey