Nothing recedes like success…
According to a WSL insider who spoke with BeachGrit on condition of anonymity, there are some big shakeups on the way.
It’s long been an open secret that the new tour is operating heavily in the red, and the non-endemic sponsor dollars that ZoSea has been courting are proving increasingly gun shy when it comes time to sign on the dotted line.
According to our source, WSL brass have been “in talks with a global sportswear company,” the ultimate goal (from ZoSea’s perspective) being their name on all events.
While our source declined to name a specific brand, available information indicates an Oregon-based footwear manufacturer that has repeatedly dipped its toes into the surf market before eventually retreating to more lucrative shores.
Most unfortunately for Speaker et al., concerns regarding reportedly lackluster numbers from the Gold Coast webcast, exacerbated by growing doubt that ZoSea can properly administrate and monetize the tour, have thrown the proverbial monkey wrench into ongoing negotiations.
“The GC event looked really bad, and there’s been pressure to move more events into the mainland US. They want to dump Fiji in favor of the US Open as a late addition this year and add another event in CA for 2016… [It] will most likely be an existing QS event to save money using existing infrastructure.”
This should come as no real surprise. The Fiji contest has long been a logistical nightmare and the remote nature of the break makes it impossible to recoup expenses with on the ground advertising and permitting.
“There’s a large contingent who feel quality of surf should be a secondary concern, compared to getting people to events. These guys come from mainstream media and don’t understand how bad it looks. In their minds it’s all about attendance numbers.”
Unfortunately, that’s not all. In response, all surf brands will pull out of their existing events, using various loopholes to escape contractual commitments.
Details are vague, but our source believes it is likely that Quiksilver will exercise a “mismanagement” provision in their contract, employing the Gold Coast event as a pretense in order to withdraw from the tour without penalty.
This marks the second time in two years that bad news for Quiksilver has been released on April 1st , no doubt lending doubt to its veracity. But, as with Slater abandoning ship in 2014, it is, sadly, deadly serious.
You can expect to see any mention of surf brands be quickly and quietly scrubbed from the WSL’s website, with litigation to follow.
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This is a world where nothing is solved. You know, someone once told me time is a flat circle. Everything we’ve ever done or will do, we’re gonna do over and over and over again.
If the WSL is worried about web traffic during contests, dropping Fiji for Huntington sure won’t help.
haha great April fools! You got me!
“on condition of anonymity”
“an open secret”
“our source declined to name a specific brand”
“Details are vague”
Seriously Rory. Go fuck yourself and then incorporate it back into your piss-weak attempts at writing snuff porn for Beachrgrit.
Next time you look in the mirror and ask yourself why you have no close friends, why your family hates you, and why small children hang themselves in front of you, it is because you are so full of hate, fear and anger that you spew things like this filth all over the Internet..
I think the guy raises some good points.
It’s not the points he makes but the way he makes them 😉
The WSL doesn’t charge for beach attendance…… so why the hell does people on the beach matter to them? Isn’t it views on the webcast, which skyrocket in good surf give them the biggest payback?
Proved the author wrong and beat Mick in round 1. That is why they compete; sometimes the underdog can be victorious.
As well as apparently being a bodyboarder on a surfing site, you seem to have commented on the wrong article. Raise your game little before issuing further comments please, Neal.
+1
Neal has been a great photog for many years, and if you knew anything about surfing you would not be so disrespectful to him.
+1
What are you, Neal’s big sister?
+1
Yep, I’m an idiot and a bodyboarder, which obviously is not mutually exclusive.
Being an idiot and having access to the internet aren’t mutually exclusive, either. I’ve been successfully combining both for years.
Watch yourself captain… Neal is surfing stoke and a great surf photographer. Also, many of the biggest and most respected surf photographers are body boarders, but I don’t hear you calling them out
Awesome… I love watching the best surfers surf the best surf, which is definitely not Fiji. Perhaps a stop in New Orleans, Houston or Chicago is in order. I mean they have some epic infrastructure! We’ll all be like, “Sick man did you see how easily Slater posted that selfie!”
This is a lot of specific stuff for an April fools joke. If it is one. It’s a very good one.
Guess the author doesnt know shit
It’s only March 31 in ‘Murica, so this must be true.
Nice try..