Red Bull meets with Hawaii's first family, the Aikaus, in bid for broadcast rights!
I know we’ve all got abbreviated memories, but you do remember The Quiksilver: In Memory Of Eddie Aikau. You’ll remember because it was seared into your brain.
Those broiling waves, the wipeouts that made you hold your breath as you watched on the rectangle of your laptop, the mob of jetskis all roaring towards the beach to escape a thirty-five-foot closeout set. John John Florence surprising nobody by winning.
Biggest Waimea for a contest ever? Yeah, it was.
I put it to the guy who invented the pro circuit, the Triple Crown, the Pipe Masters, and who famously said he’d go surf Waimea alone to prove it was surfable in 1974, Mr Fred Hemmings.
Fred is seventy now, a little stooped, but says, yeah, bigger, better. Calls it “an epic.” And says Clyde Aikau was the “real hero” of the event. “Sixty-six years old and he paddled out in the surf with twenty-year-old young men and he took off on a wave and… got his ass kicked. And he paddled back out.”
Beautiful, yeah?
Anyway let’s relive a little of the contest here. WSL did a helluva job of broadcasting the event, I thought. What kind of value could you put on an event like that? Millions?
Now, there’s a rumour floating around, a solid rumour, that Red Bull has been flying back and forth to Hawaii to meet with the Aikau family in an attempt to secure media rights to next year’s Eddie.
Red Bull doesn’t want naming rights, necessarily, although cans of the company’s popular stimulant soda would, naturally, be suddenly apparent in broadcasts, but want to turn The Eddie into “a proper show.” Like this year’s Cape Fear event.
And if Red Bull, who famously fell out with the WSL over co-sponsorship rights, gets the event, it’s likely it’ll become a non-WSL event. Which means, no John John, no Kelly etc.
Of course, if you listen to someone like Fred Hemmings, events like this year’s Eddie only come along, what, once every forty years.
Would broadcast rights, therefore, become a poisoned chalice?
Too much money for too little zing?
“Coke rots your teeth”…….shane herring
Who is Red Bull really talking to?
Aikau Family doesn’t own the rights, somebody else does.
Can BG find out who??
Even if it goes non-sanctioned, JJF, Slater, et/al will still be out there if it runs.
Bring back the Smirnoff and Lancer’s Cup. Bring back all missing alcohol sponsors.
So how about an article focusing on how much Fred Hemmings is right wing piece of shit?
Plenty to work with, get old mate Warshaw to dish out the juice.
Why don’t they just buy the naming rights from Quiksilver (RIP/LOL)?
“And if Red Bull, who famously fell out with the WSL over co-sponsorship rights, gets the event, it’s likely it’ll become a non-WSL event. Which means, no John John, no Kelly etc”. Why is this? Are W$L surfers only contracted to surf in W$L events? Thanks
Without a waiver, yes.
For instance, Australian pros have a waiver to compete for their board riding clubs in the Oz club titles, despite those events being run under the Surfing Australia banner without any WSL sanction fee.
That would be extremely nasty & unsurfing-like of the W$L to forbid Kelly, John, Jeremy, etc, to surf in the Eddie because of old issues with Red Bull. What about the surfers that surf the W$L big wave tour with Peter Mel?
Mark Mathews an Albee layer weren’t allowed in the cape fear comp because they are signed to the wsl’s big wave slave tour or something like that.
Fred Hemming has been as bad for the everyday surfer as Sean Collins. Always pushing pro surfing to be a “legitimate sport” meaning a big time money maker… a little for surfers, but mainly for sponsors. And it always boils down to money. Surf for money… how much money can we make off it… turn it into a “proper” show, meaning big time coverage and you guessed it… lots of money!!! Money money money. I hope they don’t sell it because it will just turn it into another sad surf for money sideshow like Mavericks. What should happen is the Aikau family should stay in charge of every aspect of the contest and all those involved in broadcasting the contest or sponsoring it in any way should donate their time and cost out of respect for Eddie and the legend that he is in surfing. And any proceeds should be donated to the Aikau family, the Oahu water patrol and the state of Hawaii.
Fred Hemmings is a dick.
Dickness compounded infinitely since he was a republican senator as well.
‘… and the state of Hawaii.’ You’re right. They’ve always done a great job of making sure that the right people and organizations get what they deserve.
HAWAII RELIES OFF TOURISM, THEY DONT HAVE SHIT FOR ANYTHING ELSE TO SELL
A bit of history repeating hey?
And will Hemmings pull another total dick move and post someones invitation by sea mail and everyone else’s air mail like he did to M.P. for the Sunset comp?