Stunning and shocking.
Fans of competitive professional surfing, and surfers recently relegated to minor leagues due controversial mid-season cut, woke to a shock this morning as the World Surf League has officially cancelled the upcoming Quiksilver/Roxy Pro France. In a cooly worded press release the League declared:
The World Surf League (WSL) and Boardriders announced today the cancellation of the 2022 Quiksilver / ROXY Pro France. Despite continued efforts to maintain the event, the WSL and Boardriders have agreed on the decision to cancel this year’s competition in Hossegor, France.
The competition was set to take place from October 12 – 23, 2022 as the sixth stop on the Challenger Series, the competition series where the next generation of surfing stars battle for the chance to qualify for the Championship Tour. In light of this announcement, the Challenger Series rankings for Championship Tour qualification will be based on results across four competitions.
Despite this year’s cancellation, the WSL and Boardriders are determined to explore opportunities to bring the world’s best surfers back to France in 2023 and beyond.
“We are disappointed to announce the cancellation of the Challenger Series event in Hossegor,” said Erik Logan, WSL CEO. “We were unable to secure the appropriate support to make the event financially sustainable. Despite this cancellation, we are committed to the French region, community, competitors, and fans. France remains important to competitive surfing’s history and future. We are actively engaged in conversations to return to France in 2023 and beyond.”
“Quiksilver and ROXY have had a long history of supporting the surfing industry in France, including on the Championship Tour level, so this is of course a very disappointing outcome”, said Arne Arens, CEO of Boardriders Inc. “Nonetheless, our determination to showcase European surfing remains unchanged and we are 100% dedicated to working with the WSL to bring the world’s best surfers back to the French beaches in the near future. In the interim, Quiksilver and ROXY will continue their unwavering support and sponsorship of world-class athletes and WSL events globally.”
“We understand and acknowledge the inconvenience of this timing, and we know it adds difficult and frustrating repercussions on competitors,” said Jessi Miley-Dyer, WSL SVP of Tours and Head of Competition. “Because of this, we have reduced the counting results to four from five for the end-of-year rankings. The 2022 Challenger Series will host seven competitions total, including the upcoming Vans US Open of Surfing, EDP Vissla Pro Ericeira, Corona Saquarema Pro, and Haleiwa Challenger.
Especially stunning in light of a recent admission by CEO Erik Logan that the World Surf League has never been in a better place in terms of consumption and riches.
Is this the end of the Challenger Series? Will Championship Tour events be slashed too?
More as the story develops.
What do you mean by “that many”? Realistically, there are less than 10 guys on tour that may end up having a good living after the end of it all, and those are the same 10 guys who have been there for the last 10 years (give or take). Hence, it’s one spot a year, if that. It’s a mug’s game.
OK is Yoplait still an thing? I think it is… ELo you aren’t even trying!!
You got athletes – headliners you may call them – telling event promoters to fuck off because of dubious injuries/ travel arrangements gone wrong/ personal issues/ broken nails, and now you have the opposite – event promoters telling athletes to fuck off as they’re cash strapped . Sounds very normal.
Hahahar. Probably
financial
sustainability…Big Daddy Ziff has finally cut off Elo! The whole WSL has run in the red the entire period Ziff has owned the tour. he’s not it for the money – it’s just a social status claim within the Billionaire Boys Club. But even Billionaires have their tolerance to how much they want to burn through with vanity investments. He’s given a mandate to make all events break even and Elo and team couldn’t make that happen in Hossegor. There is a reason that the WSL hasn’t sold over the last couple years they have had it on the blocks – every one who looks under the hood just hears a large sound of a cash vacuum! BUT – we are all lucky to have big daddy Ziff spending way beyond the means of the sport of surfing’s viable production levels to bring us a great global product. The spending of groups like Red Bull, ESPN, Street League etc, all propped up be financial groups/ownership that has these events running with huge losses at times is always a bit of a head shake – but it’s also something that we should be grateful for. Having people spending with out having a profitable stand-alone business is a good thing for the fans out here. This hopefully isn’t a tip of the WSL iceberg though!
Red Bull has a physical product to sell for income, the only way the WSL, to my knowledge, can make money is from people buying advertising space.
But if companies feel like nobody is watching the WSL, they’re not going to buy advertising space.
It seems pretty simple, if you have a product that doesn’t attract enough viewers, why would anyone invest in advertising.
PS
and even if viewer numbers were up a little, you’d still be advertising to basically a bunch of surf bums saving up for their next board or next surf trip somewhere.
Not exactly an advertiser’s dream market.
ELO has a future in government administration press relations. His pick on which country.
Overgrown T-Ballers. – whiffing placebos
Overgrown T-Ballers. – Whiffing placebos
And every second parent is taking their kid out of school to chase this “dream”.
The surfing industry is an absolute joke.
Overgrown T-Ballers. – whiffing placebos
i.e. JMD did not like the outdoor pool area at the WSL’s French Hotel stay citing “skinny little men and weakened Lemon Drops to find any play” ‘a la post comp Rio.
So that whole “equal pay” deal appears to have really helped your finances….
Quick! Get those Women back in the kitchen before they cause WWIII!!
Zactly !
I knew you’d come around one day.
Xid and Nancy
Kaboom!!!
Sacre Bleuargh!
No different than when Bernie Ecclestone would blackmail countries/governments into fronting the cash for a Formula 1 race, under threat of loss of said gran prix, thereby threatening the very survival of the hospitality/tourism sectors in those countries. Gangsta…
And so it begins. The walls are tumbling down. Logan and his cronies incorporate banished to some faraway South sea atoll with no surf and no return ticket.
You kidding?
The next grift is always round the corner.
Didn’t the ASP, maybe early WSL have an emergency fund in case a sponsor bailed?
And a significant up-front fee…sort of basic risk management for the integrity of the sport. Elo running this thing on a wing & a prayer.
Karen and Wal from the Western suburbs were wearing Quiksilver back then.
All the chickens coming home to roost.
You don’t spend good money on a comp that has no consequences. Plus billabong and quik are just assets waiting to be sold as soon as the economy picks up.
hmmm, payback?
WSL moved it’s Euro HQ from France to Portugal , which pissed off the French, as Surfings Euro center is the SW of France.
So no Govt Money or not enough from QS/? or both?
Just realized that there will now be a shitload less sufferers ….looking forward to nice Oct in France now!!!
Well at least you finnaly realized!!
A small peak behind the curtains of how these events are funded , not by the sufing industry but primarily government backed industry and tourism groups , non of which are “core”surfing.
When talk of cancelling events in australia hit the streets the talk was all about loss of tourism dollars and very little any talk of the impact on actual surfing , because i would argue the impacts would be actually positive .
The whole thing is as fake as a walmart croissant.
Australian state governments can be fickle things.
If they withdraw funds.
The wsl will collapse.