“Erik Logan is a world-class media executive with a profound personal connection to the sport of surfing.”

A wall of silence has descended over the World Surf League following the Soviet-esque disappearing of its once-beloved CEO Erik Logan and the handing of the poison-filled chalice to Emily Hofer, WSL’s Chief People and Purpose Officer and Bob Kane, its Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer

Four days ago, Logan was in Brazil and having a hell of a time, vigorously posting videos on his Instagram account, even writing a passionate “love letter” to the same Brazilian surf fans who threatened death following several unfavourable judging decisions at the Surf Ranch Pro although he did write, prophetically, “Stay tuned for some exhilarating action.”

 

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Now, apart from a tersely worded press release from the WSL…nothing.

(It ain’t the first time the WSL has disappeared a key employee. Who remembers the former world champ turned commentator, once the sexiest surfer in the world, who was there one day and gone the next with not one word said?)

Compare Erik’s departing presser to the teary farewell Sophie Goldschmidt got from the WSL’s billionaire owner Dirk Ziff when she split in 2020

Erik:

“Today, the World Surf League (WSL) announced that CEO Erik Logan has departed the company, effective immediately. As the WSL begins the process of identifying a new CEO, Emily Hofer, WSL’s Chief People and Purpose Officer, and Bob Kane, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer, will jointly lead the company and continue to drive the WSL’s mission to showcase the world’s best surfers on the world’s best waves as the global home of competitive surfing.”

Sophie:

“Sophie has had a huge impact on the WSL. She is responsible for transforming both our business capabilities and culture in her tenure as CEO. With the converging trends in sports, media and entertainment, we mutually agreed it was time to make a change. Erik Logan is a proven leader and a world-class media executive with a profound personal connection to the sport of surfing. We are excited about what he will accomplish as CEO. We will always be grateful to Sophie for her contributions to surfing and we look forward to the WSL’s next chapter.”

While speculation, oh yeah we heard a few things too, is gonna end in tears for your pals at BeachGrit there’s a few reasons why CEO’s, and half of ‘em do get fired at some point, suddenly disappear.

1. Poor performance. If a CEO doesn’t meet performance expectations, financial targets, strategic goals or market share growth, the board is probably gonna ice ’em.

2. Ethical or Legal Issues: Any sorta ethical breaches, misconduct, or involvement in illegal activities and you’re gone.

3. Leadership Problems: If the CEO demonstrates poor decision-making, a lack of transparency or an inability to effectively manage the company, he, or she, gotta go.

4. Culture Clash: If the CEO’s approach clashes with the organization’s desired direction or if they fail to align with the expectations of key stakeholders, you’re out.

5. Strategic Direction: A sudden change in the company’s strategic direction or a need for a shift in business priorities is gonna convince the board, the owner, to replace the CEO with someone with different skill set or a fresh perspective.

Many swords to fall on here.

It shows how tenuous the grip on the top job can be.

Just a few months back, Australia’s premier broadsheet The Sydney Morning Herald lovingly profiled the Okie-turned-surfer in the story, “‘Something the sport has never seen’: The former Oprah exec bringing soap opera to surfing.”

“He has led a series of seismic changes to the World Surf League’s (WSL) professional tours as it recovers from the pandemic – ruffling feathers and raising record revenue, all with narrative in mind.”

Critics of each new drama-driven concept exist at both a professional and pundit level, and the WSL is seen in some surfing quarters as overly sensitive, with a propensity to airbrush drama when it doesn’t suit.

Logan counters with a slice of Oklahoma simplicity.

“The growth and the explosion of the sport, with the firepower we have with our surfers is something that the sport has never seen. And our job as the WSL is really simple – to grow and create the world’s largest platform for professional surfing.”

Meanwhile, surf fans continue to dance on Erik’s freshly dug grave.

 

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He fell in love with this Sport of Kings when his wife gave him a wetsuit that acted like a suit of armour protecting him from his fear of water.

The sun dimmed, lightly, this afternoon, the summer air chilled just a touch, as news dropped that the World Surf League announced that Chief Executive Officer Erik Logan had “departed” the company “effective immediately.”

ELo, as he was affectionately called by young and old, came to surfing via Oprah Winfrey to head the newly formed WSL Studios. He was a bubbly Oklahoman, filled with stoke and positivity. He had learned to surf as a vulnerable adult. Fallen in love with this Sport of Kings when his then-wife had given him a wetsuit that acted like a suit of armour, protecting him from his fear of water.

It did not protect him from the quick shuttering of the studios but rising tides float all Sooner Boomers and Logan was immediately given the big boss’s chair.

CEO.

There were steps and missteps… and missteps. Ultimate Surfers and Bailey Ladders. Logan kept a glowing face on it all. Every abject failure a vector of synergies.

A spoonful of sugar.

He increasing turned to social media, taking surf fans “behind the scenes,” inviting popular young surfers to “take your shirt off.”

At the end, was it this all too public positioning that brought him so harshly low? While he was in Brazil for the Vivo Rio Pro?

His dismissal was brutal. No “parted ways.” No “thanks for service.”

Just done and I, for one, am sad.

For Erik Logan was a jester like none before him. He began his career, you may know, as a furry mascot for a local radio station. An entertainer underneath it all and he entertained me all day every day.

Pricelessly hilarious.

I know nothing of this new CEO Emily Hofer though assure you, faithful friend, that I will pursue my rigorous brand of surf journalism in pursuit of her story.

But I will do it without joy, for mighty Erik Logan has struck out.

More as the story develops!

Goodbye Elo and thanks for the laughs.

The rumours of WSL CEO Erik Logan’s tenure coming to an end had been circulating for months. The despair in meetings, the tears, a replacement being openly discussed. 

“Santa Monica is a troubled realm,” said our source. 

The straw that broke the ol camel’s back, likely, the mutiny of the sport’s three Brazilian world champs over judging criteria at the Surf Ranch Pro and Logan’s response.

As JP Currie wrote in an open letter to Logan,

I wish to address your recent letter, written in response to the judging criticisms from Surf Ranch. 

Once again, you respond to criticism of the WSL (from your athletes, no less, your most valuable commodity) with a tone that lies somewhere between a dictator and a domestic abuser.

“It is an important reminder to us all that words have consequence,” you write.

Let’s ignore the poor sentence construction for the moment and focus on the sentiment. Words do have consequences, Mr Logan, they absolutely do. And of course you well know this, because when you’re not wielding corporate psychobabble like a weapon, you’re spinning language into something so inconsequential it might as well be gossamer on a breeze.

I would suggest the words of your athletes are not just words in the way you understand them. Rather, it’s their voices, and you might do well to listen to them.

(Read in full here.)

Now, in a brusque sorta press release from the WSL and just loosed to the press and WSL athletes, it writes:

“Today, the World Surf League (WSL) announced that CEO Erik Logan has departed the company, effective immediately. As the WSL begins the process of identifying a new CEO, Emily Hofer, WSL’s Chief People and Purpose Officer, and Bob Kane, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Legal Officer, will jointly lead the company and continue to drive the WSL’s mission to showcase the world’s best surfers on the world’s best waves as the global home of competitive surfing.”

More soon,.