Quik leaving the WSL? - Beach Grit

Yup...they are having huge money management problems. Proof--their stock has dropped in value about 66% in one year to date. Investors fleeing...

 

QUALITY OF SURF SHOULD BE A SECONDARY CONCERN..........!!!!!???????
slowly but surely non-surfers bubble to the top. desk-jockey types.

have they already forgotten how many tuned-in?

 

Yes they have, but, it will take time to regain what they have lost, if ever. Clothing companies are very "fadish"..here today, gone tomorrow. I have been investing for decades and I never invest in clothing companies or food...too risky.

 

They may have to in order to please sponsors. They ventured into the world of business, now they have to depend on it. I feel no sorrow for them

 

Agreed. Bells is also not in great surf, it looks like a decent day out back for God's sake, not the Bells I grew up loving to watch. That Cloudbreak contest two years ago in Fiji was beyond epic, and same with almost every Tahiti contest at Chopes. They just don't get it.

 

It is not the WSl that is making the decisions--it is their sponsors. It is about money, not surfing. Surfing is only the vehicle to deliver you to the advertisements, products. Nothing more.

 

The numbers were terrible for the Quik Pro because after the 2 weeks of lay days the conditions were still so awful!

So sad to hear that the "quaintly of surf should be a secondary concern". Barely anyone watches the contests to begin with but for the people (like myself) who do watch it I most definitely don't want to see the "worlds best" unenthusiastically surf mediocre waves.

I wonder what other weird non-surfing brands will be the new sponsors - Target, Samsung, maybe like Mazda? They had Laird Hamilton one of their commercial once or Kolohe with Pizza Hut / Visa?

 

It is a good question. I think it would be hard for any corporation to justify sponsorship solely for the small numbers of surfing persons on the edge of the ocean. But who knows?? I could be wrong - what SUV isn't pictured with surfboards on the rooftop?

 

For me they are; what others do is up to them. I am talking about restaurant chains. I do not understand their business, so I keep clear.

 

True.

I'm not a NASCAR fan & I know that's way more popular than surfing but I always thought they had the strangest sponsors. Like M&M's and Tide (right? I could be wrong)...maybe they are a staple to people who watch NASCAR but I always thought they were pretty random, ha.

 

pay per view surfing? would that work? it could be like boxing. and the surfers could get promoters. and then you could get pre heat interviews where they are face to face with eachother trying to taunt one another. and then tapout could be a sponsor. and then they could have all the events at belmar. bonus points for bench pressing on the beach midheat.

but actually, would pay per view work? i would have payed money to watch the teahupoo contest last year. that was insanity....thoughts?

 

I watched a heat and turned it off. It looked horrible.
The Gold Coast event was terrible also.
WSL is off to a bad start for sure.
Let's face it, no one outside of the surfing world is going to really pay attention when you start a contest, postpone it, and run it 12 days later.
The WSL and ZoSea want to make competitive surfing as popular as mainstream sporting events. Imagine the PGA Masters running for 12 days, with cancellations, running it for two hours, postponing because the course sucked..nobody would ever pay attention.
The general public wants to sit down, watch a good sports event on a Sunday afternoon, and go onto the next thing.
Those Fiji and Tahiti contests are the best of the tour, but they are incredibly expensive for these companies to sponsor, especially failing surf companies like Quik and Billabong. The logistics of them are a nightmare and really expensive.
The WSL will be pursuing new sponsors to stay afloat...expect to see more mainstream companies jumping on or it's done.
And yes I think you will see less exotic locations for the events if this continues. I'd expect them to have another NYC or East Coast event in the not too distant future. It's easy, cheap, and they pull in a ton of people.

 

nothing says "REAL SURFER' quite like cloudbreak.

 

And thank god for that.

 

Fn A Barry

 

As nice as it would be for Barry to have an aneurysm and stop posting here, you guys should take a look at your calendars and un-bunch your panties. It's Rory Parker writing for BeachGrit, for f*cks sake ...

 

Slash I'm sorry dog

 

Don't mean to get aggro dude, I just might be pissy because today's micro swell wasn't enough for my only (semi) undamaged board. Plus, I'm anxious about the winds being too much this weekend... and about the incoming crowds.

I'm on edge man!

If I have to read about one more of Barry's investments I'm gonna snap.