WSL equal pay?

And every surfer who places 1-32 all get 10,000 points

 

Surfing is a sport no? So in any payed sport there are levels no? For ability levels as well as marketing and money making because if the sport doesn’t market and make money, no one gets ANY pay.
I’m a FIRM believer in performance based accolades and pay - regardless of sex. If you can do it as good as the guy next to you? You should get paid that way, period. No extra points for genitalia differences.
But mind you this opinion was really solidified during my military years when men and women were held to two VERY different sets of standards and yet all these angry feminists were running at the mouth about how their “equal” this and “just as strong” that and “we give birth..blah blah.
Your not. Unless your a deviance of your genetic make up or MAKE yourself that way, your not. It’s simple biology. Now shwnme a chic that surfs like John John or Slater or Medina? Shut the fuck up and pay the bitch. She’s earned it.
But I will say this: the DIFFERENCE in pay between the two is pretty fucked up. Just sayin. But that’s not surfings fault, that’s marketings fault for not making the girls more marketable and mainstream and profitable. Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that instead of trying to desexify the ladies - let them wear French cut thongs if they want - let’s not be junvenile or hypocrital: T and A sells LOTS of T shirts and bikinis and suntan lotion and surf boards and equipment... and advertising money.

 

It's probably the best way to market women's surfing; not that there's anything wrong with that...
Pay them the same. As far as surfing as a competive sport goes, "it" is in for a big change With machined wave pools getting the consistency, its probably the best venue for an equal playing field.
No matter what,it's still a game of one-on-one against the world.

 

The way i see it, the WSL is a business. They are paying for revenue generation through advertising, not surfing. They see this as a potential revenue generator/marketing win for a relatively small financial investment. Its got next to nothing to do with whether Sage Erickson can surf like Medina or Slater. It has a lot to do with the female teenage surfer market.

Serena Williams probably cant beat Roger Federer, but the purses have been the same for a long time.

 

Who cares. Give em all a million dollars. Aint my money.

 

equal pay for equal performance - not even close, in either category

equal pay for equal advertising dollars - same (viewership sets the bar)

equal pay for equal surf - same (women get the worst days of the window)

equal pay because it's just the right thing to do - win

 

So you don’t think if some women were rockin the joint at Bells or Long Beach with the men that it wouldn’t generate more interest which would bring in more of that market niche? Not an argument just a question. Also, don’t you think a guy like Florence would be pretty pissed to be getting the same pay as the top female surfer who can’t hold a candle to him? Maybe I’m wrong, but the whole thing does revolve around business - totally agree, and so why should the 20% market share get equal return from the 80% market share who bring in the most revenue? And obviously there’s a lot that can be done to even the field but would that help or hurt women’s surfing?
Okay, discuss

 

And also true about tennis, but that’s a MUCH more lucrative market and can afford it much easier.

 

Careful what you ask for.... you really want 5x the focus on the dudes?

 

Regardless of what WSL does I will continue to be a mediocre surfer surfing crappy waves and enjoying the hell out of it. Won't affect me or my surfing one bit.

And surfing is not a sport.

 

Seriously who cares?

WSL will generate attn from non-surfers -> get more viewers -> generate more ad revenue. That's what this is about.

Are you really going use this as an excuse to play the "men as the victim" card? Bless your poor little heart.

 

I think it’s great that the women surfers get to make the same money.

From a business stand point, the WSL prob sees all of the growth potential in building the women’s side of the sport, whereas the men’s side is very well established at this point. There’s just as many girls as guys in the world, so if they get more women into the sport, it’s a win for the WSL.

And let’s not forget where all the money is in the surf industry, retail, and more specifically clothes. And, we all know women buy way more clothes than guys.

 

I don’t follow pro surfing very closely so it doesn’t matter to me but I will say this.

They are professional athletes so they should treat them like other professional athletes. They should be independent contractors who get paid based on contract negotiations. Those negotiations would be based on two things, performance / talent level AND what kind of a draw they are since viewership drives revenue.

Take the UFC for example. The men generally get paid more because they have far more fighters at a higher talent level than the females. But there are exceptions like when Rhonda Rousey made it big. She isn’t the best fighter but she was a HUGE draw and they paid her accordingly. The majority of females just don’t draw viewers like she did. It’s a sport yes, but it’s entertainment at the end of the day.

So WSL should apply the same model. If a female draws viewers at the same level as JJF AND she’s a top level talent, then pay her. But if she is just another female on the tour and doesn’t move the needle, than the contract won’t be as lucrative.

Paying someone more or less based solely on gender is the definition of discrimination.

Talent + viewers / draw = compensation. It’s that simple.

If you don’t negotiate a good contract, then that’s on you. You have to earn the right to demand more money.

I also think that there should be a risk factor bonus for people charging the big waves.

 

Hey Heapsy, Anal wart checking in here: spot on comment but you forgot to say one big thing - if everybody got a medal then their true success has been marginalized and isn’t really true success... which will then dumb down peoples drive to succeed and stand above, and create a society that’s happy having the heavy lifting done for them! Oh, wait. It’s already happening...

 

It's not. No one is trying to say that it is. This is about ad revenue and retail sales.

 

I'm not much into following pro surfing either...so with a grain of salt...i thought this is just about equal contest purses for some mens and womens events. I don't see how determining contest prize money relates to contract negotiations.

 

I'm not really worried about Annheiser-Busch being able to afford an uptick in contest purse money. Honestly, if they pulled out as a sponsor, it wouldnt bother me a bit either way...those Michelob Ultra Pure ads are annoying.

 

Right now, female prize money is the last thing JJF should be concerned about.

 

I hear what your saying and to an extent I agree, but here are 2 scenarios that I see as justifying the extra investment:

1) let's say Ripcurl sponsors an event and instead of 10k they give the lady winner 80k. Now because of this a bunch of millennial girls hear about it and decide that Rip Curl is their new favorite surf brand and over the next year spend all their quik, and billabong money on Ripcurl. Doesn't take much to make up the difference. $100k is nothing to these companies.

2) because the WSL does this, all the major news outlets carry a story about it, which I have already seen on CBSnews I think it was. Now you have your average MSM viewer in the midwest clicking through WSL pages and who knows they just might watch the next few streams. More clicks = more money.

Millennials are in the prime $ spending demographic right now (18-35 year olds), and companies think, right or wrong, that millennials are attracted to socially conscious companies.