Economic Woes Could Force Restructuring of Surfing Tour
After riding a wave of success through the 1980s, the Assn. of Surfing Professionals world tour now faces a future full of question marks.
Nine tour events have folded or been postponed in the past two years, including two contests in Southern California.
Most of the canceled contests were struggling financially. Prize money has dropped from a high of $2.5 million in 1990 to $2.1 million this year.
The tour’s future could be in jeopardy, and its organizers are scrambling to save it.
The tour, based in Australia and Huntington Beach, features stops in Europe, Hawaii and Australia as well as the U.S. mainland. Most of the contests are sponsored by surfwear companies.
Because the surfing industry has also been hard hit by the sagging economy, the contests have been among the first budget items cut.
The ASP board of directors plan to discuss the tour’s problems during its mid-year meeting next week, after the Op Pro at the Huntington Beach Pier.
“So much of this has to do with the economy,” said Bonnie Crail, vice president of marketing with Op. “I think the ASP will be careful about adding costs to do events. It can’t get any more expensive.”
Guy Coleman, vice president of marketing at O’Neill wet suits and an executive board member with the ASP, said the tour could be restructured as early as next year.
The new plan would trim the number of international “grand prix” events from 21 to 10 or 12.
Points from the “grand prix” events would count toward the world championship, while the rest of the tour schedule would consist of regional events.
“As the tour moves around the world, the best (contests) in each country would have a chance at being a ‘grand prix’ event,” Coleman said. “The future of the sport, at least professionally, is rooted domestically. This format would get the regional companies back involved in the sport.”
Many of these companies have dropped their sponsorship in the past year.
The Life’s A Beach surfwear company ended its Oceanside contest last winter after only one year on the tour. The event was scheduled for last week.
Laurens Offner, chairman of Life’s A Beach, said the company spent $500,000--25% over budget--on last year’s event. He said the company, which was bought and reorganized by a Vista-based company last spring, scrapped the 1991 contest in hopes of returning in 1992 or ’93.
O’Neill wet suits made a similar decision in April. First announcing it would move its Santa Cruz contest from March to November, the Santa Cruz-based company later canceled its 1991 contest, but said it will be back in ’92.
Coleman said one of the Santa Cruz contest’s co-sponsors, Pepsi, pulled out.
In May, Billabong, the Australian-based surfwear company, withdrew the Billabong Pro from the tour schedule.
The Billabong, which was scheduled for Dec. 6-17 at Sunset Beach, Hawaii, had been one of the most important stops on the tour since 1985. It offered $235,000 in prize money last year, the largest purse on the tour.
Bob Hurley, president of Billabong, said the event couldn’t get the necessary permits from the Hawaii games and parks commission. The contest moved daily between sites such as the Pipeline and Waimea Bay.
The end of the Life’s A Beach contest and the postponement of the O’Neill competition leaves the Op Pro as the only ASP tour stop on the U.S. mainland.
Crail said Op, based in Tustin, spends $300,000 a year organizing the Op Pro. She added that Op more than makes up for the expense with exposure and advertising from the contest.
“We can justify the investment as far as a large crowd turnout (165,000 last year) and with our TV coverage with ESPN,” Crail said. “The TV coverage is very valuable. If we weren’t getting the big crowds and the TV exposure, we’d have to think twice about the investment we’re making.”
OP PRO DATA Site: Huntington Beach Pier.
Competition: 250 of the top men, women and junior surfers in the world will compete in two-person heats. The winner from each heat advances to the next round.
Schedule: Monday through Sunday. Events start daily at 7 a.m., 8 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Purse: $100,000.
Winners: Men--$14,000; Women--$4,500.
Television: ESPN will televise the event Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. and Aug. 7 at 7 a.m.
1990 attendance (seven days): 165,000. There is no admission charge.
Seating: Both beach and grandstand seating.
Notes: The Op Pro is in its 10th year and is the United States’ largest surfing event. . . . Frieda Zamba of Flagler Beach, Fla., has won the Op four times--1990, ‘89, ’86 and ’84. Tom Curren of Santa Barbara won the event in 1983, ’84 and ’88. . . . Because of construction at the Huntington Beach Pier, the Op Pro will move several yards south of its previous site. The new contest site will be near Lake Street and Pacific Coast Highway, where the Op Wintersurf Pro was held in February.
