Kelly Slater Developing New World Tour?
Ryan Brower
- July 13 2009
- 2,065 views
- 39 comments
Kelly. Photo: Jones
We’re not one to start rumors, well maybe we are, but this isn’t necessarily a rumor. Kelly Slater is working on a new pro surfing tour that could start as early as next year. From what we’ve read via a Phil Jarrat story and an In Surf News piece, Kelly’s long-time manager Terry Hardy is hard at work putting the final touches on this puppy.
From what Phil Jarrat says in his piece on the Noosa Journal website, the tour “will consist of eight events offering more than a million bucks prize money, with first round losers walking away with $40,000.” That would mean that by just showing up at every event, the last place finisher would bag a $320,000 salary for eight events. Quite a hefty paycheck for all lasts, especially compared to the current ASP salary for a year of all 33rds in 2009 equaling $47,000 ($4,700 for a 33rd and ten events).
For this to work, Kelly would need to have some major backers on board to up the ante, which according to Jarrat and In Surf News, he does. The two stories both go on to say that ESPN will be covering all eight events.
In Surf News goes on to say that there will be 15 other top pros joining Slater - how they will be selected and the competition contrast to the ASP are yet to be seen. For all the evolution that’s been going on in the water in years of late, maybe it’s finally time things are advancing in the sport as a whole - more money for the world’s best, fresh formats, better competition, and world-wide coverage? We’ll just have to wait and see.
Stay tuned to transworldsurf.com for all developments on this story.
TELL US YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS POSSIBLE NEW TOUR AND WHAT IT COULD MEAN FOR PROFESSIONAL SURFING BELOW IN THE COMMENTS SECTION.
Phil Jarrat’s Noosa Journal story:
NOOSA: While Kelly Slater was rising from the ashes of three consecutive losses to win in Brazil last week, his manager, Terry Hardy, was apparently in Los Angeles nailing the lid (ashes, coffin lids,what’s going on here!) on a megabucks breakaway world surfing tour.
I say apparently because at the time of writing I could find no media coverage of the matter, and neither Slater nor Hardy responded to my requests for information, which proves that it’s true, right? Anyway, my sources are reliable and highly-placed, so remember where you read it first.
The tour, with nine-times world champion Slater as its figurehead, will consist of eight events offering more than a million bucks prize money, as opposed to the current $US300,000 on the ASP Dream Tour, with first round losers walking away with $US40,000. With the worst performer guaranteed $US320,000 a year to show up, this would mean that surfing’s elite could at last feel relaxed about giving their all to the tour.
When you consider the case of Straddie’s Bede Durbidge, who started his year without a sponsor and finished it at number 2 to Kelly, that means a lot.
The word on the tour is that all events will be covered by cable sports network ESPN and packaged for global sales, which sounds eerily familiar. But what hasn’t been spelled out yet is how it will differ from the ASP tour, and knowing Slater’s views on this, I suggest it will be very different. For years Kelly has been a severe critic of the ASP’s judging criteria (with more than 40 tour wins under the belt, I wouldn’t be rocking the boat, but there you go) and even put on his own invitational event in Fiji to showcase his more adventurous ideas. Over time, the ASP has actually adopted some of them, like overlapping heats, but the pace of change has never been fast enough for Kelly.
His personal view of the “dream tour” is a small number of elite surfers competing in high quality waves with a license to thrill, the judging criteria based solely on “raising the bar” of surfing performance.
In a sense, this is turning the clock back to pro surfing’s roots in events like 1971’s Golden Breed Expression Session, in which the judges simply watched the guys surf all day and then declared the coolest dude the winner. But there has also long been a feeling amongst the top pros that the gulf between contest surfing and creative surfing has been widening. Interesting times ahead for the struggling ASP, which has governed pro surfing through thick and thin for more than 30 years.
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July 13th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
its about time theyre trying to throw in some serious money for surfers. i think if they pull this off surfing will go to a whole new level.
July 13th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
It seriously bums me out that crap like Poker gets on ESPN and professional surfing does not. I’ve been told I’m biased because surfing appeals to coast dwelling people and wouldn’t be as much of a draw in the midwest and land locked areas. I call BS.
The sports world is quick to laud the accomplishments of Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan and Lance Armstrong. But an athlete like Kelly Slater becomes a side note? Though Woods, Jordan and Armstrong are gods of their sport, they don’t come anywhere near the dominance that Kelly has held over his sport.
And as far as being able to draw an audience? Come on. Bicycling? How freaking exciting is that? And to boot, Lance Armstrong is an arrogant jerk that nobody wants to admit because he is behind a very successful and honorable charitable foundation. But bicycling around a bunch of roads compared to surfing locales such as Fiji, Indo, Hawaii and Bali? And all the beach babes and bikini contests and overall “good looking” people that surround the sport of surfing and beach lifestyle? Come on. Who wouldn’t want to buy that ticket if it was marketed properly and wisely.
If Jimmy Buffett can successfully sell the beach lifestyle, then I think it’s a no brainer that the real McCoy can be sold with a guy like Kelly Slater at the helm.
July 13th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
= Slater’s way to make more money without really trying anymore. It dies as soon as Slater’s 3 years are up.
July 13th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
yer a fag
July 13th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Do IT!!!! The current ASP is worthless and antiquated.
July 13th, 2009 at 6:29 pm
a fag who may have a point though…
July 13th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Kelly Slater is the owner of not one, but two failed accessory companies:
- K-Grip
- Komunity Project
He and his manager, Terry Hardy, are the disgraced former owners of a failed event:
- The Kelly Slater Invitational at Fiji
The proposed tour has several concerns:
- 16 “INVITED” surfers is not an objective way of selection. Sounds more like Kelly Slater’s Bro Exhibition Tour. Sounds lame.
- By splitting the world’s best surfers, you dilute the impact of professional surfing as a whole.
- 9 events in five months (May to September) with two in California. Not exactly the season for California, with Lowers out of the question, it makes me concerned that they’ll be reverting back to crappy urban venues to attract people on the beach. The Dream Tour at least attempts to put the world’s best surfers in the world’s best waves.
The ASP needs to make several improvements:
- More prize money
- Better media exposure
Conclusion:
- If Kelly is concerned about change, he should spend his time, effort and influence to affect positive evolution within the system that as given him everything: the WCT. From all reports, he has never concerned himself with attending surfer meetings, board meetings, etc.
- If anything, I hope this serves as a wakeup call to ASP to make some positive changes.
July 13th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Fuck…who is this guy?
Jason Andrew Relva for President.
July 13th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
You media kooks are always so far up Kelly’s rectum and never call it like it is.
Kelly is a diva.
Kelly has been getting smoked this season (minus Brazil).
Kelly created a tour where he could be center stage again -he also started rumors about it to mindfuck his opponents.
Kelly should go for 10 Titles - and if he gets it, should run for ASP President. If he doesn’t, he shouldn’t piss and moan like a little bitch and make his own tour.
Grow up man.
July 13th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
16 Invitees Revealed
Taken from Terry Hardy’s laptop…
1 - Paris Hilton (whore)
2 - Dion Agius (surf media whore)
3 - Spencer Pratt (reality tv whore)
4 - Gisele Bundchen (boned Kelly)
5 - Chris Klein (surfed Kelly’s Fiji Invitational)
6 - Makua Rothman (spoiled douche)
7 - Denise Richards (heinous bitch)
8 - Justin Timberlake (gay dancer)
10 - Janice Dickenson (world’s first supermodel)
11 - Koby Abberton (likes himself - can’t read)
12 - Miley Cyrus (cued to be the new Gidget…whore)
13 - Fred Patacchia (Quik team rider…may have boned Kelly)
14 - Tito Jackson (MJ’s bro)
15 - Cameron Diaz (boned kelly)
16 - Kelly Slater (diva)
Sure, the surfing might be shithouse…but think of the ratings!!!
This is the worst idea in the long history of terrible ideas.
July 13th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
The WCT needs some major improvements? Sounds like the biggest complaints are lack of prize money and media exposure. Does every sport need to be over-exposed and commercialized in order to be dubbed a success? I love surfing. I will never be a pro surfer. If I was a pro I wouldn’t act like all the spoiled divas that many of them are. WCT Pros…live your dream life…travel the world, sort through piles of free gear, hook up with countless girls, and send me some post cards while I am waking up earlier and earlier to avoid the rookie buoy traffic your silly advertisements lure into the water. Cheers Kelly. Go get richer. People compare him to Lance. Lance might be a jerk, but at least he rides to find a cure for cancer. What does Kelly ride for? Quiksilver?
July 14th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Wow man, take it easy… and “16 Invitees Revealed”, you are full of shit.
July 14th, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Sounds like someone is jealous of the 9 time champ! The only kook on here is you brah. Time to grow up.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Dany…ummm…I don’t think “16 Invitees Revealed” was being serious. Moreso, illustrating a point about the slippery slope it becomes when you move from a qualifying system to some person choosing who gets in and who doesn’t.
It’s a shame the irony was lost on you, perhaps you should go back to school.
July 14th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
Y dosn’t he make another video game for ps3 i’m tired of his old one! I mean we got the tech to make it twenty times better Y dosn’t he do it?!!
July 14th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
I like this post. Nice one, bk.
July 14th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
because he knows the best surfing video game of all-time is TransWorld SURF
July 14th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I agree its time for TWS REDUX!
July 15th, 2009 at 1:27 am
i like this lis,t i would definitely watch….there could be a chance gisele’s top comes off
July 15th, 2009 at 4:03 am
I smell Nike. Don’t Do It!
July 15th, 2009 at 4:26 am
Shut the&ç”*ç%&/ Up ,your jealous and without huge dreams to realize , stop bashing your hero,ya hater.
BEAT IT!
July 15th, 2009 at 4:38 am
Obviously there is a huge gap betwenn the for kelly and hate kelly the latter,can step off and take up water skiing anybody that hates kelly or that is against his rights as a free thinker, creative surfer a evolution of the sport is as my deqar aussie say a WANKER, all haters of kelly can give up their boards and get a 25 horse i mean 15 horse JOHNSON out board and mount that to their weird uncle aluminum JON boat and pull themselvesinto a Alligator infested river .then eat mud .You haters are incomprehensible< spelled wrong cause i dont have no time to waste on the haters any more, bunch of JONbOat JOEs.
BIGUP NELLY remember marcus in DA CRUZ, I live in Switerland now,congradulations with your daughter, your always welcme here,my boat is http://www.surfboat.ch.come over bra.
July 15th, 2009 at 8:16 am
your a fucking goof hater jason. at least kelly is trying to better the sport. All dick heads like you are doing is hating and bringing nothing to the table. go suck a dick loser
July 15th, 2009 at 8:19 am
how many events have you won dick head? how many world titles do you have ass wipe? I think if anyone is to be heard it should be kelly, im pretty sure he has earned it.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Today was by far the best surfing Ive ever seen.
Sick waves. Sick scores. Sick surfing - it was unbelievable.
Funny enough, Kelly sucked?
Maybe it’s time to admit that despite him being absolutely incredible, he’s being outgunned by the new guard Parko/Dane/Michel, etc.
Seems lame if he’s trying to lure them away for his own benefit.
Fix the ASP, don’t do this gay invite shit.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:22 am
Slater should be ashamed of himself. Failing on tour so you start your own?!!? How old are you?!? 4?!! Grow up you pussy and maybe put something back into the ct for a change.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:26 am
To quote my good friend Jeffrey Spicoli, “…..You Dick!!!”
I have to say that I agree with those claiming the Kelly is being a bit of a glory hog with this thing. I read another report claiming he hasn’t even informed the ASP, and my friend told me that he doesn’t go to the surfers’ meetings or attend board meetings.
So my question is, if Kelly really wanted to change the sport, why didn’t he try to go through the proper channels first?
The most probably answer, I’m afraid, is $$$, as ’stu’ so eloquently said above.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
KELLY finally is gonna do something out of th norm, ha ha, what are the odds, shaping his own boards & going smaller?!?! So he learned, I either follow & hates like all the other boxed in minds or he said f-ck-it. I got the money, I got the power, so get the f-ck out the way..
Funny thing is you can not change an already bad idea for surfing (competitions). We are watching a sport slow to make decisions & now slow to embrace its hero on a stupid blog.
This is funny:)
Every time the sport makes progress (something good) its hashed out & made fun of any way.
The powers that be are just as lost/confused. Surfing is art & its ever evolving & will always be evolving. Its the compitions & brands & media that stunted the sports growth when the idea happend in the first place (we need a winner). Same shit, same bat channel, just in 2009.
So, I dont know the answer & I am sure Kelly does not know the answer even though he got crowned king jock. Doing another competition,what?!?!?
What we say on this stupid blog has all those who are scared reading my words, hey wait, you wanna sponor me now, huh huh huh! One wise man once said a great piece. If they cant take a joke.. fuck em!
July 16th, 2009 at 6:19 pm
This again illustrates how ungreatful and selfish Kelly is. No wonder most guys on tour think he is a tool.
Kelly has with out a doubt gained more than anyone from the ASP world tour, his profile, million dollar deals with Quilksilver, all provided by the dream tour. I am not saying the tour is perfect, and i agree the guys should be paid better. Compare there salaries to top 45 golfers..its embarassing.. but to set up a competiton in parallel will have a negative effect on the sport. (As we have seen in basketball,rugby league,etc)
KELLY IF YOU WANT MORE MONEY.. WHICH IS PROBANLY THE REAL MOTIVE BEHIND THIS. WORK WITH THE ASP NOT AGAINST IT. I AM SURE YOUR INPUT WOULD BE APPRECIATED.
July 16th, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Yeah i like too, super sensible, but there are a few funny comments
July 16th, 2009 at 10:30 pm
Yeah i like it too, super sensible, but there are a few funny comments
July 17th, 2009 at 6:26 am
i agree, i have some friends on tour and they all say the same thing too, nike 6.0 have alredy bailed quiky out and this is there next step.
July 17th, 2009 at 6:35 am
i know we all deep down agree that kelly is the greatest surfer and quite possibly the best sportsman in the world, he has givin alot to the sport and has had a big part of surfing becoming mainstream, i have a few friends on tour that are saying that there managers have already told them that this thing is going ahead and no doubt it probly will and jsut end up being another cricket ipl thing, nike have bailed quiksilver out already with there f ups the last 2 years and no doubt are gonna be bankrolling this thing, look at what they have done for hurley and the us open! 100k for first place, sounds like a trial run for something next yer???? agree? i hope that the asp jump on this and make some serious changes for the better. bugs, pull some of ya tricks out and really push it!
July 17th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
better the sport? what does a different tour do to better the sport? for that matter, what does the current tour do to better the sport? 99% of the guys in the water don’t do comps, let alone surf professionally.
July 17th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
The guy is completely right.
July 19th, 2009 at 3:07 am
My head hurts after reading all this! Sure, a NEW TOUR gives my imagination a chubby – shit we need it after the lack luster Dream Tour over the last few years. But err, hold on. Think about the poor young Brazzo’s and Saffas, the countless young Aussies and Seppos’s dreaming of being a World Chump one day adored by millions and paid a dollar for each viewer. Let’s ask what the feeder system will be for this KS Tour? Kelly Slater throwing darts at a list? Cast your filthy thoughts 5 years into the future and conceptualize ASPless world. Gone because the corporatized surf industry has bailed their Aussie asses for the Slater shootout tour. There will be no more Jordy, no more Dane, or any freakishly talented rookie proving their worth – except maybe on edited videos and youtube! Will Kelly watch Young Guns to choose his invitees? Don’t sort that shit out before launching this TOUR and you heading for something doomed to fail. This sounds like something out of Idi Amin’s political textbook. KS might one day retire as the killer of young surfers dreams - Sig-Hail Sl9er!
July 21st, 2009 at 1:30 am
Deja Vu. In 1997, ASP walked away from a 6-year Prime Time ESPN deal that offered separate tour shows for both the Men and the Women. Surfing had been on ESPN for over 10 years and was at a Nielsen ratings pinnacle for the sport. The WCT TV shows were distributed to 105 countries. Coca-Cola was the WCT World sponsor at the time. ASP companies decided they wanted to own their events. Coca-Cola wanted Prime Time TV on ESPN, just as they had enjoyed for the previous three years. ASP bailed on the ESPN package. Coca-Cola bailed on ASP. Surfing on TV became fragmented, with less viewership, and here we are. The webcasts have been great for the core but simply not enough for a Surf Industry that wants to Grow The Pond.
August 16th, 2009 at 7:30 am
The Soul Of Its Own World Tour
Coming To A Sphere Near You. 4 Seasons, 10 events, 8 Paddle in events, 2 per season plus 2 Special Death Defying Tow in events!
32 competitors, The Complete 16, capable of all & more, plus the top 12 qualifiers from the ASP tour & 4 invitees from God knows where, round out the 32 who will compete in the most challenging conditions our planet can provide. Athletes, not surviving to see who makes fire first or able to gather better than the rest on a Hollywood set. No, these are unlike others who challenge themselves & the elements, not on track or field, but against the Supreme Force, the Giver of Life, Our Mother Ocean. A plethora of potential sites will be at hand with permits in place. Modern tech. allows our athletes to be flown to their accommodations, whether on land or at sea, depending on location to meet the coming challenge. Contestants on call, ready & mobile at the moment. No waiting period, it’ll be pumping, and the world will be watching, as we search our planets’ surface for its strongest pulse, its unscripted pure energy, to be tapped like never before in a competitive format. Where will our athletes be swept off to next? What exotic isle, dangerous reef pass, or unknown slab will test the best? We’ll take you to places where dreams are made & broken. Wave riders from all points will froth at the arenas, pushing pearls shoreward. And of course Current Footage will be available on demand.
As the Endless Summer touched a spark, so will the Soul Of Its Own World Tour, creating an audience unsure what’s up, but unable to deny it. Surfing, the creator & father of action sports, and soon to be spokesman of a planet gone astray, will usher in a wave of consciousness that only a surfer understands.
The ASP will be what it always was, what it is, proving grounds for the best competitive surfing & will continue to spawn & develop future World Champions. So calm down boys, it’s all there, better than ever. The ASP will update & integrate the Q.S. 100 vying to become 1 of the 12 disciples on next years World Tour as only ESPN can bring you.
32 competitors. I’d like to see the bottom 16, including invitees, go 4-man, 4- 45min-1hour heats. The hassle is important, brings out character, creativity, the interference possibilities, the bump & grind, and when its pumping, the playing field expands, plenty for all. Remember these boys are professionals. The victors will pit themselves against #9 to 16, so impersonal. When its game on 4-man rules continue, its called Action Sports, with 4– 1hour heats. 8hrs. in, you are left with the cream for day 2. Might be boring live, if not a purist, but with slight delay we got chicken dinner. Live cast a must, in ESPN we trust that this will be more than another sporting event wedged into the grid, where’s Tesla, wave master. To be Hollygood takes a special sort. Do you see a problem here? Na, me neither. This is their last chance to paddle out, it’s hot & glassy, & there’s one coming their way. No scores called here, keep your own score & give it your best shot, watch your ass & keep your head up, quit thinking you need to know something, you got a watch, that’s all you need. It’s no longer what you need, you need only to tear it up! You’ll know who won soon enough. So cut the crap fools, school’s out, it’s your J.O.B. join our brotherhood, the Brotherhood Of Surfing. Well that might be to much, depends on the fence you sit on, I guess.
1st place Tour Champion receives 500k for his efforts
$250k You figure out the points.
2nd 100k =3rd 50k =5th 25k =9th 15k 10k for the rest
That’s a 100k all expense paid trip around the world for the rest, if you got the nuts to tow, with incentives, for showing up. If you think you’re worth more than that, let’s see it!
OK, that’s 830k, plenty enough prizes for the 1st go round. That leaves 670k per event to do things right & look towards the future.
So what say you, flick off, or is it our time?
Brought to you by
VPSports
September 12th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Pro surfing sucks. Quciksiler sellouts suck. All Aussie pro surfing mega BS sucks. What, now you want to make money just because you surf, sucks. And for my final rant; the whoring, pinheads, who I would like to meet with my 9 who buy local "officials" and create, surf camps.
These whoring jerks are the worst people on earth as pertains to our surfing heritage. Who ARE THEY to say, I can't surf there unless I pay 1000% more than any other lodge of squat around to sit there and watch MT frickinTV in my designer hooch??!?!? This THE number one worst delopment in surfing to ever occur. I really hope all these suf camp creaters; ROT IN HELL.
Best thing, a place in INdo, remote and with no backup, a few of us send the wankers back from where they came broken and sucking air. Hey, I can payoff locals too! xoxo