PPV? I'd pay.
But, how much would you have to charge to float the industry? Also, surely the Brazo's and Indo's wouldn't be asked to pay as much as the Aussies and Yanks.
From the outside looking in (through the web), there seems to be plenty of fluffers and hangers on. People living the dream, which as swellnet paints it, is what this industry is looking more like every day...
"The Dream Tour"...
Who knows? (someone does im sure)

Anyway, I'd pay.

If Samsung were returning you'd think they'd announce it after the Pipe Masters? It's what other sports do with returning sponsors.

Pay per view? I'd pay too......just not very much.

I'd probably pay too. I love watching the pro comps. Commentary is a bit hit and miss but the surfing is amazing.

J-Bay, Chopes were insane last year.

I think we need some boundaries around "what would you pay". As I mentioned in the comments of Stu's other article:

"AFL does have a live webcast but it's restricted to mobile devices, and only for paid subscribers at $5 per week - that's $260 per YEAR to be able to watch live footy on your phone."

I wouldn't pay $260 per year to watch the WSL.

However, as a regular viewer of their events I reckon I could justify forking out $80-$100 year for the CT events. I don't think there'd be anywhere near as much demand for the QS events so there's probably no merit in adding them into the subscription package (they're more of a 'nice to have', rather than a 'need to have'). So that's a funky part of the business model they'd have to work out (along with the Junior, Longboarders, Speciality etc - who pays for those webcasts? Which business model funds them?).

And I don't know if they'd need to package the CT events with any extra features either (like some other sports do, with backstage/behind the scenes stuff) - just a reliable webcast with multiple cameras and a quality replay system, where the guy operating the switcher doesn't accidentally insert ads just as someone's taking off on a set wave. That'd be enough for me to hand over my credit card details.

I've got a lot of friends, some of them are pretty rich. One of them would pay, and the rest of us would watch it at his house.

Would you have to pay for the whole year or could you select events? I personally would only watch a few and that would also depend on the forcast for that location ie Fiji, Chopes, Pipe.

I already got Fox so I guess I am already paying...? Only $50 a month and I get all sports on my Ipad and TV.
It's a much more reliable way to watch the CT surf comps. The only thing that is missing is the "scoreboard" that you get on the webcast.

$80-$100 a year is not a big ask for quality webcasts.

That would be my ceiling. Anymore and I'd probably have to weigh up the cost benefit.

Also, I'd expect my WSL leggie in the mail pronto;)

If they did switch to PPV, it would severely limit their ability to draw in non-endemic sponsers - assuming they couldn't cover costs with PPV.

If the product was live I would not pay to watch it as it usually contains long periods of inaction. I would consider a decent highlights package for say $10 an event.

PPV would reduce my tolerance for the current commentary team. And with timezones how they are, I watched most of last years comps 'multi-tasking' while at work, so like bb, I'd probably end up paying for highlights/heat review access rather than live.

This operation has more and more of a whiff of flying by the skin of their pants every day.
They're making it up as they go along.

I certainly wouldn't pay under the current format. Way, way, way too much dead time and boring heats. Also, they have deliberately dumbed it down and made it vanilla to appeal to mainstream American audiences. They would have to reverse that trend and appeal to the hard core surf fan before I would support it.

If they got serious and cut the Tour to a genuine Elite top 16 and held events over one or two days I'd consider it.

Fucked if i'd give my hard earned to watch a day of Rnd 2 heats between the back markers commentated by a bunch of nasally hype merchants trying to spit polish a turd.

I'd only ever pay if they start running the events more efficiently. I'm not letting a single penny of my money go towards paying for a luxurious boardroom table, year-long travel expenses for the WSL Execs (this is 2015, you still can run the show without actually going to the events), fancy catering for all the hanger-on industry bros in the VIP tent, social events or parties (or any alcohol at all for anyone - excluding 1 bottle of cheap champagne for the winners podium), RED Epics for the highlight reels (seriously, I'm watching it at 360p most of the time, or max 720p - 4K Raw is not necessary), individual lockers, duplicated individual jerseys (There's only 32 guys and with no brothers/twins currently on tour, how hard is it to tell them apart without having to read their jersey?) or other obsolete crap that the WSL is trying to sell to us as part of the 'professionalisation' of surfing. It's utter bollocks and is only there to help a chosen few industry bros feel more important than they are.

Trim the fat and I might pay a few dollars per event - though if they heeded this advice they probably wouldn't need to go the cash-grab PPV route anyway.

I worry that PPV will limit the audience severely. Who, apart from surfers, of which there aren't many in the world, would pay to watch surfing? Maybe the odd snowboarder? WSL is a fledgling, has a crap name that implies that it is an institution for female sporstspeople (as in WNBA, WNBL) and hasn't even got a product. They should be discussing marketing, not accounting!

Being brutally honest, surfing is unfortunately boring as fuck to non-surfers. Have you ever tried to show your non-surfing pals footage of teahupoo highlights or pipe off its head? they're interested for about the first 30 seconds and then get bored, or ask "if you've ever been dunked''......

I very highly doubt that a non surfer could sit through a 30 min heat (of which maybe 5 mins of surfing actually occurs) for free let alone paying. Much in the same way I cant sit through more than 10 minutes of NFL (of which 2 minutes is played) without wanting to throw my telly off the balcony.

Now with my understanding of WLS trying to market surfing and make it more attractive and Americanized is to build revenue. They would need to get a much bigger following before they could even consider adding components of exclusivity.

PS. I know the PPV is a hypothetical discussion.

And what about the girls,would you pay to watch that.Certain venues and i know some of the girls are ripping but would you pay for it.?

It won't happen. As soon as they put up a paywall the viewer numbers will drop, as they have for every newspaper, website, and sport that's done likewise. Where will that leave the event and presenting sponsors?

Paying premium dollar advertising to a tiny audience, that's where.

Only way this thing is gunna fly in todays economic reality is by subscription. The oil crisis alone is enough to scare the pants of any self respecting business person. $30 per barrel oil equals global recession. Dig deep boys if ya love your WSL.

I am a follower of the tour, but when I look forward to 2015.

(1) Snapper. I feel deep ennui. Snapper is a pretty ordinary wave these days. A fun, safe wave for the average surfer. Yes, it is a long wave when it connects thru (never mind the quality, feel the width). But, I'm not that excited about the prospect of watching the pros going thru their wave pool repertoire on wobbly 3-4 foot Snapper.

(2) Margaret River. I like this one. An odd wave. A bit of size and I like the uncertainty. When each pro hits their bottom turn they peer uncertainly down the line. You can see they haven't got their attack already planned, but they are having to make it up as they go along. I like that. Everyone else seems to hate this event though.

(3) Bells. The bowl. Three big turns and a bash on the closeout lip. Tends to be the same three turns for each surfer. Then to Rincon and some wave pool turns. Historic event, classic Aussie surf area, but is anybody excited by another year at Bells?

I think I am jaded.

I haven't mentioned those same old commentators. They are fine, but you would hate Billy Connolly, Jennifer Lawrence and Dave Wassel if you had to listen to 100 hours of their surf descriptions. They have to change it up a bit!

These new crew have been in charge for a good while now. No major sponsor at the 11th hour (again)? QS schedule not sorted yet? Pay per view? Still with the same annoying commentary? And their spin man talkin' it all up? Yeah, I know the surf industry ain't got the glory dollar days anymore, but no excuses, please. Are these guys in charge, or what? This is not good, not good at all.

You reckon surfing can't get any more commercialised ? Wait till it's PPV and every manhattan newbie becomes a " stakeholder" with a voice of entitlement after shelling out their cash.

Locals don't want a comp at Lennox ? Too bad fellas, it's not a corporate entity with a brand to protect , it's a mass of faceless consumers that want more bang for their buck and ain't coming to surf your waves on their two weeks annual leave anyway so detrimental consequences to locales aren't their concern.

As for my voice of entitlement, I'd pay but only if there was serious reform away from the Soft-on inducing Americansation.

You hearing me Parnell ? Cut down, cut down, wrapping cut, quick vision.....aaaaarrrgggh.

Freeride, you have a way with words. Always enjoy your comments on ASP / WSL.

Thanks for the WSL update Stu. Bloody intersting times for sure. Great to read others thoughts on the subject too. In regards to PPV, I like others would also pay for a slick production & probably on "preferred" event basis or highlight package combo......

An umbrella sponsor???? for a surfing contest????????????????

What, in case it rains?

What am I missing here?

theres no way i would pay for the deemed elite tour as it presents itself today...........the surfers ability are about the only aspect holding this whole tour together....managing of the waiting period was crap/ surfers in the same round competeting in diverse conditions......the judging in 2014 was disasterous......i actually gave up watching in rubbish conditions all together past jbay.......get the retired professionals in the mix......we need a Slater in headjudge position......and more people like Ross Williams and past pro surfers commentating who actually did the CT!!!The powers that be will have to do something fast......theyre losing the core surf fan base......and once that goes....so does any longevity.

Interesting to see viewer numbers if they try to charge people, already lower than anticipated , unlikely to grow if people have to pay. May make lot $ for odd comp or heat if waves going off or KS surfing but otherwise fuck all .It may send viewers back to actually watching contests live? I heard KS has become involved in WSL,which could make sense with charging as his heats are most viewed, is this an urban legend?Anybody

Looking a little further ahead, once wave pools hit their stride I can't see them resisting the temptation to run most contests in them.

Of course it strikes at the heart of surfing's ethos, but from a purely commercial perspective it's will be as irresistible as T20 was to cricket.

Less downtime, fit all the action in to one day, have an arena-type spectator set-up, and maybe a padded floor so people can have biggest air and most radical manoeuvre contests etc. There'll be suited mascots on longboards throwing leggies to the crowd, maybe even an obstacle course with hoops the guys have to surf through.

Shit, I've only been thinking aloud on this for two minutes and look at the dystopian vision I'm dreaming up. I really hope they don't read this and get any ideas, but they're more likely to think I've been reading their mail.

I'd wait for the torrent

I agree with Ben that event or festival style surf competitions are (still) the only way of conducting these circuses that make any financial sense.
Put the bleachers up , set the hot dog stands up and bring the hordes in with their bulging wallets.
It's why Govt Tourism bodies in QLD, Vicco and WA underwrite the tour events: because it brings bodies to the beach and pumps money into local communities.

However, there is a but and it's a fairly big but. They can get away with this at Snapper, Bells and Margies (just) on the basis of wave quality, history and suitability as World Tour locations.

They can't do that at Huntington, Manly etc etc; despite the history of Pro surfing at both locations.
The one thing the ASP has had as a Jewel in the Crown is a credible World Champ.
They fuck with that credibility too much by sending them out in sub-par slop and the whole shit show starts to shatter.
They start running too many wave pool events and the rebel Tours will start popping up like mushrooms once surf co's realise there's no market value in having a World Champ anymore. That situation has threatened to erupt before and it'll damm well happen again if chlorine overtakes saltwater as the preferred competition venue for pecuniary reasons.

Although wave pools would allow for each surfer to ride the exact same wave, heaps more even playing field than the ocean,no lulls, no waiting periods, contests anywhere in the world,best surfing wins rather than luckiest heat for waves, then surfing can go to the olympics, a "real" world champion.Pro surfers will just have to get smaller and lighter than they already are, i bet "the spartan" will not be voting for this idea but Rick Kane could come out of retirement.

Out of the forums for 24 hours and look what I come back to!

Great points, boys.

What about the combination option?
All the contests add up to crowning a world champ.
20000 points for Pipe and J Bay, 10000 for Portugal, 6000 for HB and Manly and even include the BWT somehow.
No delineation between CT and QS except for seeding. If Kelly pulls out of Brazil the next guy can enter.
Maybe even base it on dollars won?
Matt Banting could be a world champ coming from way back? A Cinderella story?

Anyone go down to the Manly circus?

Thoughts? Verdict?

It was kind of good knowing exactly when the surfers were going to surf.
" I'm going to get my lunch and go and watch Mick's heat".
The 4 man priority also worked I think. No one getting paddled out of position.
Stacks of people.
Not for the purists though.

I'm a student with no savings and have a whole lot of friends in the same boat and I'd consider paying a subscription of $5-10 a month for the tour. Anything more expensive or anything upfront, instead of monthly instalments and I'm sure the WSL would lose a huge majority of its student surfers viewers.

Think freshwater rather than chlorine. This is the first one that'll open http://www.surfsnowdonia.co.uk. It's a 300 odd metre long lagoon which will give a six actual feet wave. However, in previous interviews the Wave Garden people say that "We have no limits on size...it’s a matter of energy consumption" so unless they're bullshitting maybe it would be possible for Dirk to turn the power up for a couple of days to get an extra few feet.

Fernando Aguerre's all over it already "As a result of this incredible and pioneering technology, the creation of Surf Snowdonia is a historic moment that will revolutionise our sport. Surfing no longer has geographical restrictions – venues can be built away from the coastline efficiently and sustainably. We can now reach new Surfing participants and fans who have never been to or even seen the ocean.

“Unlocking this potential offers great benefits for Surfing globally – we can host world-class Surfing competitions with waves that are always consistent, powerful and publically available. With this remarkable innovation, Surfing can now aspire to become a part of the Olympic Games and other multi-sport events. With the ability to make perfect waves every time, all the time, centers like Surf Snowdonia can help make Surfing’s Olympic dream a reality and ensure a bright future for the sport"

Any chance that anything this Aguerres fella is saying is going to rile ISIS ? I don't want to see a fatwa placed on anyone , but if anyone really deserves it.....

"It's a 300 odd metre long lagoon which will give a six actual feet wave. "

Thus far , that is marketing speak and not proven fact GSTQ.

Unless these wave pools can produce some solid, exciting and a variation of waves it'll get boring really fucken quick to watch.

That wave garden wave in Spain is crap.
It's like watching a bear riding a bicycle. The interest is not that the bear is riding the bicycle well, it's that the bear can ride the bicycle at all.
If that is what surfing is, then almost no one would take it up. It is waves in the wild that sell the sport.

Even in the unlikely event they can briefly get a 6 foot high piece of water running along the central boardwalk of the wave garden. So what, that does not match a skate ramp or snow half-pipe in height or spectacle, and the audiences for those much more spectacular events remains niche, and probably declining.

I wonder if there will be any surf journo's getting restraining orders on them for potential stalking Reynolds, from up that way?huh?

Well steve, the 300 metres seems to be fact, going by the construction progress photos, and the '6 feet' waves will apparently be only 18 inches bigger than what we've already seen from Wavegarden, so not a massive jump up in size.

Rip Curl has apparently just signed up to supply wetsuits to the 'Surf Academy' and, of course, clothing and accessories in the 'retail space'. 75,000 wannabe surfers a year, each with no preconceptions, a post-coital glow and an open wallet? It'll be like the 1990s all over again

To add respectfully to this discussion, i do not feel that the bar has been raised in any way, shape or form to warrant even a whisper of PPV.
Take for example Cricket in Australia, at times even for a sports lover it's a hard task to sit through. Enter the 20/20 series - and all of a sudden we have a new breed of cricket followers especially in the younger ages - why? Because from a traditional broadcast standpoint they threw everything old and done to death in the trash and built it for 2015, not 1990..
The traditional TV format for televising cricket was studied/re-formatted and re-thought for this particular version of the game and hats off to the minds behind it as they took the game to an entirely new and exciting level to bring out the gold hidden and not on plain view to the average sports fan, it was engaging/informative/entertaining and most of all INNOVATIVE.
Enter Broadcasted/televised professional surfing.
Now, firstly takeaway the addition of the desk with talking heads, what do you see?
Is anything really all that new and amazing?
Sure the cameras may be better and the super slowmo might be dreamy but does it feel as if you are seeing something special and unique to these amazing locations they are held at, or something vaguely similar?
Why does the 2012 Volcom Pro Fiji Standout to many as a memorable event?
They backed themselves and televised a freesurf in massive waves, they thought outside the box and it paid off.
The Mad hueys have an event in Indonesia will you watch because 'so and so' from somewhere has a shot at qualifying? Or will you tune in because there's a slim chance the Hueys may take over the broadcast and provide their unique brand of humour?
We want to be entertained, period.
It's 2015 and there are so many incredible methods to document and show this amazing sport why are we still at the mercy of the same old angles and the the tired replays?
Void of any information/statisitics you may find on a low level televised Motorsports event ?
Where are my stats!
why are'nt we watching athletes heart rates rise and fall during a pipe final?
Why don't i know how fast they are surfing?
Why dont i know how far they are surfing?
why are'nt we learning how much pressure/downforce is actually hitting guys at Chopes?
Why are'nt i on my mobile device monitoring all of the above for MY chosen surfer whenever he or she enters the water?
Why do i still know nothing compared to any football/basketball/motorsport/golf broadcast?
Why do i want to pay for a single camera shot of 2 heads bobbing whilst a poor commentator tries his/her hardest to carry the enitre broadcast by talking?
Why are we not listening to kelly talk back to commentators mid heat?
Why am i not seeing regular on camera appearances from the Heads of this company telling me whats coming up/where MY Sport is going and who is on board to make it better?
And lastly, why the $%#@ should i pay if there's no sign of growth? (WSL, feel free to plagiarise the above as it's something you're accustomed to doing...)
Easy answer, because for the majority of the WSL it's their first Surfing Broadcast rodeo.
After 'taking over' the then ASP did not head out and hire the best in the business who were broadcasting and had a firm understanding of the mechanics of our sport prior to the takeover.. if anything most of the production companies were held at arms length and ignored as they were seen as competition for the already assembled in house production team accompanying Paul Speaker in an effort to maximise control..
How many of you have even watched a show produced from any of the events last year?
If so, tell me what you learned besides how fast a host can fly through heat by heat shite, the entire show feels as though it's a stale afterthought..
Now go watch Redbull's 21 Day series where you actually get a real story, it's night and day.
The surfers we watch on tour push themselves to be the best each and every heat, they are constantly innovating and improving their surfing to win, so why is the WSL not following the same model?..They have not built anything to "lean" on..

mmm, as I've commented before, the ASP need to look at the whole model.

1. Infrastructure costs for each event ... started days ago at snapper, that's gotta cost a LOT of coin to set up at each event.
2. Days to run an 'event' ... smaller numbers of competitors, peak conditions, better product, etc. etc.
3. Better and or different locations ... mixture of "with the people" (i.e. snapper, bells) and "exotic" (i.e. fiji, tahiti, etc.) locations
4. Elite CT level tour and the rest rolled into a series for competitors to build points to get onto the CT level

As an aside ... Where are all the Brazillian corporate sponsors? Don't see too many fighting to sponsor the tour? Maybe a brazillian world champ was the wrong strategy?

Nice work tahundelapan , a career on the current WSL commentary team beckons!

check out the Japanese wave pool the Dome...being a feral fossil...I don't know how to download the link...but google Japanese Wave pool...and watch in 2007 ...the boys getting barreled lefts and rights...the technology looks great......airs barrels and man turns.....

the technology exists since 2007...if the waves were twice the size...game on....actually the waves look more fun than anything we saw at the Hurley/Manly pro.....

The future will be wave pools.....at the urban events.....as part of the WSL tour....

The pool in Dubai is one of the best business models on how to make money ..its a gold mine......

Of course it went broke really quickly from lack of patronage. We were in Miyazaki a couple of years ago and drove by just to have a look. Someone lost a lot of money on that little white elephant.

Who wants to pay to watch girls flapping around at 3 foot snapper?. Its boring as shit. Topped off with boring brain dead dribble its all crap. Non surfers want to watch someone paddle into a 30 footer and get smashed. Getting people to pay would be harder than removing shit from a shag pile rug.

New York Times 22/2/2015

“Our strategy has been, since the beginning, let’s remove all stop signs and turn them into welcome mats,” Mr. Speaker said. “YouTube has that footprint.”

In making everything available online, the W.S.L. has solidified its growth in a key demographic: More than 67 percent of its audience is between 25 and 44 years old. Engagement across their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat accounts nearly doubled, while simultaneously dwarfing engagement rates of larger, more established leagues. The N.F.L.’s Facebook page has some 12.5 million likes compared with the surfing league’s 2.3 million likes. Yet the engagement that the league has per post — likes, comments and shares — is on par with the N.F.L., according to data provided by the organization.

In a few months, the surfing league will be opening W.S.L. Studios, a 6,000-square foot production space in its Santa Monica, Calif., headquarters. The studio will be heavily investing in creating programming to fill gaps during live broadcasting, but will also be exporting shareable and original shows, documentaries and highlight reels, something akin to N.F.L. Films in football’s earlier days.

The World Surf League would not disclose its revenues, but they are tiny compared with the major professional sports. As audiences continue to move online, though, smaller sports are also capturing larger audiences. Executives at the surfing league are stoked, to use surfing parlance, about its new World Championship Tour season that starts on Saturday with the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast event in Queensland, Australia. After the W.S.L. continually broke its own audience records during the 2014 World Championship Tour, the league is hoping to continue the trend.

“We look to other sports for direction and examples, but for us, live streaming is our bread and butter,” Mr. Speaker said. “I think many people will be looking at us and say, ‘How’d they figure it out?’ ”

wow, there's two alternate universes going on here.

Yeah that article (here) is a gem... just a standard PR campaign (no coincidence being the week before the first event of the new season gets underway).

Couple of highlights:

"An average of more than 6.2 million people tuned in live to watch the Billabong Pipe Masters, where Mr. Medina won his first title. Those numbers exceeded the American television audience for the final game of the 2014 Stanley Cup hockey finals. Not a second of the surfing competition was shown on traditional live television in the United States; instead, it was streamed on YouTube, with 35 to 40 percent of its viewers on mobile."

An average? Is that a daily average? Or concurrent average?

Also, the device percentage breakdown mentioned means that there was supposedly an 'average' of 2.6 million people who watched the webcast on their mobile. Really?

Either way, it's a very ambiguous number and I call bullshit. The cumulative number of views for the Finals Day of the Pipe Masters was 1,303,410 for the English feed (which is the sum total of every time the webcast is refreshed, on any device, anywhere in the world). We recorded a peak of about 107,000 concurrent viewers on the Final Day. 

Personally, I probably accounted for eight or ten of those cumulative view counts (watching it from my home computer, my mobile, my tablet and two office computers, each with a couple of refreshes each). I'm sure my viewing habits are not the same as most other people - I've got the luxury to watch these webcasts all day - but the point is that 1.3 million 'views' doesn't equate to 1.3 million people. 

Given that there were four or five contest days, if each day had a similar number of cumulative views, then the combined cumulative of all event days may have potentially reached somewhere in the 6.5 million range (and we have to consider the ~30% loading from the Portuguese stream). But cumulative views is a much different metric to actual eyeballs. 

And, remember this: "average" means "the sum of a list of numbers divided by the number of numbers in the list". So if there were an "average" of 6.5 million viewers, then there would have been much bigger peaks to account for the troughs.

"Professional surfing, on the other hand, has adopted an online-first approach. Its strategy is the brainchild of ZoSea Media Holdings."

Really? How about fifteen years of ASP webcasting, and its online-first approach?

"The N.F.L.’s Facebook page has some 12.5 million likes compared with the surfing league’s 2.3 million likes. Yet the engagement that the league has per post — likes, comments and shares — is on par with the N.F.L., according to data provided by the organization."

Hmmm.. "according to data provided by the organization".. of course! But besides that, the WSL have a commercial partnership with Facebook. The above quote suggests the WSL's increasing engagement on Facebook is all organic, when there is ample evidence that Facebook have the ability to manipulate engagement rates (ie reach) where necessary. 

"The (W.S.L.) studio will be heavily investing in creating programming to fill gaps during live broadcasting, but will also be exporting shareable and original shows, documentaries and highlight reels, something akin to N.F.L. Films in football’s earlier days."

Interesting. So, does the general surf media (or other surf businesses) need to be concerned about the WSL encroaching into other parts of surfing (and the associated business models), outside of the competitive arena?

"Executives at the surfing league are stoked about its new World Championship Tour season that starts on Saturday with the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast event in Queensland, Australia."

Oh, of course they are!

WSL is over achieving with 2.3million likes. Wonder how many of those they have purchased?

Also pondering what are the chances that the tour gets really skunked. It looks too late for Snapper and Bells is in first week in April historically crap when Easter is early : small disclaimer though the Southern Ocean is getting its grill on now) but Margies is plagued by onshores. Can't rely on Rio and then Tahiti is overdue for some shite. An organisation that is relying on its content the WSL could pay the price for a poor year of surf. They have scored the last two years. Could it be the year of crap in the year of the goat??

change the format. Indonesia has to be added. have the contests flexible based on forecast swell events. Run them when the waves are pumping but also have a few merchandising events combining skating beach volleyball contests etc. These events dont have as many points up for grabs ,but the elite contests do. Can you imagine the media and public interest if the WSL put out a press release that the Indo Pro was going ahead in predicted 6-8 feel surf in 8 days time. Everyone from the surfers to the public audience would be frothing to see the spectacle and the curiousity would attract huge attention. No need for huge infrastructure and contest could be run quickly. Surfing has always been about the lure of the wave and the romantic side of chasing the best swells with the best surfers would really promote the lifestyle aspect of surfing and umbrella sponsorship would be easy to attract as companies could see the benefit of catching in on this wonderful spectacle especially if a top notch highlights package was put together and aired at a good viewing time. Combined with a tourist travelogue of the destinations it would help promote tourism to these regions. It help the local economy, the surfers get to surf good waves and the public get good entertainment and sponsors get a bigger target audience and association with a superior product. THe BWT shows it can be done, the WSL dont need 15 feet, just sold 6 foot waves and these will be easier to find and lets bring back the spirit of the surf safari- i can feel a song coming on !!!!!

Can anyone explain the seedings? Red is usually top seed, blue lower ranked surfer.

Medina (highest seed and world champ) drew the lowest seed in Round 3 (Mason Ho) but is in the Blue jersey (lower seed) in round 4, (parko in red). Or do the colours mean nothing in round 4?

According to the rankings Toledo is no. 1, based on top 10 finishes from Snapper.

http://www.worldsurfleague.com/athletes/tour/mct?year=2015

Anyway one of the reasons Medina got to win the title last year was a lot of easy round 2 match up against wild cards.

Interested if someone can explain.

I heard one of the commentators say they use a different system from round 4 on but didn't listen beyond that.

Don't forget the fact that Toldeo now wears the yellow "Jeep Leader Jersey" (a cut n' paste from professional cycling), and whenever he's interviewed, they refer to him as the "Jeep Leader”.

Heard a rumour today that pay per view is going to happen. Reliability rating: Unknown.

I don't really have an opinion on this other than that there seems to be very little interest in the wider surfing community in most of these events so I'm not sure if it makes much difference what they do in terms of their long term survival. I had the TV on mute running in the background for a few hours today! Same old stuff. For me the most realistic path would be the boxing model. Real man on man! Best of three rounds.

Again Medina higher ranked surfer in Blue. Red normally higher seed.

$60 billion in Capital outflow from Australia in the last 2 weeks.
We'll be diggin' deep for our WSL!

Sorry...also could somebody suggest a figure or the basis for a figure the WSL could assume is achievable in subscription only? I think the figure maybe quite surprising at say $20-$30 per contest ..OR say a gold or silver membership subscription starting @ say $200 and topping out at $500 with "merch". Plus sponsors and advertising it could be very attractive to investors suspicious of the surfing industry....?

Jeep Leader Jersey? Seriously Jeep Leader Jersey!!!! Best barrel of the day get's the Deep Throat G- String> Sorry, Couldn't help help myself, thought i was in a dream and me and george costanza doing a salespitch.

OOOPS! `Samsung announced today an expected 30.5% drop in operating profit.
Dig deep for your WSL!