The new ASP

Well exceeds my 50 word limit Ted, sorry.

Ted, there's one guy who might know who has an online presence. You could ask him. If you don't know who I'm talking about, I can pm you the details. IIRC it's been discussed in quite a bit of detail (by him) but I don't remember the information since I'm personally not that interested in the political side of things. But it would probably be interesting to you in light of this topic.

Ok so the new look is finally here - very Americanised thats for sure. Its pretty informative and much improved over the old one.

www.aspworldtour.com

And you can play Fantasy as well

http://fantasy.aspworldtour.com

Seems there is still lots of work to be done (like athletes photos etc) and date issues indicating it was probably rushed and not thoroughly tested before hand. Lets hope the tour itself has a bit more finesse. Will be annoying if we do not get to watch events due to 'technical glitches' at their end.

Wiggolly Dantas - Terrific name

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Ted the Kiwi said..
Must say I am a bit surprised at this given how close we are to the start of the season and all the big noting when it was first announced. Maybe it will just be more of the same - but I was hoping and expecting a lot more.

Seems they are finally starting to put something together now - about time




LOS ANGELES, California/USA (Thursday, February 20, 2014) - Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) and Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd today announced Samsung?s title sponsorship of the ASP World Championship Tour that will see the global technology leader supporting the world?s foremost governing body of professional surfing.

The 2014 Samsung ASP World Championship Tour will commence its 21-event international series on March 1 with the Quiksilver and Roxy Pro Gold Coast.

?From the beginning, our goal has been to elevate the platform of this tremendous sport through top-of-class media and sponsor partnerships,? Paul Speaker, ASP CEO, said. ?Samsung is a global leader in technology, opening new possibilities for people everywhere, an ideal partner for professional surfing. Samsung will help us deliver a world-class experience for our athletes and fans. We are honored to have Samsung partner with us to celebrate the world?s best surfers in the world?s best waves.?

Samsung will be instrumental in delivering the world-class performances of the globe?s very finest surfers, including reigning ASP World Champions Mick Fanning and Carissa Moore, icons Kelly Slater and Stephanie Gilmore, up-and-comers John John Florence and Courtney Conlogue and a field of international, explosive and engaging talent across both the men?s and women?s divisions.

Following a transitional year in 2013 where the organization built up its departments and programs, this season will see the sport reborn with all of professional surfing?s initiatives from production to athlete servicing to media, marketing, sponsorship, broadcast, falling under the purview of the ASP for the first time in the sport?s storied 38-year history.

From swellnet.

Interesting article..

And seems GoPro is sponsoring some part of the tour.


Stop Press: Peter 'Joli' Wilson on the ASP's new media deal
It's in the fine print. It always is. A fortnight ago the ASP sent out emails for media accreditation to the Quiksilver Pro, the first event run under the auspices of ZoSea. And there it was, in 8 point font buried within the terms and conditions, cold manifestation of the ASP's new media deal:

?I hereby assign in full the rights to all audio, visual, still image or moving content I generate at the Event to ASP. By selecting 'I agree' you agree to the aforementioned terms and conditions.?

There was much more detail in the fine print but the gist of it was this: the ASP are claiming ownership of any content created or captured at an ASP event, at least while that person has an ASP-accredited lanyard around their neck.

One person who doesn't 'agree' with the new terms and conditions is Peter 'Joli' Wilson. Joli has followed the ASP World Tour for over twenty years and has built the largest archival library of competitive surfing imagery in the world.

In October Joli was approached by the ASP to work full time for them. He had a meeting, where he conveyed an interest but sought further information about the role. Joli never heard back from the ASP. Craig Braithwaite recently spoke to Joli about the ASP's new media deal.

Swellnet: What is your understanding of the new media accreditation rules?
Joli: Basically by obtaining a media pass for all ASP events, you are signing over ownership of all audio interviews, video and stills imagery to the ASP for no monetary compensation.

Why is the ASP doing this?
They told me they are basing their media model on American sports leagues. Which doesn?t sound right. I?m not familiar with their [America?s] laws but I?ve covered International Rugby Union and cricket tests in the past, and they make sure you are who you say you are and they approve who you?re working for. But once that?s done they do not ask for your copyright. You still own all of your images and are free to do what you like with them.

The speculation is the ASP are attempting to protect their intellectual property rights. I was told the ASP no longer is going to allow anyone, people or companies, to make money from the ASP brand.

Sure, that affects the bigger companies. Like those RedBull 21-day productions. They will no longer be able to use ASP competitive imagery in their productions. But also freelance photographers and videographers will get caught up in the new media accreditation rules.

What they have told me could technically happen is this kind of scenario: I can shoot a whole day for 10 hours on the beach. At the end of the day an ASP representative can approach me and ask for all of my memory cards. At that point I would no longer own the photos, and we would enter, to use the ASP?s catchphrase, a ?content share? of those images.

I?m not even sure content share is a legal term, is it? Whatever. I would then have to ask the ASP for permission to use my own images. They can simply say no, if they do not like the way in which I will use them.

It now makes no sense for me to shoot all day, because I don?t own my images at the end of it.

So you do all of this for a cooked lunch then?
Well, yeah basically. Even then that has its perils. You have to sign a new waiver where you will absolve ASP from all damages caused if you were to suffer food poisoning or get a bone stuck in your throat. That?s new too. We?ve always signed waivers with Billabong to enter into a boat in the Teahupo?o channel and whatnot. But now we have to sign one to eat at an event.

Do you think the ASP have thought this through entirely?
I?m not sure what they?ve done. There is no major sport in Australia with a similar working model to the ASP?s new media one. Not the NRL, the AFL or the ARU or Cricket. Once you're approved with your media accreditation in those sports, you own all of your images. You can and do with them whatever you please.

You might recall the Indian Cricket Board (ICB) a while back tried to seize strict control over their cricketing images and film. The Australian press boycotted the Sub Continent tour. Didn?t cover any of it at all, out of protest to the ICB?s ridiculous demands.

On the news here, you?d watch the sport and they?d simply just read the scores. No comment on achievements or highlights, no video, no highlights. Just nothing. The same with the newspapers. Just the scores in a tiny corner of the back pages.

The only losers in that little skirmish were cricket and the fans who love the game. No thought was given to any of that. I can?t help but feel this is a little the same with what the ASP is attempting to do. Sport is nothing without its fans.

What happens now for you?
I?m not sure. Perhaps of more importance and concern than the short term, where magazines and whatnot buy my images, is my archival library. I?ve been building it since 1972. I?ve followed the tour for the last 20 plus years and eked out nothing more than a meagre living. Now that doesn?t even seem likely anymore.

Suddenly it's hard for me to justify spending money when I?m not getting any archival footage for my library. I?ve got the largest competitive surfing library in the sport. People come to me for those images sometimes five or ten years after I?ve taken the shot.

I dunno where to now. Maybe I?ll turn my attention to pet portraits. There?s actually more money in that (laughs).

What impact will this have on surfing?
Well it's my understanding of Australian law where I can take a photo of anyone I like while I am in a public place. So it now makes more sense to me to not get a media pass, therefore I get to keep all of my images, as long as they were taken while standing on public land. I can exercise my right to stand in a public place and snap photos.

The problem with committing to this as a new business plan is; who is to say I will be able to get anywhere near the surfers to get the images I need? There?s a lot of time and expense being put into a maybe.

No other sport I?m familiar with does this, so it will be interesting to see how it all pans out at Snapper. It will be a trial of sorts, and until we see it [the new media plan] in action, we won?t know how successful it will be. I know a lot of photographers who aren?t bothering with media passes, and a few who are taking a wait and see approach.

How does all of this make you feel?
Well I read a Nick Carroll article over at Surfline just now, and he talked to Kelly and got some direct quotes from him. Kelly said, ?Some people are getting left out under the new arrangements and deals,? So Kelly, to me, is endorsing ZoSea and the new direction they?re taking. I?ve covered the Tour since ?89 when Kelly first entered professional surfing. There is not a photographer out there with a bigger or better catalogue of Kelly?s competitive career than myself. And I?m one of the ones now getting left out. I wonder what Kelly would say to that?

Swellnet attempted to contact Kelly for this story, but he chose not to answer our request for an interview. //CRAIG BRAITHWAITE



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^^^^Mick

SCENES FROM THE REBUILD
A week before the WCT kicks off, how far is the ASP along in reinventing the pro surfing wheel?
By Nick Carroll

It's all happening at Snapper Rocks right now, folks! The Quiksilver Pro event site is close to complete and bigger than ever, straddling the beach like the avatar of modern surf sport it is.

Its, errr, erection matches the blizzard of public activity emerging from ASP circles over the past few weeks. A new global sponsor is on board in the sleek shape of electronics giant Samsung.

New employees have been announced, a new website has been launched, and a new live commentary team has been announced, led by ESPN sports caller Pat Parnell and the surf-familiar Joe Turpel.


And it seems like there's more money than ever: The Quik Pro, like all the men's WCTs in 2014, has a prize boost to half a million dollars, while the accompanying Roxy Pro jumps to $250,000.

Like we said, it's all happening. But what is "it"? How far along is ZoSea Media in its effort to re-invent the pro surfing wheel?

Trying to get a picture of this can be difficult. Aside from its recent PR blitz, the new ASP can feel amazingly opaque. Emails and phone calls go unanswered, and in the space left, uncertainty and gossip can arise. Jeez, check out Facebook.

But a big part of it is that the ASP staff has been close to overwhelmed. Re-invention has turned every detail of the world tour's operation into a massive reconstruction exercise. One of Tour Commissioner Kieren Perrow's first agenda items, for instance, was a re-jig of the hoary old ASP Rule Book. He assembled a small team, including Renato Hickel and Al Hunt, and began combing through the document.

"I thought it'd take a couple of days at most," he says. In fact it took over three weeks of continuous effort, during which the team discovered rules dating back to the 1980s, including one describing how you're supposed to paddle around a priority buoy. (Yep, that's what the surfers used to have to do.)

So what do we know about 2014? First up: there's more contests. Aside from committing to 11 men's events, the ASP is investing heavily in the women's tour, re-setting three new events in Fiji, Trestles and Maui and bringing the overall number to 10, just one off the men's. It's made what seems like an eminently smart move in bringing the Big Wave World Tour under its care.

It's also invested a considerable sum in two ex-surf industry names: Rod Brooks, former Quiksilver head of WCT events and now ASP's event consultant, and Graham Stapelberg, former Billabong marketing VP and now ASP's head of strategy. (A hallmark of the new ASP is awesome job titles, by the way; we asked Perrow if he had a card with "Commissioner" printed on it. He confirmed that he did.)

A lot of stuff around these events won't change, at least on the surface. The judging panel remains pretty much the same, though a specialist priority judge will be part of every WCT in 2014, perhaps a response to several gnarly disputed calls in 2013.

Other things have been tweaked. The rulebook is full of changes, which though subtle, will for sure affect competition through 2014. Injury wildcard Owen Wright, for instance, gets a gift seeding at 13th, despite not having competed since less than halfway through 2013. He's the first to benefit from a rule change that gives a high ranked injury wildcard a boost toward his earlier ranking (O was ranked 10th at the end of 2012, when he suffered his back injury). If Owen is fully recovered and in form, he'll face a lot easier draw from 13th than from 35th.

Another rule change involves priority blocking - a seemingly arcane area of pro surfing law, until you realize that every pro uses it to stop an opponent catching a winning wave. From now on, they'll effectively only get to use it once. But the rule is phrased so trickily that Commissioner Perrow was bracing himself to explain it to the surfers' meeting this coming Wednesday. Fans should brace themselves for some dummy-spitting around this rule, we suspect.

More seriously, the ASP's drug policy is now clearly worded and out front. No professional surfer can be in any doubt about the policy or the drugs involved: a full list of banned substances is included in the rulebook. Testing will be carried out at random and while the ASP will not reveal on whom and when, the organization is committed to making public any positive testing and penalties that result.

You can access the new rulebook on the ASP's freshly re-minted website. While most of the historical info has gone (we've been told it will be re-loaded when the staff has time), the site is clean and sharp, complete with the ASP's new logo, and with a much clearer focus on the athletes.

It's a clear message to the pro surfing fan-base, and perhaps also to potential sponsors: We're new, and we've got a new act. It's also been the scene of the organization's finest public glitch so far - the rebirth, then sudden removal of surf writer Lewis Samuel's Power Rankings.

Lewis was one of several journalists approached by the ASP, including Chas Smith, Matt Warshaw, and Australia's Steve Shearer, with a view to getting them involved in the website. All but Lewis politely declined.

Lewis says he was "pretty surprised" by the contact, seeing as how his original Power Rankings feature here on Surfline almost drove some of the pros insane with fury. Indeed, it's hard to know what anyone involved was thinking. "I kept wondering if they really understood what they were asking for," he told us. "But I got sucked in by the irony of it all, and I've never been that good with conservative decision making."

Stunned readers were directed to the first chunk of his ASP-commissioned Power Rankings in mid-February, to find Lewis had lost none of his renowned sting. This reporter understands several pros immediately responded with pissed-off emails to CEO Paul Speaker and other ASP staff. The Rankings were swiftly pulled, but not swiftly enough; nothing ever quite dies on the Internet.

Horses are also being spooked in the surf media arena by the wording of conditions attached to the new ASP media credentials. Put simply, if you're a photographer or videographer who shoots footage of anything around the event, the ASP claims full usage rights to what you shoot.

This contradicts Australian law in a couple of areas, and you can bet it'll be tested at Snapper. In keeping with the new ASP's philosophy of fan-centrism, the vast event site has been opened wide to viewers; the old surfers' deck, which blocked passing fans' sight of the action, has been removed and public space restored. It's a nice move, but how 5,000 people with camera-phones can be prevented from snapping Instagrams remains to be seen.

Meanwhile, a couple of big issues still face the new ASP. One is profitability. On the face of it, the Samsung announcement is a move exactly in the direction ZoSea had planned - a big name non-endemic backer in a key consumer area. But the income stream from the deal is unclear, and to cover the spread, it'd need to be titanic.

The organization is known to have a considerable financial backbone and has told the surfers there was enough in the kitty to support at least two years of endorsement-free operation. It's no longer facing that level of financial pressure. But the math right now is still gnarly. Of the 21 events in the men's and women's WCT, only 12 have naming rights sponsors. At least two surf industry companies - Volcom and Oakley - have pulled out, despite deals being offered to them and other potential naming-rights sponsors; Surfline understands that rather than the $1 million figure per event proposed originally by ZoSea, companies who've signed on for multiple events have been given a discount on the first year of operation.

Contrast this with the true cost of running a WCT - somewhere between $2 million and $3 million for a men's and half that for a women's - and it doesn't take long to work out that there's a very big gap between spending and income.

Another major issue for the ASP to address is the World Qualifying Series. The WCT and WQS rankings have again been split, reverting to the old two-tier system and clarifying who's who in the pro universe. It's a useful and practical move. But while the WCT events are being shored up financially, the WQS tour has shrunk alarmingly. From a base of over 40 contests five years ago, it's now hovering at 27, as recession-hit Europe in particular has shed events like leaves in autumn. Apart from anything else, this limits the recruitment of new surfers to the pro pool; its effects may not be properly seen for years.

But the fact is that it's early days yet for a group who six months ago, had almost no news for us at all. "Compared to where things were late last year, a lot has happened in a short time," one source told Surfline. The same source points out that until a media distribution base had been set in place, the tour didn't have anything to sell - and most of that didn't happen until late 2013.

Even as this article was being finalized, things kept happening. The men's WCT at Keramas in Bali, pioneered last year by ex-sponsor Oakley, vanished overnight, to be replaced by one in Jeffreys Bay. No naming rights sponsor has yet been announced for the J-Bay event.

Kelly Slater, the surfer closest to the ZoSea crew, says he's happy with their progress. "Some people are going to feel like they're being left out," he says. "That's natural when you have a change happening... But I think they (ZoSea) are doing OK so far."

Either way, 2014's gonna be a balancing act par excellence for the ASP and professional surfing.

More than ever, they'll be relying on the talent to pull out a huge year. Excellent waves and dramatic competition has always been pro surfing's real deal. If that happens, especially through the coming summer, ZoSea might well have what they need to get the sports market's attention.

I watched the chicks for a few hours today. New team seemed not to dissimilar to the last. Still seemed to calling favourites and not really having a good feel for the judging. Although conditions were poor there was really no excuse for some of their comments. A shame the chicks always have to surf when its crap waves.

So now we have 4 ads every 6 to 7 minutes - they are only short but it feels like watching channel 9. Dam it. Their website is still lacking pics (can understand Dane as he is not a regular but Matt won last week so they really have no excuse with him). Also their live scoring does not even link through. Seems like lots of of minor issues that should have been sorted out a long time back. Unprofessional.

Also finding the resolution of the streaming pretty ordinary - hope they can fix this sooner rather than later.

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Indodreaming said..

Maybe I am aussie biased but miss the old commentating team

Seems they have some new terms this year - WRAP seems to be the early favourite. I am sure i have heard it on almost every wave so far

To be fair to the new ASP lots of the issues have evaporated as the day has gone on. Things are running a lot smoother on the website now although those ads are still there.

I thought the webcast was OK...commentary is still rubbish Turpel and Pottz make me want to start cutting myself

Looks like the website is failing once more. You would really think that they would have all of these links working.

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Indodreaming said..

Ads ads and ads

Waffling Joe Turpel and then ads

Maybe I am aussie biased but miss the old commentating team

Agreed so many ads it makes me want to switch off. Interestingly the women's coverage has hardly any ads at all.

They had the individual heats last night but not today?