Recommendations for Future Research

There is a rich vein of research potential in tracking the development of the WSL and surfing as the sport moves toward inclusion in the 2020 Olympiad in Japan. This work only covers the first year of implementation of the WSL as a brand and a number of changes have occurred in professional surfing since the writing of this research.

Most pressing, I would suggest, is the changing gender balance and politics within the sport;

the use of marketing communications and new technology to make surfing fan-centric

instead of industry-centric and the paradigm shift in the emergence of wave pools as sites of professional surf contests.

Indeed, a British female business leader who is sponsorship expert (at the time of writing), now heads the WSL and is one of the few women CEO’s running a global sports franchise.

You could argue that this is due to an understanding of the lucrative market for lifestyle apparel aimed at the female audience. What is clear is a re-imagining of professional surfing with women at the centre of this new surfing form. The commercial rationale for the elevation of women’s surfing is one aspect and direction of research. Another would be extending Krista Comer’s work analysing surf feminisms in the era of Trump and broaden that research agenda to other countries, climates, faiths and cultures.

The use of data, supporting Clifton Evers’ view of current professional surfers as products, is another avenue of investigation needing some attention and consideration as is the

techniques used to celebrify both surfers, contest venues and ‘perfect’ waves.

In these datafied times, information is used by brand marketers to mine and define new avenues of commercial opportunity. Marketing communications, so central to the WSL integrated spectacle, uses sophisticated harvesting techniques to collect data on its surf fan base to create a wave of products and services to increase the economic power of ZMH and the WSL. These are further fields of study to add to the body of knowledge in critical surf studies.

The wave pool and its global development, is clearly an emerging central part of this

‘indoorisation’ or inlandisation of surfing. ZMH has invested in the development of wave pool technology and with the Kelly Slater Wave Pool Company. Indeed, the WSL has firmly put the mediation of this paradigm shift in surfing at the centre of its integrated spectacle, heavily promoting fantastical imagery of elite surfers surfing a ‘perfect’ wave, deep in

Southern California, miles and miles away from the coast. We have to ask; whose perfection does this represent? Jess Ponting’s academic and historical research of the wave pool phenomenon would seem to provide a central space around which to explore new themes.

And what about detournement? I asked my interviewees what theirs would be. To Derek Hynd it was: ‘Do what Dora would have done. Tear it down and start again’. While this will not happen and there are many impressive things about the WSL integrated spectacle, there could be a useful research journey exploring alternatives to competitive surfing and

researching surfing and sports audiences to see how the commodified, McDonaldized, integrated spectacle of the WSL affects their understanding of what it is the be a surfer in these datafied and digital times.

7. Epilogue

This research set out to critically analyse the appropriation, rationalisation and re-branding of elite, professional surfing. It utilised a provocative Marxist theoretical approach, and the work of Guy Debord and his theory of spectacle, as the academic thread running through the thesis.

The approach was experimental, providing what would hopefully be seen as addition to the body of knowledge in the expanding field of critical surf studies. It is appropriate, therefore, to provide an epilogue to this research journey.

If we take an epilogue as a section of speech that serves as a form of comment or even a conclusion to what has happened during the arc of this academic investigation, then the following serves as the prose of praxis neatly summing the beginning and the end of this work and, it could be argued, signifies a substantial change in the tectonic plates of global surf culture and its histories.

The epilogue uses two significant ‘voices’ involved in this transformation and research process – Paul Speaker and Ian Cairns.

The initial verbatim voice, from Mr Speaker in a 2014 media interview with Forbes television, highlights the business strategy and opportunism of ZMH as it embarked on its

rationalisation process culminating in the formation of the WSL. It is interesting to note the style of language so synonymous with the marketing communications and promotional culture created by ZMH’s and its cultural intermediaries during this research timeline.

The epilogue ends with the resignation announcement of Mr Speaker in 2017 and a primary research quote related to this event by Mr Ian Cairns, a key figure interviewee for this work and one of the architects of the ASP, the forerunner to the WSL.

Forbes Television Headline (Aston):

Paul Speaker Reinvents the Surfing Business

Mr Speaker: “I think it (professional surfing) is certainly a diamond in the rough and we are working hard to see if we can polish it up… What has happened over the last thirty years is technology has caught up to be able to deliver live broadcast to the experience and we started to see a rabid fan base that could finally come and have a home... This opportunity in sports business does not exist anywhere else…I also find that there are not many

business opportunities where you can take a fragmented sport, then bring them all together and also have a rabid fan base that is really digitally savvy and coming together in one home

for the first time. It just doesn’t exist. So, this opportunity in sports business does not exist anywhere else.”

Mr Speaker added: “You don’t have a place where there is truly a global sport. You don’t have an ownership team that owns not only production but events, a relationship with the athletes and full archive rights of the entire tour. And you don’t have, um, the absolute ownership of all your distribution infrastructure, uh, so it doesn’t exist anywhere else. You’d have to shop at five different places to have the same realisation with the NFL or MLB.”

Fast forward two years and four months

Press Release (verbatim) reported on surf portal, Magicseaweed, 11 Jan 2017

Paul Speaker announced his resignation as CEO of the World Surf League today, promoting a flurry of speculation about the future direction of the WSL. Owner of the WSL Dirk Ziff will take over as interim CEO until a replacement is found.

Mr Speaker’s statement is below (verbatim).

"I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends, and is looking forward to 2017. For many of us, the turning of the calendar is a time for reflection, and sometimes, a time for decisions.

Holding co-ownership and CEO positions at the World Surf League over the last five years has been an incredible honor for me. It has also been an awesome task that has required long hours, heavy travel and family sacrifice. It has always been my intention to pass the baton to someone at the right time to lead the next phase of what we have all created. I believe that time is now. With the acquisition of the Kelly Slater Wave Company, we are at a remarkable inflection point in the League's history and we are ready for a new leader who can guide the organization to even greater accomplishments.

It is with this in mind that I have decided to step down as the CEO of the WSL at the end of January. I will continue to be a co-owner of the League and will work with the ownership group and Board of Directors to ensure a smooth transition until a new CEO is in place. As many of you are aware, Dirk Ziff has been a deeply committed and passionate co-owner of our League and he has agreed to bring that commitment to the role of interim CEO until a new chief executive is brought on board. Dirk and I have a close and collaborative

partnership and will work together on a seamless transition.

Nearly five years ago, I journeyed to Australia to meet with the Board of Directors of what was then called the Association of Surfing Professionals to raise the audacious idea of an acquisition. Since the transaction was completed some months later, I have done my best to

build an organization with a best-in-class product and culture. It has been a pleasure and a privilege to oversee the transformation of professional surfing into the globally-recognized sport it is today. I have been privileged to share this journey with a great and committed group of people, and I owe so much to all of you who have worked tirelessly to elevate this sport to new heights. Your passion and dedication brought us to where we are today, and will be the driving force of our future success.

Among our many accomplishments together are: the remarkable increase in fan

engagement; the highly professional quality of the broadcast; our stellar event production;

the various athlete development programs, and the introduction of the sport to a new group of non-endemic corporate partners.

The commitment to our athletes in and out of the water has led us to many firsts for surfing, including: a pension plan for our athletes; the creation of the commissioner's office to secure the integrity of the sport; prize-purse parity between the men and the women of our

championship tour, and the first multi-year surfers' agreement.

The WSL has pioneered new technologies and digital strategies that have been ahead of the curve, and have led to recognition throughout the sports industry as a first-mover in many areas. With a focus on the fan, surfing is now enjoyed on multiple media platforms around the globe, through traditional broadcast, but most frequently on our mobile app, website, and social media channels. We have also acknowledged the global nature of our sport by

delivering our live event broadcast in English, French, Portuguese and Japanese.

I am incredibly excited for our future. The Kelly Slater Wave Company offers a tremendous and unprecedented opportunity for the League to dramatically shift the landscape of high-performance surfing around the world with guaranteed conditions, total fairness for the competitors, greatly enhanced live viewing, and major television coverage at a scheduled time. Our sport's inclusion in the 2020 Olympics is a testament to the continuing rise of surfing as a global participatory and spectator sport, and will allow WSL athletes to represent and compete for their countries for the first time ever on arguably the greatest sporting stage in the world.

I have enjoyed working with all of you more than you could ever imagine and now I am going to enjoy being a co-owner and a fan and spending time with my family who have been incredibly supportive over the last five years. I will miss you all dearly. You are a dynamic, committed and fun group that in many ways have become an extended family. Please keep up the incredible work.

See you at the beach. Paul"

Ian Cairns, Direct Message (DM) Tweet to me, 30 January 2017

“Yes, it’s the start of a new phase. Catastrophe or sensational? Who knows. All I know is Paul put lipstick on my 35-year-old model. He did not re-envision the WSL as a 21st century entity.”

Ends

8. Appendices

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) and World Surf League (WSL)