by The Editors on September 27, 2010
On April 19, 2008 snowboarder Amanda Yan caught an edge on the Crystal Road Run and slid off the road and then fell off a cliff resulting in traumatic injuries including dislocated vertebrae and ribs, broken leg, broken shoulder blade, kidney lacerations, and traumatic brain injury.
Now, the BC government is reportedly suing Whistler Blackcomb to recoup Yan’s heathcare costs, according to a story in The Province.
The statement of claim says that the accident was caused by the negligence and breach of duty of the defendant, named as Blackcomb Skiing Enteprises Limited Partnership, the owners and operators of Blackcomb Mountain and Whistler Mountain. . . It says the mountain created a hazardous condition and failed to erect any, or any adequate, warning signs alerting users to the presence of a sharp drop-off and cliff adjacent to the run. . . The company failed to erect a barrier that would have prevented Yan from going down the embankment and over the cliff, says the lawsuit.
If it isn’t gondola’s failing, or parts falling off chairlifts, or bolts breaking, or drive motor malfunctions on the Peak 2 Peak, or snowcats getting caught in avalanches, or foreclosure, or fires, it’s getting sued by their own government. When will Whistler Blackcomb ever get a break?
[Link: The Province]
by The Editors on September 27, 2010
Jeff Harbaugh delves into Nike’s recently reported quarterly numbers today on his Market Watch blog and sees another quarter of the “monster” is doing well on nearly all fronts; including Hurley and Converse.
Hurley, which we’d all like lots of details on but don’t get, is part of Nike’s “Other Businesses” segment. In addition to Hurley, the segment includes Cole Hann, Converse, NIKE golf and Umbro. That segment generated revenues of $693 in the quarter. Hurley revenues were up double digit, but that’s the only specific we get, and it’s not all that specific.
For the rest of Harbaugh’s walk though click the link. . .
[Link: Market Watch]
by The Editors on September 27, 2010
Tony Hawk has a new book out and this time he’s written it with his sister Pat Hawk (who has time to write their own books these days). It’s titled, How Did I Get Here? The Ascent of an Unlikely CEO.
Fast Company spoke to Tony about the book and asked him what his biggest mistake has been.
I was 18 or 19 — I was just signing my name on the dotted line everywhere I went. This one company was making Velcro wallets — really bad pink and blue ones. Probably the worst part for me was it ripped off the Vision Street Wear logo and made them say TONY HAWK GEAR. I didn’t even see them until they were in the store. That was the tipping point for me: I learned not to allow someone else to use my likeness and my name like that.
Oddly, he didn’t mention the Tony Hawk Helmet Cam deal with Prime Entertainment in which he was forced to sue for $115,000 plus punitive damages. How Did I Get Here comes out Tuesday, October 5, 2010. Click here to buy a copy.
[Link: Fast Company]
by The Editors on September 27, 2010
After three years of building elegant street courses for their Maloof Money Cups only to tear them down following the events, the Maloof family is hoping to build a permanent park in Orange County to follow through on what they’ve already done in Flushing Meadows New York, according to a story in the Orange County Business Journal.
“We just can’t afford to tear it down anymore,” Joe Maloof said. “I don’t mean that financially.” Maloof, a skateboarding fan, said that to tear it down “makes you sick to your stomach.” “I’m never tearing down another park,” he said. . . A site in Huntington Beach is looking like a leading contender for a permanent 16,000-square-foot skatepark that would host the annual contest. An environmental study is in the early stages.
Huntington Beach could always use another skatepark. We vote for one right on the sand near the pier.
[Link: Orange County Business Journal]
by The Editors on September 27, 2010
On Sunday, September 26, 2010, Protesters in Tokyo’s Miyashita Park “banged drums and waved ‘No Nike’ ” signs in opposition of Nike’s plans build a skateboard park in an area which was formerly used as a homeless encampment, according to a story on Japan Today.
Officials accompanied by police tore out the squatters’ tents from the park Friday and threw out their belongings. More than 30 homeless people were forced to vacate the area, according to Yasumasa Hioki, director of public works at Shibuya district, an area filled with fancy boutiques and young shoppers. . . “This is just an excuse to get rid of the homeless,” said protest organizer Seiji Uematsu, adding residents and visitors should decide how to use the park.
And all Nike wants to do is put in a skatepark and use a public space as an advertising venue by changing the name of the park to Miyashita Nike Park.
[Link: Japan Today and Metro.co.uk]
by The Editors on September 20, 2010
Jeff Harbaugh checks in on the progress Quiksilver has made lately. He says things at the action fashion giant are looking up.
Quik is the poster child of a company that’s done what it needed to do following the twin blows of the Rossignol acquisition and the recession. As somebody who’s done a bit of turnaround work, I can tell you it’s no fun, for either management or employees, to be dealing with negative stuff month after month. Quik maybe has a little more work it wants to do on its balance sheet, but it’s largely out from under the reverberations of that deal though, like all of us, not of the recession.
And all they had to do was trade off a chunk of the company. Click the link for the rest of the analysis.
[Link: Harbaugh’s Market Watch]
by The Editors on September 20, 2010
We knew when Fuel TV’s Australian mates started including mixed martial arts in their “action sports” content mix in December of 2008, that it was only a matter of time before the American Fuel TV began rationalizing why it was the perfect fit for their audience. And when Ken Block’s Gymkanna 3, Part 2 became the most watched video on Youtube.com last week (with 6.5 million views), it’s almost a no-brainer if young male eyeballs is all Fuel is after.
That’s why we were not surprised to learn that beginning today (September 20, 2010) Fuel.TV will be adding MMA and rally racing to their growing mix of board and motor sports, according to a CJ Olivares interview on Transworld Business. Olivares explains:
We took all of the six core sports and asked ‘what are the things that they share? Who are the participants? What attracts the aspirants to them?’ And we came up of a list of like 10-12 concepts, if you will, that we believe define the audience. . . Things like freedom and defiance, individuality, independence, courage, confidence, innovation, aggression, exploration, and humor. And one that we really keyed in on was risk. Risk became a really central concept in conjunction with the others, because we started to look at the total landscape of sports that are out there. . . . The two that really jump out immediately are MMA and rally car. . . . There’s an opportunity there for us to look at those two sports—and other things—it’s a constant exploration for us to identify: what are those other things? We’re about this new generation of sports where risk is the only rule.
In other words, the business realities of cable television require Fuel.TV to air shows that people want to watch and as we’ve said repeatedly, the mainstream doesn’t really care about action sports. But two sweaty, muscled, nearly-nude men locked in a cage grunting, punching, and hugging each other into kama sutra like poses or dudes driving ridiculously over-powered small cars recklessly; who doesn’t want to watch that?
[Link: Transworld Business]
Follow the jump for the official press release. . .
[click to continue…]
by The Editors on September 13, 2010
According to a story in the Daily Breeze Black Flys is still in business a year after Jack Martinez sold the trademark to the company’s Asia distributor Carrozzeria Japan Co. Ltd.
“This past year we have been doing everything we can to just gain the relationship and trust back from our old clients,” Black Flys Inc. co-manager Cary Hokama said. . . The 32-year-old manager – dressed in a white collared shirt – said the company plans to . . . attract younger customers who embody an “absence of restraint,” in addition to its older, “hard-core” loyalists.
Stranger things have happened.
[Link: Daily Breeze]
by The Editors on September 13, 2010
Nike 6.0 has reportedly nabbed the title sponsorship position of the Winter Dew Tour’s Breckenridge, Colorado stop according to a Tripp Mickle story in the Sports Business Journal.
In an effort to promote the first line of Nike 6.0 winter outerwear this year, Nike has signed on as the title sponsor of the Winter Dew Tour’s Breckenridge, Colo., event this December. The three-year deal . . . is valued in the low seven figures annually. . .
It’s nice, but it means we won’t have the Totino’s Pizza Open to kick around any longer.
[Link: Sports Business Journal]
by The Editors on September 10, 2010
Yesterday, (September 9. 2010) it was announced that Metacafe had “acquired” action sports site Go211.com for what MetaCafe CEO Erick Hachenburg called an “equity transaction,” according to a post on All Things D by Peter Kafka.
So what does he get for his equity? In addition to the four million visitors that Action Sports’ Go211 gets a month, MetaCafe will also get a new chief revenue officer, in the form of former Action Sports CEO Sean Aruda.
Ignoring for a moment that Go211’s traffic numbers have always been highly suspect, it is interesting that Aruda finally found someone to rescue his site.
From almost the the minute Go211.com launched in early 2007 rumors began swirling that Aruda was already trying to flip the site. While he may not have gotten a buyer exactly, at least he’s got a new paying job. It looks like he’s in good company, too. According to MediaWeek, Metacafe plans to “double its revenues next year and reach profitability.”
And that’s just the kind of talk that keeps those bubbles bubbling.
[Link: All Things D and MediaWeek]
On April 19, 2008 snowboarder Amanda Yan caught an edge on the Crystal Road Run and slid off the road and then fell off a cliff resulting in traumatic injuries including dislocated vertebrae and ribs, broken leg, broken shoulder blade, kidney lacerations, and traumatic brain injury. 
