by The Editors on July 13, 2010
Paul Naude, SIMA Environmental Fund President; Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., SIMA Environmentalist of the Year; Tom Curren, SIMA Waterman of the Year; Scott Anderson of Channel Islands accepting Al Merrick’s Lifetime Achievement Award on his behalf. Photo Credit: Carl Steindler
Al Merrick may not have showed up to accept his SIMA Lifetime Achievement Award (family vacations are important) but 650 members of the surf establishment got dressed up for the 21st Annual Waterman’s Ball held at the super-plush Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel on Saturday, July 9, 2010.
Tom Curren won Waterman of the Year, Robert F. Kennedy (a favorite on the SIMA circuit) won Environmentalist of the Year, and SIMA raised $400,000 for charitable causes. Not a bad evening at all.
“Supporting the efforts of the 19 ocean-related Waterman’s Weekend beneficiaries has never been more necessary than before with the worst man made environmental disaster happening in the Gulf right now,” said Paul Naude, President of the SIMA Environmental Fund. “Thanks to the surf industry, this year we raised $400,000 and now Waterman’s Weekend has raised more than $5.4 million over the past 21 years for environmental causes. A special thanks goes to our honorees, Tom Curren and Al Merrick for their dedication to the sport of surfing. As well as our Environmentalist of the Year recipient, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for fighting to protect and preserve our playground and livelihood and inspiring us all.”
Follow the jump for all the SIMA details or click on one of this links for photos and stories from media outlets who cared enough to actually attend: (OC Register, Shop-Eat-Surf.com, Transworld Business, Surfer Mag, Transworld Surf)
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by The Editors on July 12, 2010
The Magazine Publishers of America today (July 12, 2010) released their Q1 2010 survey of magazine advertising pages (April through June 2010 vs 2009) and this time it looks like the death spiral has stopped. Print ad pages were actually up .8 percent against the same quarter in 2009.
At Bonnier Corporation’s Transworld Media it is a bit of a different story. All of Transworld’s titles (unfortunately, the only action sports publications tracked by the MPA) continued their downward slide–some more than others.
2010 2009 % Change
TRANSWORLD SURF 221.03 230.67 -4.2
TRANSWORLD MOTOCROSS 237.00 248.71 -4.7
TRANSWORLD SNOWBOARDING 46.67 52.84 -11.7
TRANSWORLD SKATEBOARDING 220.51 334.67 -34.1
RIDE BMX 45.00 127.33 -64.7
According to the MPA report page losses at TransWorld Surf the magazine that saw a 22.6 percent drop in Q1 has slowed to only 4.2 percent. Transworld Skateboarding page losses, however, have accelerated from 20.2 in Q1 to 34.1 percent in Q2.
One industry observer compared the first half of 2008 to the first half of 2010 and put it this way: “Transworld Skateboarding has gone from 802 ad pages to 463 in just two years.”
Transworld isn’t home to Bonnier’s only drops. Wakeboarding Magazine is down 32.6 percent for the quarter and Ski and Skiing, the two titles that were down in the mid double digits in Q1 2010, are missing from the Q2 reports.
[Link: Magazine Publisher of America]
by The Editors on July 11, 2010
Guess it’s hard to keep a secret in action sports: Billabong announced today that they “have reached conditional agreement to acquire RVCA.”
Like many others who have sold their businesses to Billabong, RVCA founder Pat Tenore seems pretty happy about the deal.
One of the key things about Billabong is its respect for the creative independence of each of its brands and that level of flexibility will allow RVCA to maintain its identity while benefiting from the support of the wider Billabong group.”
The unofficial Billabong rumors list is getting shorter by the day. The only one we’re waiting on now is the Sun Diego acquisition. Maybe they’re saving that for next Monday.
Then again, the Sydney Morning Herald is suggesting that Billabong focus on some acquisitions at home and pick up the now profitable Globe brand from the Hill brothers. Really? That sounds like a bit of wishful thinking on someone’s part.
Follow the jump for the official RVCA details.
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by The Editors on July 11, 2010
Today is the day the skate footwear industry has been waiting for. On July 11, 2010 Shaun White’s Target tennies go on sale in stores around the country and online. Wisely the line includes both a dunk (the Scrambler, which in men’s sizes is called the Mossimo Stone) and an old school (the Brickyard) as well as several other skate knock offs.
And the best part? They’re all less than $35 a pair. Hard to believe you can sell quality China shoes for that much, huh? What must the other companies be doing with all that money? Oh yeah. They’re supporting skateboarding. . .
[Link: Target]
by The Editors on July 9, 2010
In a story we posted June 16, 2010 about Zumiez expanding into Canada we mentioned jokingly that if Zumiez was interested in moving north of the border “wouldn’t it just be easier for Zumiez to buy West 49.”
Now, it appears that our joke could become a reality as West 49 is reporting that Zumiez has offered the Canadian action mall retailer a buyout “in excess” of the $1.30 offered by Billabong.
The Company’s board, after consultation with its outside legal and financial advisors, has concluded that the Zumiez proposal would reasonably be expected to lead to a superior proposal. However, the Company is concerned with Zumiez’s previously stated intent to enter the Canadian market, and therefore the board has instructed the Company’s management to seek to protect the Company’s competitive position. Subject to the terms of the existing agreement with Billabong International Limited, the Company’s special committee intends to seek to negotiate with Zumiez to determine if its offer can become a firm offer that is financially superior to the transaction with Billabong and that West 49 can otherwise treat as a superior proposal under the terms of the existing agreement with Billabong.
Guess that would give Billabong a few extra dollars to spend elsewhere. Even better: what if Billabong just waits for Zumiez to cover the West 49 acquisition costs and then buys the whole thing two years down the road when mall retailers are even cheaper. . . Follow the jump for the entire release.
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by The Editors on July 9, 2010
In a classic example of just how rumors get laundered Apparel News retail editor Andrew Asch spins out a three page story titled Could RVCA Be Next in Billabong’s Buying Spree in which he adds absolutely no new information on the topic. Here’s the crux of his story:
Billabong . . . is widely rumored to be buying celebrated Costa Mesa, Calif.–based fashion brand RVCA. After several surf-industry publications and websites speculated on the rumor in the past couple of weeks, both Billabong and RVCA remain mum on the possible acquisition. (Neither company responded to requests for comment.)
That didn’t, however, stop Asch from rounding up few recycled conference call quotes from Billabong CEO Derek O’Neill, comments from Macquarie analyst Greg Dring, and a few lines from BRA’s Melissa Clary, and turning out a story so good that it almost makes us believe the Billabong buyout is a done deal.
But then what about Nike? We hear they’re the deep pockets with room for RVCA. After all, the Nike Open is right around the corner and you can’t exactly expect skaters to wear Hurley with their Cons.
[Link: Apparel News]
by The Editors on July 7, 2010
Few have been more dedicated to successfully mixing art, commerce, mainstream media, and action sports than Fuel TV General Manager CJ Olivares.
In seven years Olivares has taken what was basically a couple action sports event shows on Fox Sports and turned them into a compelling “network” of quality TV programming that has remained surprisingly true to the core of the sports it covers.
Fuel TV is only available in 30 million households (small in cable channel terms) but as CJ points out they’re getting millions of downloads each month in the iTunes store.
“We have 4 million downloads a month from the iTunes store,” C.J. Olivares, Fuel’s general manager, said Wednesday during an interview in his office, which sports a collection of surfboards, skateboards, guitars and a Batman mask. . . According to media consulting firm SNL Kagan, Fuel’s revenues have increased at least 20% nearly every year since its launch, and it should rake in $71.4 million in 2010. SNL Kagan estimates the channel’s cash flow at $20 million, amounting to a nearly 30% margin.
In the interview LA Times’ writer Meg James asks Olivares about being part of the Murdoch Media family, going through a potential sale, and growing a brand in the increasingly shattering media world. Follow the link for the rest of the interview.
[Link: LA Times via @JennGoodman]
by The Editors on July 7, 2010
Zumiez’s June net sales increased 16.4 percent to $37.2 million and June 2010 comps increased 10.9 percent. And the crowd goes wild. But what does it really mean? Only that they did better than last month (and much better than June 2009 when comps dropped 19.3%). At least they’re clawing in the proper direction, right? [click to continue…]
by The Editors on July 7, 2010
by The Editors on July 5, 2010
After all his talk about how competitive skateboarding has never been done correctly, it was a bit of shock to find out on Friday, (July 2, 2010) that Rob Dyrdek had signed a two-year DC/Monster Energy Drink Street League deal with ESPN, the company many blame for doing things wrong in skateboarding for years.
In an interview with ESPN/Action’s Micah Abrams (Dyrdek is already working the hype machine) Rob explains exactly why a long-term television deal is important for skateboarding and the Street League.
I want to build an elite property, and TV is a part of that. It needs to be built with partners who believe in the long term; it couldn’t just be someone who wanted to put it on TV. That’s why I chose a multiyear deal as opposed to just going out and getting the thing on TV.
Read the rest of the interview for the details of P-Rod and Chris Cole not appearing in the X Games, but skating on ESPN for the Street League. The ESPN TV deal seems a little messy, but guess those are the kinds of deals to make if the goal is turning skateboarding into Supercross? One one thing we can be certain of–Dyrdek will get paid.
Click the link for the interview or follow the jump for the entire Street League/ESPN press release.
[Link: ESPN/Action]
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