After a reportedly top-secret meeting on Sunday (September 13, 2009) in which at least 20 surfers discussed the “Slater Tour” with potential organizers, ESPN/Action’s Micah Abrams caught up with Bede Durbidge and got his thoughts on the proposed “champions tour.” Durbidge seemed optimistic:
. . . maybe no one will even decide to follow this new proposed tour, but it’s still making everyone think. We can make the sport better. The ASP wants to make the sport better, so maybe they can take the ideas off these other guys and use them. So I think whatever happens, it will be good. It’s going to be interesting.
Follow the link for the entire interview.
[Link: ESPN/Action]
If the ASP doesn’t have their act together already, how are we supposed to think they will? Are they going to start trying now or something? What does that say about their attitude before? I don’t think they can do it… there are too many conflicts of interests. The brands run their board, and it’s in the brands’s interest to keep a monopoly on the sponsorships/naming rights. Then there’s not enough money for even decent production and not enough to pay the surfers what they deserve.
All these ‘we’ll get better’ statements say is they realize they aren’t doing a nearly as good a job that could be done for surfing… guilt and incompetence. This is the case, they should move aside. I don’t know how much more I can take of commentators spending entire heats talking up their boardshorts and not knowing how much time is left.
From where these events are now, there’s not a lotta places they can go but up. Change has gotta come.
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