{"id":23675,"date":"2011-06-08T09:03:11","date_gmt":"2011-06-08T16:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=23675"},"modified":"2011-06-08T09:05:50","modified_gmt":"2011-06-08T16:05:50","slug":"nike-gets-in-on-australian-open-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=23675","title":{"rendered":"Nike Gets In On Australian Open, Too"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Manly\"<\/a>On the heels of news that Nike is taking over the title sponsorship position of the US Open of Surfing<\/a><\/strong> comes word that Nike surf brand Hurley<\/a><\/strong> has “joined forces” with Billabong<\/a><\/strong> and Events NSW<\/a><\/strong> to launch the Australian Open of Surfing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The event, set to take place at Sydney\u2019s iconic Manly Beach 11 \u2013 19 February 2012 is a global, multifaceted youth and sporting event that will showcase the best in surfing, skate, music, fashion and art with an expected spectator audience of 125,000. . . The Australian Open of Surfing is an extension of the world\u2019s largest action sports festival, the US Open of Surfing. The annual event held at Huntington Beach, California, celebrates inclusion and creativity while inspiring the next generation of athletes and artists.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Guess all we need now is a Nike French Open, and a Nike UK Open and we’ll have the Nike Grand Slam of Surfing. Seems Nike just can’t get enough of boardsports these days. Nike. Nike. Nike. Follow the jump for the official word from the ASP.ASP Announces the Australian Open of Surfing for 2012
\nJune 8, 2011 | ASP International<\/p>\n

MANLY, New South Wales\/Australia (Wednesday, June 8, 2011) \u2013 Hurley and Billabong have joined forces with Events NSW on behalf of the New South Wales Government today to announce a brand new global event for Sydney, the Australian Open of Surfing, sanctioned by the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP). The event, set to take place at Sydney\u2019s iconic Manly Beach 11 \u2013 19 February 2012 is a global, multifaceted youth and sporting event that will showcase the best in surfing, skate, music, fashion and art with an expected spectator audience of 125,000.<\/p>\n

The Australian Open of Surfing is an extension of the world\u2019s largest action sports festival, the US Open of Surfing. The annual event held at Huntington Beach, California, celebrates inclusion and creativity while inspiring the next generation of athletes and artists.<\/p>\n

Bob Hurley, Chairman and Founder of Hurley International, and Derek O\u2019Neill, CEO of Billabong International, spoke about their collaborative vision for the event. They were joined by surfing greats including two time World Surfing Champion Mick Fanning and surf icons and former world champions, Wayne \u2018Rabbit\u2019 Bartholomew, Barton Lynch and Mark Occhilupo who all welcomed the event enthusiastically to Manly.<\/p>\n

Widely known as the birthplace of Australian surfing, Manly was the location for the first World Surfing Championships held in 1964. Member for Manly, Mike Baird said the Australian Open of Surfing will reaffirm Manly\u2019s position on the global surfing circuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis event will also go beyond the surf and embrace other youth culture and lifestyle elements. By working closely with Manly Council we will make this event a global success,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Events NSW estimate the Open will drive more than $6 million in new money into NSW and showcase both Manly and Sydney to a global audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea for the Australian Open of Surfing was conceived in our home town of Huntington Beach, California, three years ago. In the midst of challenging economic times, our team had the courage to bring world class artists, athletes and musicians to \u2018Surf City USA\u2019,\u201d Bob Hurley, Hurley Chairman and Founder, said. \u201cAfter the incredible success of the US Open of Surfing, our next thought was that it would be amazing to do an event at the ground zero of modern surfing, Manly Beach in Sydney.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe desire to work with \u2018Best in Class\u2019 partners and brands when we do things, hence the alliance with Billabong. Collaboration for the benefit of consumers is what we enjoy. We seek to be inclusive and innovative. The opportunity to work on the Australian Open of Surfing is not only a personal pleasure, but will clearly be a career highlight.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a world first, Hurley and Billabong will join forces to launch the Australian Open of Surfing. Billabong will look to move the final event of the Association of Surfing Professionals World Junior Title (WJT) series from Narrabeen to Manly, bringing the event into the Australian Open of Surfing fold.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ASP World Junior Championships provides a window into the future of surfing and by wrapping the season-deciding event into the broader Australian Open of Surfing, we now provide the competitors with an incredible opportunity to showcase their talents,\u201d Derek O\u2019Neill, Billabong CEO, said. \u201cBillabong, through its global retail platform, already works closely with Hurley and Bob and I have often discussed ways that we can build on the existing relationship. Hurley has a great event in the US Open of Surfing and Billabong has the premier event in world junior surfing so it made sense to bring those properties together to celebrate both the history and future of one of Australia\u2019s greatest sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

AUSTRALIAN OPEN OF SURFING (February 11 \u2013 19, 2012)
\n– Men\u2019s ASP 6 star \u2013 $250,000
\n– Women\u2019s ASP 6 star \u2013 $80,000
\n– Australian Open Men\u2019s World Juniors \u2013 $75,000
\n– Australian Open Women\u2019s World Junior \u2013 $20,000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the heels of news that Nike is taking over the title sponsorship position of the US Open of Surfing comes word that Nike surf brand Hurley has “joined forces” with Billabong and Events NSW to launch the Australian Open of Surfing. The event, set to take place at Sydney\u2019s iconic Manly Beach 11 \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23675"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23675"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23677,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23675\/revisions\/23677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}