This morning World Surf League co-owner and CEO Paul Speaker announced his resignation effective at the end of January. In a letter addressed to fans of the WSL Speaker declared that co-owner, and reclusive financial backer, Dirk Ziff would serve as interim CEO until a decision is reached on who will fulfil the position.
Speaker spoke about his list of achievements during his five-year reign at the helm of the sport’s governing body, a period which has seen the sport ramp up its mainstream appeal with higher quality webcasts, commentary and a much more sportier, clean-cut feel.
“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,” states Speaker in the letter.
“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."
Speaker’s time at the WSL has not been without controversy. The failed Red Bull deal continues to haunt the league and it appears relations between the two remain frosty.
Jordy Smith narrowly avoided a $50k fine for wearing his Red Bull cap on the podium after winning the 2014 Hurley Lowers Pro. While many commentators believed the WSL were intentionally trying to crop surfers’ Red Bull caps out of post-heat interviews at the 2016 Billabong Pipe Masters.
There has also been much written about WSL’s reported audience numbers being at odds with reality. In 2014-2015 when live streaming figures were still available Stu Nettle from surfing website, Swellnet, penned an excellent three-part series investigating the concurrent viewers during an event. The WSL later switched from YouTube as their broadcast partner to NeuLion, which does not allow view counts to be public facing.
In 2015 Speaker famously told Fox New Business host Stuart Varney that 22 million people in Brazil alone had tuned in to watch the watch the semi finals and finals of the Rio Pro. At the time many believed his enthusiasm for the sport’s growth had blurred into a form of grand story telling and exaggeration.
What Speaker is remembered for depends on who you ask. The acquisition of Kelly Slater’s Wave Pool came up repeatedly in Speaker’s final address and we can expect whoever fills his shoes at the WSL will be looking to implement it to the tour in the future.
The standard of coverage is streaks ahead of where it was when he picked up the reigns five years ago and surfing’s inclusion into the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games (for better or worse) is unprecedented.
On the eve of the 2017 season, though, the future is anyone’s guess.
