Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by purple pyramids » Thu Oct 11, 2012 4:29 pm

problem there is cricket died with the introduction of world series cricket in..1979 or there abouts. the emabarrassemnt of one day matches in pyjamas, 20/20...
adje wrote:It's interesting to compare how backward surfing is compared to other sports. Say cricket for example. This is my understanding of how it works:...

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by Karlos » Thu Oct 11, 2012 4:46 pm

purple pyramids wrote:problem there is cricket died with the introduction of world series cricket in..1979 or there abouts. the emabarrassemnt of one day matches in pyjamas, 20/20...
I'm loving these PP. I'm even beginning to think you might still be a little cranky over the introduction of the decimal currency system. :lol:

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by Beerfan » Fri Oct 12, 2012 6:56 am

Nick Carroll wrote:
Beerfan wrote:Obviously the big 3 care enough about pro surfing to drop it like a stone because it looks like hurting the bottom line. Signing it over with no clear business plan? hmmm, sounds like they were glad to be rid of it. Honestly, they are n the business of fashion, so why prop up an expensive enterprise like surfing contests? Not like people on the beach pay for a seat.
Well I don't know about any of that. They still have their event franchises, and over the past 15 years, between them they have invested somewhere near $400 million in the pro surfing project. It's provided them with the only coherent global marketing narrative in surfing and has consistently helped open new markets.

Thing is these companies are steadily coming more and more under the gun from disinterested business people who really want to know why they are spending this kind of mad money on these surf contests, and surely they can be done a lot cheaper. (By "disinterested" I mean the word in its correct form, which means "without an interest in; unattached".)

Before the GFC when parents had enough cash to buy little johnny a $250 rip curl watch, $100 boardies etc, things were swell, and they were doing fine, they loved their little circus, and were "hardcore" surfers fo life. Post GFC, shit hits the fan, the bean counters have told them their financial situation, and forecast, and now, they want to outsource the ASP, so they can concentrate on what they do best, making clothes ( and caaaaaaash ). Really, what products do those companies produce? Where do they earn money from?. How did they get to be massive companies?

Unfortunately, these companies, who were once run by real surfers, who may well have genuinely cared about surfing and surfers, have now become global companies, and once that happens, the sharks get involved. Hard not to see these companies as most other multinational companies, profit at all costs.

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by buzzy » Fri Oct 12, 2012 3:19 pm

I agree it all seems really strange. Were the rights sold, or just given away? What was the price? I don't get it.

Surfing though will have an attractive demographic for certain sponsors, and those sponsors don't necessarily have to be aligned with the surf industry. I actually have no idea of the demographics of the webcast so it's impossible to say which sponsors would be more interested but there's no doubt some sponsors would be interested. The key variable is price.

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by adje » Fri Oct 12, 2012 4:22 pm

I wonder how valuable the webcast audience is in reality. Unfortunately for 99.9% of the population watching surfing is as about as interesting as watching lawn bowls.

I suspect that it's just hard core supporters that bother to watch the webcast and an even smaller percentage of them will actually watch the entire telecast live and actually listen to the sponsors plugs.

I heard a stat once that there are only about 2m active surfers in the world (maybe a stat based on bullshit). If this is true then it's a pretty small audience that would bother to tune in to a webcast.

The number of people who dream of being surfers and like the image is another thing entirely. Many multiples of the real surfers - but I doubt they would even know that events are webcast or could care less if they did.

So maybe event sponsorship is actually not a big money winner for the brands and this 'takeover' will give them an awesome excuse to pull the pin on their support.

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by grazza » Sun Oct 14, 2012 8:23 am

What blows me away is how stealth this all is. On paper, by a country mile the biggest changes that have happened to professional surfing since ever, and almost no PR, no discussion, no controversy.

All the changes proposed (single media company, pension fund, more prize money) are absolutely spot on, inevitable even, but did we really have to sell the whole thing to achieve that? To shadowy company with no track record of anything really? With no vote from the membership? So what happens if they're crap? Is there any way of wresting back control?

Far too little light being shone on this for my liking.

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by offshore1 » Sun Oct 14, 2012 12:36 pm

nobody I have society with has an inkling that this is happening: none of my many students who surf, none of my mates who surf. none,...... has heard a whisper of Bong's demise and ZoSea's ascendancy.

I mention it,
they haven't heard a thing about it.


Surfshop owner mates of mine on the other hand, .....the stories they tell from the past few years curl the toes...

at present this shit's underground.



do we have to wait for blasphemy rootmouth to blow the lid off ?

god I hope not.
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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by steve shearer » Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:54 pm

Offy, that must be an american thing.

Bong's demise is all over the mainstream press here and the ZoSEa thing has been covered in every surfing website.

A lawn bowling granny in Broken Hill would be able to tell you that Bong is almost kauput.

Doesn't seem like surfing is as part of the mainstream discourse in the USA.
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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by bc » Sun Oct 14, 2012 5:46 pm

"Do you have any formal association with ZoSea? If so, what is it?
Slater: No, I don't. Terry is involved and is my manager but this is a separate deal that I didn't even know about until It was well under way."

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/p ... 6489637451

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by bc » Sun Oct 14, 2012 5:53 pm

According to the Surfer Mag article:
"The acquisition, which was signed as a term-sheet deal, will be formally finalized after a series of meetings between ZoSea and the current ASP Board that will take place between now and December 17"

Sounds like the recent David Jones takeover bid which turned out to be a sham.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-07-02/d ... wn/4105234

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by Clif » Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:13 pm

BULLSHIT Kelly didn't know about the deal and details. He's using the same tactics he uses in competition.

"Oh, I'm may not surf this year's tour"

"Oh, I'm not interested in another world title"

blah blah.

The whole deal is a fuck up of immense proportions. The ASP and asosciated corpos couldn't get their shit together given current economic situation and some poor decisions of late and some "bros' came up with a deal/package that could get them out of the responsibility for the shit they had got themselves into. As for the future, it's a like a privatised gig now and they will be able to keep it all behind closed doors from now on and the inner sanctum will remain only interested in their own needs and the fans can be damned.

People should be walking away from this sport in droves. tolerate sports wouldn't Fherans of ot
this shit but it seems the fans about this sport aren't so passionate (which is telling). If this happened like this in other sports buildings would burn and those making the deals have a journalist/fan in their face every two steps.

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by steve shearer » Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:20 pm

Clif wrote: tolerate sports wouldn't Fherans of ot
this shit but it seems the fans about this sport aren't so passionate (which is telling).
pretty sure I agree with u here Clif, but could you translate into English?
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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by Clif » Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:31 pm

"Most fans of sport would not tolerate this shit ...

:lol: :lol:

I was on a rant and my fingers were going too fast on a dodgy keyboard

:lol: :lol:

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by adje » Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:48 pm

Clif wrote:BULLSHIT Kelly didn't know about the deal and details.
You are right on Clif. There is no way he didn't know about this or be 100% behind it.

One thing is certain is that everyone is confused, from the Australian article:
The Australian wrote:"The ASP saw enough merit in Hardy’s approach to grant his group a period of exclusivity to refine their deal, based on input from the events and the surfers," Baker reported.
What deal? If the surfers had been briefed properly then I'm sure this would have leaked to Nick or Steve.

Then this quote from an unknown source to Surfline
Surfline wrote:"They're going to keep the same structure, the same people involved, but with new owners. We believe in these people and we believe there's a better path than the one we're currently on. It's the best thing that could happen… These guys are bringing some dollars to the table; I believe they're smart and they have better contacts than us. And we need a visionary who's going to be able to take pro surfing to new places over the next three to five years."
This implies that the ASP's been sold. But it's an association of members. What is there to sell? And don't member's get a say in this? The source says that ZoSea has better contacts with the ASP. If that's the case then everyone senior at the ASP needs to have a good hard think about whether they are in the right job. I would have thought after 50 years the ASP had a pretty good rolodex of names in the industry.

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by steve shearer » Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:50 pm

So whose the visionary and what's the vision?
I want Nightclub Dwight dead in his grave I want the nice-nice up in blazes

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by steve shearer » Mon Oct 15, 2012 1:57 pm

One thing though; compared to Pro cycling Pro surfing is looking like the Dalai Lama.
I want Nightclub Dwight dead in his grave I want the nice-nice up in blazes

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by Clif » Mon Oct 15, 2012 2:17 pm

"visionary" and "vision" = empty signifiers and they know it. PR words.

Members didn't get a say because they were thought to be nothing more than window dressing?

"Better contacts"? Media? Then that reflects badly on all those involved because if they can't put the tour out to tender for media coverage then what the fuck good are they? Maybe they didn't want outside interests getting a gander at the inner workings or get a look at the flows of money and contracts. If they did all hell could break loose because it is patently clear the organisation is a mess with all sorts of conflicts of interests, back room deals, etc.

Could the ISA stand up and say we'll take this back to the fans as the ASP has now been sold to the highest bidder?

As for cycling, at least there are checks and balances and some of the bastards are being kept honest. It may be causing a fracas but people in the sport are being held to account.

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Re: Thoughts on ZoSea's 'takeover' of the ASP? Nick?

Post by offshore1 » Tue Oct 16, 2012 2:37 am

Clif wrote:"As for cycling, at least there are checks and balances.
or balancing cheeks.
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