Wakeboarding is more popular in other countries?

http://wakeworld.com/getarticle.asp?articleid=427

the money is in Singapore?

HSBC is sponsoring the contest?

That's like bigger than Bank of America. I dont think that they would be on board for any US contest.

I hope all US riders are attending this contest and one of them wins the $10,800 in cashish for landing a 1080, yes that is correct, not $1,080. $10,800 in dough!

Skip the US Open this year guys (due to Wilma), and get yourselves on Singapore Airlines and win this thing in front of 20,000 plus people?

I hope one of our tour guys wins this thing, but good luck to the dodgy Aussies especially IKE, cause he friggin rips!

You have to be invited. So while there are some of the best riders there it is closed to many Americans who are far better than 99% of world riders invited. Canada and Australia excepted from that above comment. The problem is this. These guys (IWSF) are dividing the sport. They refuse to work with the WWA and this is causing a MAJOR PROBLEM with getting sponsorships to back our sport. Until there is a united professional sanctioning group no major sponsors will put big money into it. This causes lack of TV coverage and ultimately hurts the riders and their earning potential.

There is an awful lot more to the lack of TV coverage issue than this little IWSF issue. Until Pull came out on Fuel, I don't think I have ever seen a televised event that I found exciting for more than 10 minutes (and most of that was due to the excitment that I even found something on TV).

I'm sure this has been said a thousand times, wakeboard events are boring on TV. The NHL has the same problem. It is nearly impossible to explain technical difficulty and nuances to people who have never donethe sport before. Toeside, heelside, switch forget about it! It is a bunch of flipping teenagers to the masses who have never been lucky enough to get up on a board before.

Now I can tell you, for me these event shows are old in 10 minutes even though I understand the sport.

Certain movies and Pull can make it interesting for the average person, but often times it is the location that makes these watchable for more than 20 minutes.

So let's face it, this sport like most other board sports will remain on the fringe OLN, Fuel and the odd X and Gravity Games shows forever. Earning potential will unlikely expand much further than it has because of this fact. Furthermore, it is an extremely expensive and hard to access sport (boat, equipment, lake etc) which reserves it to a select few and as such it will always be limited by these huge barriers to entry.

Therefore, lets try to be realistic in what we expect from this sport. It is fast growing yes but so was waterskiing once. I can't remember waterskiing on TV when I was a kid or ever for that matter (because it lacks meaning or is boring if you've never done it). No TV = No big Sponsorship = No $$$$.

$10,800 for a 1080? Last I checked, its been 5 years since it was last done. That workes out to a little over $2000 a year (before taxes) for all the time these paid professionals have been trying to nail it. I bet you can make more than that in a month or two working at McDonalds. Hell I make that in a week in my job and I wouldn't consider myself highly paid.

I would consider wakebaording as legit a career choice as being a daredevil. Big money for some when you are hot, but gone and forgotten when you're old or hurt. What are the pension benefits? Insurance? Union? How popular is Dean Lavelle's wakebaord camp? Remember him former world champ? Bad long term career decision IMO, but better than all other options if you are a teenager or in early 20's.

you make $10,800/wk or $1080/wk at your job?

cuz if it's $10,800/wk then umm yeah you are highly paid!

What would a competion cost to sponser and put on.

rockledge, i'm impressed with your post but I think there is one aspect you are missing, No TV = No big Sponsorship = No $$$$ - totally right unless you consider the major corporations that are jumping on the extreme sports bandwagon.... This small industry can piggy back onto national TV due to the popularity of Xtreme sports - ie. Big company pays $$$ for comercial spot on TV and the commercial happens to include wakeboarding, I think we'll see more of this in the near future.

Your right about the idividual's opportunity to make money in this sport but all things considered we are still at the beginning of the potential for exposure in the industry - people will hate for becomming too mainsteam but hell look at snowboarding and skateboarding which dwarf our sport in revenue and still hold street cred... This is just the beginning, I admire OLN and Fuel for embracing this.

Rocledge post is well written but fraught with the usual assumptions that are not neccessariy correct. "I'm sure this has been said a thousand times, wakeboard events are boring on TV. " That was said about soccer, racing and golf also. How about bowling? Yet these have strong tv coverage. I saw where the 2002 women's west coast skulling (I think that is what it is called where they push a big disc on the ice and use brooms to seewp in front of it) on ESPN. The dog shows and horse shows. Check out ESPN and ESPN2 and tell me wakeboarding on TV is more boring than this

Do they do a good job of TV coverage for wakeboarding? No, but it definitely has the elements to make it watchable. As far as the "athletes being teenagers on boards" part. Skateboarding? surfing? Motocross? Our current crop of athletes on the guys side are not doing great with TV personna but the girls are good and Adkins, Harf and Lidberg types have the right look for TV.

The athletes themselves are a part of the problem. Sponsors don't want to be associated with some of the way these guys behave at the venues. (Noticed I said "at the venues" not their personal time) Thats a fact- another Masters incident is what we don't need. Erik Ruck running down the beach with bottles of beer over his head after Rusty's run in Reno is not great to get sponsors. The list goes on.

As far as IWSF being a small part of the problem is totally wrong. For one, there is a major airline ready to sponsor right now but will not be part of a sport with fighting sanctioning groups. Wakeboarding is way too small to have 2 different groups. A big part of that is because of what happened in snowboarding. Even the really big sports can't have 2 compteing bodies. (See Indy Racing ot the old AFL/NFL)

There are a lot of things that we can improve upon. No, it won't compete with the NFL or NASCAR but it can be a thousand times better. As far as a career goes I saw the NBC show where those guys had million dollar paychecks. Watching moto 4 different ways and skateboarding 3 different ways and then say wakeboarding is boring? No- I don't buy it. We can a make it if we are willing to change some things.

I agree with Roger and Leroy.

My IWSF comment still holds true though, lack of money in wakeboarding is not PRIMARILY due to the split between the IWSF and WWA. I was simply trying to put forward the case that it is much more complicated than that. Which you guys seem to agree with.

I think the pro's should be paid millions for what they do. Ain't gonna happen anytime soon. I hope I'm wrong in 10 years time, then you can flame the hell out of me.

Us Americans seem to be the only culture that strugle with hockey.

I want to add this as further explanation:

By "getting paid millions" I mean salary, not sponsorship deals. Tiger Woods loses to Vihjay Singh last year in earnings (i.e. paychechs received after tournaments). I'm sure Tiger killed Vij on his W2.



I consider these separately and I'm sure total earnings in tournaments stats for each rider are pretty measly for our pros.

Probably right, but it just really chafes me that the waterskiers have as much influence as they do. And that is what IWSF is, a bunch of French and European pussy waterskiers trying to take over the wakeboarding. And if you don't think they are trying to take over or take out the WWA just ask some folks at the WWA.

Its coming, the big bucks that is. Motocross had the same problems and look at it now, and it still dosent get that much mainstream T.V. coverage, but the riders are makin alot more money now, then they did 5 yrs ago. Wakeboarding is going to keep growing and the paychecks are going to get bigger and bigger . The bigger it gets the more T.V. coverage it will get. IMO its just a matter of time.

If the IWSF is full of French/Europeans it explains alot. Can't stand any of them and I hope the WWA remains vigilant.

The plots to sabatoge wakeboarding would make sense considering their collective inability to sit quietly as yet another great thing passes them by. Maybe we should put them in charge of the UN's Oil-for-waterski program.