Some news in the surf world this morning.
I alluded to this just a couple of months ago when Dooma spilled the beans via StabMic, but now officially confirmed yesterday by The Inertia, via Sportico – a sports business news outlet – The WSL is “exploring new possibilities of growth”.
This translates to a possibility of new investors, or a complete sale of the organization. A spokesperson for the WSL told The Inertia, “We have received a significant amount of inbound interest and have decided to explore strategic alternatives to accelerate the next phase of growth.”
400 million was the asking price reported by Damien Farhenfort aka Dooma when we spoke about this last time.
Also, in the same day, The Inertia then publicized that the WSL no longer owns its stake in Kelly Slater’s Surf Ranch – the California Pool. The president of the pool, Kaniela Neves, “acknowledged the transaction” though no details have been officially released.
It looks like The Inertia did some digging (surf journalism !) and found that one of the new owners is named Joseph Self, an investor in LA. That is what we’ve got, for now. Nice work.
Any speculation on what’s to come next? Any buyers? Profit share? Is surfing even profitable? The WSL says so. Apparently the viewership has increased 30% year-over-year. Are you buying?
Cheers,
hwilsin
Drew Stanfield