Pipe Masters gets 3-year ride on NBC
| • | Hawai'i surfers attracted to smaller, richer pro tour |
| • | Hawai'i's 2001 World Championship tour competitors |
By Dayton Morinaga
Advertiser Staff Writer
Surfers in the tube will be showcased nationally on the tube at this year's Mountain Dew Gerry Lopez Pipe Masters.
Randy Rarick, executive director of the Vans/G-Shock Triple Crown of Surfing, confirmed this week that the Pipe Masters recently became part of a three-year television deal with NBC.
"Surfing has been void on network television for the last 15 or 20 years," Rarick said. "I think this will go a long way as far as spreading the sport and putting it on a higher exposure level."
The Pipe Masters has been held at the Banzai Pipeline on O'ahu's North Shore every year since 1971. During the 1970s and early '80s, several surfing contests, including the Pipe Masters, were televised on ABC's Wide World of Sports. In recent years, it has been televised on cable sports networks like ESPN and Fox Sports Net.
This year's Pipe Masters will be held in December, and televised on NBC at a later date yet to be determined as part of the Vans Triple Crown Series. Vans, a shoe company based in California, sponsors surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding and motocross events. Over the next three years, NBC will broadcast each of those different sporting events, although the Pipe Masters is the only surfing contest affiliated with the contract.
"We call them 'core' sports," said Mark Livingston, the Vans director of strategic alliances and sponsorships. "But these are the best events within each of these core sports, so we're very excited about the opportunity to showcase it on national television."
In addition to the exposure, the NBC deal also provides extra money for the Pipe Masters. Rarick did not disclose the amount, but said the prize purse for the contest will be increased by at least $15,000 this year.
Interestingly, this year's Pipe Masters will not be part of surfing's World Championship Tour. Instead, it will be a "specialty" event, with only the best surfers in the world earning invitations.
According to Rarick, the top-ranked surfers from the current world tour will be invited, along with past champions and the best of the "every day" Pipeline surfers.
"We'll have the best field we've ever had," Rarick said.
