'Extreme' sponsors climb aboard

USA Today

Despite surfing's growing sponsorships, Wai'anae's Sunny Garcia, the reigning Association of Surfing Professionals world champion, earned little more than $500,000 last year, compared to Tiger Woods' tens of millions. Associated Press

Now, no less than Corporate America is trying to make sure that in the new millennium, cool kids get the surfing thing as part of other so-called "extreme" sports — en masse.

At stake: a piece of the alluring $250 billion in discretionary income controlled by roughly 58 million extreme consumers between the ages of 10 and 24, according to Alloy Online. By 2015, the U.S. Census estimates that number will jump to 64 million.

This weekend, IMG — the same sports marketing giant that represents Tiger Woods and Venus and Serena Williams — sponsored one of surfing's Big Kahunas: the U.S. Open of Surfing.

And some big-name corporate sponsors that don't even make suntan lotion or surfboards set up shop at the event including Philips Electronics, Best Buy and Champs Sports.

Surfing even has Microsoft onboard — the newest sponsor of Van's Triple Crown surfing competition later this year in Hawai'i.

But the old formula of endorsing a pro athlete or two isn't enough to reach this market, says James Leitz, vice president of X sports at IMG. Instead, he says, promoters need to connect themselves to the sport itself.

Of all sports ("extreme" or otherwise) surfing seems to ask the greatest effort from both participants and marketers. If you don't live on either coast, surfing isn't something you are likely do. Rather, it's something you more likely watch other people do on TV or in movies. If at all.

Perhaps that's why there are roughly 1.8 million active surfers in the United States, estimates the Surf Industry Manufacturers Association. Compare that to 25 million golfers. While 400,000 surfboards were sold in the United States last year, that's less than half the 900,000 sets of premium irons sold during the same period, says Golf Datatech.

Surf wear is a different story. It accounts for the bulk of the $5 billion in surf duds and surf gear sold last year, says market researcher Action Sports Retailer.

But the major networks pay little — if any — attention to surfing. The surfing portion of the event over the weekend is scheduled to appear only on Fox Sports Net later this fall. Meanwhile, ESPN broadcast four hours of coverage over the weekend that focused on the event that Gen Y craves: inline skating.

Wild West appeal

Still, the image of surfing, and its potential as perhaps one of the last "extreme" sports to be open for corporate sponsorship and the ensuing big bucks, is becoming a genuine lure for mainstream corporations.

"The surfer is the modern day cowboy," says Sam George, editor of Surfer magazine.

A few of the companies riding the wave:

• A big carmaker. Toyota is developing a low-end version of its Echo economy car that it hopes will appeal to women who idolize the surf culture. It will be co-branded with Roxy, a division of Quiksilver, whose clothing targets female surfers.
• A financial giant. Washington Mutual is promoting free checking and other no-cost services with a surf-themed ad campaign. "People associate surfing with a sense of freedom," says Brad Davis, executive vice president of marketing.
• A liquor giant. Seagram Americas has linked up with singer Jimmy Buffett to sponsor the Margaritaville Longboard Open Series for female surfers.
• A video game publisher. Activision has signed on six-time surfing champ Kelly Slater, 29, for a surfing video game. Slater, who doesn't regularly compete professionally but remains one of the best surfers of all time, earns about $1 million a year, mostly in endorsement income. "It's OK to commercialize if it's true to life, hanging out and doing things you'd do normally," Slater says.

"Big companies are finally unleashing the power of the sport," says Sean O'Brien, editor of TransWorld Surf Business, a trade magazine.

Yet some companies with their origins in surf wear have had to bend to the skateboarding wave to survive. Among them, Quiksilver, which recently started selling a skateboard line of clothing linked to legendary skater Tony Hawk. Why? More than five times as many kids skateboard than surf.

All the sponsorship hoopla seems as distant as the perfect wave to most surfers. Many say surfing is more like a religion than a sport.

Perhaps that's why Wai'anae's Sunny Garcia, the 2000 Association of Surfing Professionals champion, pulled in just $163,850 in contest winnings last year. Even with all of his endorsements, he earned little more than $500,000 last year, industry executives estimate.

That's an ocean's distance from Tiger Woods, who took in $53 million last year — give or take a million.