Street League Skateboarding – The Future?
Posted on March 25, 2010 with Comments Off
I’m always cautious when it comes to gathering / herding skaters into groups for a lot of money. On the one hand why shouldn’t skaters earn a good living. One the other hand is skateboarding becoming more and more an institution run by organizations, rules and commerce? Make the jump for a very interesting read.
Rob Dyrdek has announced the new Street League Skateboarding – the next mega skateboarding event with an incredible amount of prize money and multi-year contracts for several of the skateboard scene’s best pro skaters for skating exclusively at this contest series.
Sounds like a LOT of money is behind the scene but being realistic: skateboarding is mainstream now even if a lot of us try to keep it underground. This was going to happen and your Mr. Rogers-Next-Door-Neighbour is going to want a piece of the pie some time as well. Doesn’t mean you have to join him right? The concept behind the Street League Skateboarding is different and we’ll have to wait and see how it works out…
Here’s the official press release:
LOS ANGELES, CA (March 24, 2010) – Street League Skateboarding™ announced today that for the first time in history, street skateboarding competition has been organized into its very own professional league, with the best skateboarders in the world competing head-to-head in a series of individual tour stops in the summer of 2010. Founded by twenty-year professional skateboarder and entrepreneur, Rob Dyrdek, Street League™ is truly the future of competitive street skateboarding.
Signed to multi-year contracts, a total of twenty-four of the world’s biggest skateboarding stars will compete in Street League™ exclusively. The first pros that have signed are arguably the top skateboarders in the world and include Chris Cole, Ryan Sheckler, Greg Lutzka, Torey Pudwill, PJ Ladd, Sean Malto, Mike Mo Capaldi, Mikey Taylor, Billy Marks, Tommy Sandoval, and Paul Rodriguez. The Street League™ pros will be battling it out for more than $1MM in prize money on a 3-stop arena tour this summer.
Dyrdek, in discussing the origins of the league says, “It has been a dream of mine to create a professional tour that bridges the gap between true street skateboarding and contest skating, which to date has been fragmented and misguided. Street Leagueâ„¢ is more than just a new contest series; it will redefine the way skateboarding competitions are done.â€
Chris Cole, 2009’s Dew Tour Champion, Maloof Money Cup Winner, two-times X Games gold medalist and Thrasher’s Skater of the Year, in regards to his exclusive commitment to Street Leagueâ„¢ adds, “It’s what we have always wanted – it’s a contest circuit that is actually created, owned, and operated by skaters.â€
To maximize the talents of these street skateboarding stars, Street League™ has designed authentic concrete skate plazas to be built on the floors of world-class sports arenas. In addition, Street League™ brings with it the exclusive use of the instant scoring technology, ISX (Instant Scoring Experience™), to the world of skateboarding. Using real time scoring and an exciting proprietary format, Street League™ will tell a compelling story about each skateboarder’s performance and will have fans on the edge of their seats from the first trick to the very last.
The inaugural year of Street Leagueâ„¢ features a 3-stop arena tour beginning at Jobing.com Arena in Glendale, Arizona on August 28th, Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario, California on September 11th, and the final stop in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center on September 25th. The skaters will be competing at each event for the largest prize pool in skateboarding history.
Street League™ is the culmination of more than five years of development, which began with a professional contest Dyrdek held at the opening of the world’s first skate plaza he built in Kettering, Ohio in 2005. Building on the knowledge gained from this event, Dyrdek and his team began planning for the launch of the league, consulting for and developing several major skateboarding events to serve as additional case studies.
IMG Action Sports, the go-to event production company in the industry, is producing and executing Street Leagueâ„¢ in 2010. The worldwide leader in skate park design and construction, California Skateparksâ„¢, will provide skate plaza construction. Instant Scoring Experienceâ„¢ is a partnership between MXi, Dialsmith, and Street Leagueâ„¢.
For more information go to www.streetleague.com.
About Street League Skateboarding â„¢
Street League Skateboarding™ is the first sports entertainment property that gives professional street skateboarding its very own league for individual competition. Street League™ features the exclusive participation of the world’s best professionals, over $1MM in prize money, and real skate plaza course design inside world-class arenas. Driven by the need to enhance the experience of live professional street skateboarding, Street League™ utilizes real-time scoring and a proprietary format that makes every trick count. Street League™ is the brainchild of twenty-year professional skateboarder and entrepreneur, Rob Dyrdek. More information is available at www.streetleague.com.
Press Contacts:
Joyce Sevilla
ENTERTAINMENT FUSION GROUP
ext. 108
jsevilla@efgpr.com
via EuropeSkate
Category: Skateboarding News
