Fox Cable Networks and action-sports management and entertainment firm IMS plan to launch a skateboarding tour in spring 2004 in which 56 skateboarders will compete for $2.5 million.
The tour will stop in 10 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Dallas and Philadelphia, and one-hour highlight shows will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net.
Adam Jacoby, chief executive of IMS, called the $2.5 million prize money "the biggest-ever purse for skateboarding." IMS represents about 60 action-sports athletes, and Jacoby said he hopes the purse will be a step toward helping action-sports athletes earn a living for their athletic talent, rather than from their marketability. Most action-sports athletes earn money more from endorsements than from competition.
Jacoby said he is seeking presenting and event sponsorships for the tour. Creative Artists Agency, which recently signed IMS as a client, represented the action-sports company in the deal.
Presenting sponsorships will be priced between $1 million and $2 million and event sponsorships for the 10 cities will be priced at about $500,000, he said.
Neither Jacoby nor Marc Fein, vice president of acquisitions and programming for Fox Sports Net, would reveal financial details of the deal, including the ownership structure of the tour.
"If there is an upside, we will share in it," Fein said.
Fein said Fox Sports Net is committed to broadcasting 10 one-hour programs and is eyeing late afternoons on weekdays or Sundays for a time slot.
Jacoby said the most significant thing about the tour is that it will give action-sports fans a set time and place to watch their favorite athletes, as other traditional sports have done for years.
"What we are trying to do is create a product that is more consumable for the American sporting public," Jacoby said. The skateboarders on the tour will be seeded, much like professional tennis players are, and players will face off in both street and halfpipe skateboarding competitions.
The plan is to help viewers get to know individual skaters over the course of the tour. "I wouldn't say it's reality TV, but some of the television coverage will allow for more emotional involvement with the characters than you may have in some traditional sports," Jacoby said.
Many action-sports programming properties are available to broadcasters, but Fein said that the tour's $2.5 million prize, its seeding format and IMS' access to top action-sports athletes intrigued Fox executives.
"We sat down with the guys from IMS and CAA and liked what they had to say," Fein said. "You want stuff that is going to break through the clutter."
