There were a lot of questions on pro-surfing fans’ minds when the 2023 Championship Tour wrapped up a little under two weeks ago. We all liked to speculate on how we thought the WSL ‘should be run’ after Fil’ Toledo won his second consecutive title at Trestles and Carissa lost her second consecutive title – despite being a clear minor premier on the rankings. Would the WSL retain the controversial Mid-Year Cut and Final Five experiments, who would lead the World Surf League in the post E-Lo era? And if the Final Five format continued would Trestles remain the venue of choice or would Australian fans be spared the caffeine-fuelled all-night vigil of watching the finals in real time?
Despite no news yet on who will be the new World Surf League CEO, much of the Championship Tour schedule will remain the same in 2024.
The World Surf League (WSL) released the schedule for the 2024 Championship Tour (CT) last night (LA time). The calendar will showcase nine regular-season events instead of the 10 we saw in 2023, we presume due to surfing’s second appearance at the Olympic Games in Paris. The most promising news is the return of Fiji to the schedule for the first time since 2017. Meanwhile, both the Mid-season Cut, and the WSL Finals at Trestles will continue to be features of the CT Tour.
Surf fans like myself presumed that Trestles’ tenure as the location for the Final Five showdown would end in 2023. However, the WSL clearly didn’t see a need for change by opting to run the Final Five showdown at the Californian, cobblestone A-Frame once again. The WSL insisted this year’s WSL Finals was a success from a viewership perspective. How many sleep-deprived Australians watched on?
The WSL listed some statistics that support this claim in their recent press release:
“With 10.7 million video views on a single day, the WSL surpassed the 2022 viewership numbers by 29%.
The competition was also distributed via the WSL’s linear broadcast partners, whose audiences elevated the viewership even further. For example, viewership on Globo/SporTV, the WSL’s broadcast partner in Brazil, totalled over one million viewers, an increase of 16% from 2022.
In the lead-up to the competition, the WSL delivered 25 million video-on-demand views, marking a 58% increase from the previous year.”
A further criticism of last year’s format was the official number of women surfers in the field after the Mid-Year-Cut (MYC.) Despite the outcry last year, it will again be 12-woman remaining on tour after the cut in 2024.
Another observation is that the sponsors of the 2024 events were not included in the press release, and are no longer on the ‘Schedule’ portal of the WSL website. Either this means that negotiations are still at play or unconfirmed for certain locations. Curiously a number of sponsors were initially listed on the website for 2024 (see below), but have since been removed.
2024 CT Events that were listed on WSL’s website.
– Pipe Pro (no sponsor) – Hurley Pro Sunset Beach – MEO Pro Portugal – Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach – Western Australia Margaret River Pro (no sponsor) – SHISEIDO Tahiti Pro – Surf City El Salvador Pro – VIVO Rio Pro – Fiji Pro (no sponsor) – WSL Finals (no sponsor)
Overall, the WSL are deciding to stand firm with the controversial format that features the MYC and Final Five, despite the relentless opposition by a large body of surf fans. The divisive system also has its fair share of vocal supporters.
The WSL obviously feel they need to hold-firm on the concept and convince viewers that this is the new normal.
We know some fans will be frustrated but imagine how Carissa is feeling knowing she will once again have to battle for a world title at Trestles…
2024 WSL Championship Tour Schedule:
Banzai Pipeline, Hawaii, USA: January 29 – February 10
Sunset Beach, Hawaii, USA: February 12 – 23
Peniche, Portugal: March 6 – 16
Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia: March 26 – April 5
Margaret River, Western Australia, Australia: April 11 – 21
Mid-season Cut: 36-man and 18-woman fields reduced to 24-man and 12-woman fields.
Teahupo’o, Tahiti, French Polynesia: May 22 – 31
Punta Roca, El Salvador: June 6 – 15
Saquarema, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: June 22 – 30
2024 Paris Olympic Games: July 26 – August 11 (Surfing scheduled between July 27 – August 5)
Cloudbreak, Fiji: August 20 – 29
WSL Final 5 determined to battle for the men’s and women’s World Titles.
WSL Finals (Lower Trestles, San Clemente, Calif., USA): September 6 – 14
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