SBA actually stands for, wait for it… Skate Board Association. Despite an incredibly pedestrian name, the idea behind it is somewhat interesting. It’s another skateboarding league with a couple differences. Coed teams compete against each other, and everybody gets paid something, even if they don’t make the podium. Now I have to admit, I assume these are differences, because I pay zero attention to the ins and outs of the other skateboarding competitions. Seeing a coed team of skateboarders compete against other coed teams is something I’d watch least once. Who is paying for this and what are their motives? Some investors, including Professional basketball player and former skateboarder Gary Payton II.
– Thanks to Will Powers for the tip.
NBA free agent Gary Payton II will be director of VIP relations and an owner of one of the league’s six teams. He was a skateboarder though, according to ESPN.
“Growing up, I always wanted to be a skateboarder. The skate park was right next to the basketball court,” he said. “I’d skate there with my friends and they’d skate the park and I’d hoop.” When his partners proposed the league, “I was like, ‘Why hasn’t there been a professional league like the NFL, NBA or NHL for skateboarding?'” Payton said. “‘Let’s change the sports game and the skateboard game.'”
How exactly are they going to change the sports game? Well… team owners, and a training complex for starters. Wait, what? Team owners? So… investors own teams and hopefully pay the skateboarders some sort of living wage? It seems like there is a major disconnect with the real world of skateboarding. Do they really expect the skateboarding public to get behind rooting for a specific skateboarding team instead of their favorite riders? What happens when those riders switch teams? The largest professional sports teams rely on geographically based brands to drive marketing. How does that work when your teams have no home town? To keep costs down, the first 2 seasons are going to take place in one location, a training facility in Bear Lake, California. The plan is to move to city-to-city tours once the league’s longevity is more secure. Are they going to wear uniforms and sell jerseys? They’re gong to sell something, because team members are supposed to get a share of the merch sales.
What about he sponsors? You know there has to be sponsors. Gary Payton II had an NBA career, but it’s not like he’s got Gary Payton I money…
“We also want to give major [sponsor] brands an organic pathway to participate in the sport the way we know they want to,” co-founder Royce Campbell said in a video interview. “As what the NBA is to basketball and NFL is to football, we will be that to skateboarding.”
Source – Sportico
The kew word in this quote is the word “major.” As if somehow major sponsor brands are unhappy with the way they are able to become involved in professional skateboarding. I’m not sure if becoming what the NFL is to football is an admirable goal. Dominant television performance, sure, but don’t forget about the history of taking advantage of professional athletes, downplaying concussions, profits over safety, and overt racism. Yay!
The more I read about this, the less I want to read about it. Good luck finding any info on the SBA web site, it’s currently just a one page sign-up for a newsletter. ESPN says Payton “wants to see the SBA expand into an NBA-style league with multiple venues around the country, training facilities and an annual draft combine.” Skate and Annoy says It seems like they are trying to shoehorn skateboarding into the worst aspects of professional sports. At best, this is a way for around 30 professional skateboarders to make a a better living for the next two years that the SBA is initially funded for. Does that trickle down into more public awareness (who needs it?) and therefore more skateparks? Possibly?
According to Sportico, Gary may be doing us all a favor as the SBA will provide “a platform he believes can boost the careers of skaters who often have been underpaid amid declining popularity around the action sport.” Did you hear that? The popularity of skateboarding is in decline.
Can this plan help save skateboarding? It would have to become huge to be more than just a drop in the bucket. Huge like… the NFL.
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