We stopped by to check out Spohn Ranch’s modular bowl being assembled for the Dew Tour. It’s pretty impressive. Up close the individual sections don’t appear as massive or thick as you might think. There were a couple local faces in the crew which was nice to see. Word is that a Wally Holiday crew is coming in to do the finishing. Grover was ribbing the crew because some of the sections were out of numerical order, judging by the big numbers scrawled on the back. One interesting thing, the parking lot is sloping, so the whole structure is being erected on scaffolding with a giant corrugated metal subfloor. Check out the pictures after the jump.
26 comments
K.C.
If Mountain Dew wanted to give back, they could donate the bowl after the tour. There are lots of poor towns and reservations in this country that cant afford to build a new skatepark.
roszco
It be cool if they used more than two spots from DC to replicate. There is some really cool, classic spots around town that are a bust now. Metro tunnel walls, Welfare Banks, Crescents(brick quarter pipes in Georgetown.) I guess it was easier for them to make flat ground spots and stairs.
Gavin
Yeah, I’d love to see them redo MalcomX park too. Or the White House Bowl. But, like you say, flat and stairs are easy.
CCKEN
It will be cool to see how this ramp goes back together.Will the seams be noticeable, that’s the trick that will make or break this project.
baade
Nik is partially right, it has nothing to do with being unable to host the crowds, at this level of event there is a lot more involved than just building a bowl and putting up bleachers. I’m all for building spots and leaving them and not trying to justify decisions for anyone but as someone who has worked at these events for years hopefully I can give a bit of insight.
As I’m sure everyone is well aware this is purely for TV and live crowds are secondary, even though all promoters hate to see empty seats in the background. There’s a big difference between a webcast/highlight show on cable and a network broadcast. In order to broadcast an event especially with live segments it takes multiple production trucks, satellite trucks, edit bays, tens of thousands of feet of cable running around connecting cameras to trucks and interconnects between trucks. In addition there has to be numerous sponsor elements built to pay for everything, fire marshalls and health departments to deal with, portable shiters based on the maximum projected crowds, athlete tents (they all don’t really want to hang around the public all day and need a place to hideout and relax), catering tents for staff, medical staff and facilities, media areas and a whole host of other infrastructure built. That being said, each year the budgets for events gets cut back- think what you may about the big corporations buying the industry up they aren’t spending as freely as before.
Malloof was able to do the Flushings park because the entire contest took place at that one spot and they also happened to have an area on the outskirts with somewhat minimal opposition. Like the other events or not there is also street, bmx and moto events to cover as well. It wouldn’t be feasible to have a separate crew and production trucks for every event. They use shared resources to broadcast the entire event, the same trucks used to cover the bowl is also used to produce some of the other venues as well. It’s not a cheap process.
So lets just say there was somehow enough extra money to build a bowl and produce a whole stand alone park event, have you spent much time at meetings trying to get parks built? Dealing with city governments is a pain in the ass and all it takes is a couple irate neighbors to clog the system.
Now imagine trying to come in on even 18 months notice and say you want to build a skatepark, host an event, put in temporary bleachers, a sponsor village, park TV trucks and have thousands of people and their cars invading for a weekend.
Find a city who’s willing with public space available/affordable/allocated for the park plus the needed temporary infrastructure, zoning compliant, fire marshall who’s not a dick, consistent weather to hold an outdoor event on a specific weekend plus to get the spot built on time and one that the skaters will like when complete, oh yeah – and no public opposition to boot? Good luck with that. There’s a lot of money on the line with a whole lot that can go wrong and networks aren’t gambling on “action sports” – I hate that term.
Hopefully in the future there can be some spots built for events and left behind but then what will everyone have to complain about?
Concretin Nik
Only moments after posting the above reply, I see this on FB… http://www.maloofmoneycup.com/skateboarding/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1987%3Amaloof-skateboarding-and-events-dc-partner-to-build-permanent-world-class-skate-park-and-bring-maloof-money-cup-to-nations-capital
So yea, it’s difficult, but the Maloofs have figured out a way to do it… AGAIN.
Concretin Nik
The “shared resources” of the broadcasts for all the different events is great point I hadn’t really thought about before. All great points really.
However, I guarantee that “ideal” city(cities even) could be found on ONE list. And they would jump at the chance to essentially win the skatepark lottery and make the necessary accommodations for it… That list? The grant application list from the Tony Hawk Foundation.
ssk
Makes sense. Still frustrating though. What if we started a new circuit with the goal of keeping it small and simple, tv focused, with leaving behind parks a major part of what it’s all about? And documenting that part of it for the show. Who wouldn’t love an event like that? Talk about winning hearts and minds.
Concretin Nik
Yea, the “unable to host the crowds” and such is a bullshit excuse… because the portable bowl has bleacher seating all around it… and the few hundred people that get to see that are NOT where they make money… the money is in the television advertising… which can be achieved absolutely ANYWHERE, even out in the middle of the desert with a gigantic Animal Chin ramp…
Louisville has stated that before regarding an event at our park… yet, we had 10,000 people down there (so they said) for Hawk’s Gigantic Skatepark Tour not long after it opened… and there was NO seating, at all. (And there’s STILL no fkn shade.)
So it CAN be done. But somehow, reinventing the bowl is easier… go figure.
george
The park from the Maloof event in NYC has stayed. Granted it’s in a huge public park in Flushing Meadows. But they’ve brought in huge bleachers for the event and then it goes back to being a regular skatepark for the rest of the year.
tobin,tobin
Acually no that i got more info on the fly, the public (true skate dogs) might be able to skate it if there entering the trifecta. Which is open to anyone. Ta dah
DeMarco
I suppose that makes sense that it would be tough to find a location that could accomodate for the large crowds during the event and then still serve as a public park afterwards.
However, skateboarders have always been creative individuals. I don’t doubt that this could become more and more possible with the right people in charge.
Ty Beckley
I don’t know much about this kind of pre-fab stuff,but the bowl looks pretty mellow. Which I think is a bummer, I would rather skate Tobin’s bowl or M.C.’s.
Ty Beckley
Actually now that I’ve seen the completed bowl, it looks great- not as I had thought.
tobin,tobin
I dont beleive they will open it to the public.
will beleive it when i see it.
BoBo
From what I heard, the Dew Tour tried to work with the city of Portland to build a park, have the contest and then leave the park behind. Unfortunately there was just no way to find a site that would be practical as both a public park as well as a host to a large scale event like the Dew tour.
Carl
Dew Tour and XGames don’t build civil infrastructure. That would be your city’s job. Dew Tour and XGames are paying skaters boatloads of money to skate and they’re opening the course to the public.
People’s republic of Portland needs to lighten up.
mezmer
So much for a different configuration. Just saw the photos from Portland. It’s the same as Ocean City.
DeMarco
I do think it’s a cool idea that it can be reconstructed in different shapes, but as a selfish skateboarder I wonder why the Dew Tour and XGames don’t build parks in towns that need them and then leave them there…
I’m more than sure someone else has probably mentioned this on here before and it most likely sparked quite a conversation. So if that is the case, any chance someone could link me back to it? I’m interested to hear what you guys think about it.
ssk
I think the main hurdles must be location and bureaucracy. Even if they could get through the red tape quickly enough, parks where a city might allow a skatepark to remain afterwards mostly wouldn’t work for staging a huge event.
There has to be a few spots that would work though!
ssk
(i mean “…OR even prefab…”)
tobin,tobin
The bowl was designed so it can change shape as needed. This concept should be considered as an alternative way to build a skatepark for a city. The cost is lower and the re-shape and redesign aspect can never be matched with traditional park bids and future land use amendments which always are a big stopping point at all skatepark meeetings which is a big focal point.
Concretin Nik
The future of pre-fab? Hmmm…
Prickly Pete
I’m not advocating for it, but this is the future of skateparks probably. Instant, cheaper, predictable… stuff that city governments love. The downsides are many though. Semi-modular means they can take it away if we don’t behave, and all these towns that get a park like this may never have the honor of hosting the colorful and lovable skatepark builders of the great Northwest.
ssk
Maybe, but there have been modular concrete bowls in the prefab world for a while and they have not taken off. I wonder if at this point they are really any less expensive than building on site.
I wouldn’t be surprised if this one for the dew tour is in the seven figures. Building something that can come apart and go back together over and over is way more complex than pouring in place of even prefab designed to be placed one time.
mezmer
As for the numbers being out of numerical order…I heard that every time the bowl gets reassembled that the shape will change as well. Cool way to keep things fresh!