CEO of the fledgling Surfing Super League, Chris Mater, genuinely believes he can make the sport of surfing more entertaining for both spectators on the beach and viewers in front of the TV.
The inaugural season of the Surfing Super League is scheduled for January of 2028, and it represents the boldest commercial venture in surfing since the launch of the WSL back in 2015.
With an eye towards the grassroots support for the Australian Boardriders Battle, the popularity of Big Bash Cricket and the financial success of the Indian Premier League (cricket), the SSL will feature eight teams competing in an eight-week series over summer.
Instead of a drawn-out, four-day competition like a WSL event, each of the ‘games’, as they’re being called, will feature four teams of four surfers competing in two, 40-minute halves with a ten-minute half-time break. Only the single best ride of each surfer will count, while a power surfer from each team surfs twice. (A woman is the power surfer in the first half, a man in the second). The four surfers representing teams in each game will be drawn from a squad of six.
Mater, who worked in events and content production with Red Bull, and is a former Surfing Australia CEO, is adamant that the success of his new venture hinges on the right kind of TV coverage and time slot. “…Television is the driver of it… It’s the engine that fuels everything from the literal money for the TV media rights, but it also fuels ticket sales and fandom and sponsorships as well… most importantly with TV is you’ve got to put your sport on when there’s people in the lounge room ready to watch it. So, we’re going 4pm to 6pm Saturday and 4pm to 6pm Sunday… That’s when people watch sport.”
Mater sees the regular time slot of the SSL as a crucial factor for both a TV audience and live fans, pointing to the consistency of sports like Formula One when it comes to programming. “There’s a really baked-in way the season works,” he insists.
The one variable that has historically made surfing a nightmare for TV programming is the waves. However, it seems the short-form formula of the SSL has been designed to ensure that the matchups are exciting even if the waves are not great. Seven or eight different locations will be showcased across the season, which means fans are likely to see surfers compete in a range of different conditions.
Live surfing has also historically struggled to create a product that keeps surfing diehards happy while simultaneously appealing to a big enough audience to attract major sponsors. However, Mater is confident the SSL will get the formula right. “I think a lot of core surfers will watch it, but more importantly I think casual surfers will watch it. That’s people who surf, you know, every now and then; they might surf when they go on their holiday. And I think we’ll build over time. Just mainstream sports fans that fall in love with surfing.”
Mater is set to announce which platform will feature the SSL in a couple of weeks’ time.
The series will also aim to make stadium surfing into a major drawcard for fans while generating revenue through ticket and hospitality sales. The weekly ‘games’ will be ring-fenced and ticketed. Spectators will be able to watch from the beach, but around 5,000 fans will be able to buy a seat in an impromptu-built stadium, enjoy half-time entertainment and eat a hot dog while they watch the action. This is surfing making no pretence of being anything but a sport. Each squad will have jerseys like Rugby League or AFL sides, and the league is designed to encourage fans to rally around a particular team. “We’re excited about creating a fan-first, great experience,” emphasises Mater.
The SSL takes into account the fact that surfing allegiances in Australia have historically been drawn along geographic lines with surfers supporting a particular club like Snapper Rocks, Burleigh or Avoca. However, to ensure that each team or ‘franchise’ has an adequate catchment area to draw upon, the competition has been divided into eight regions – Sydney Northern Beaches, Northern Rivers, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast I, Gold Coast II, Newcastle, Sydney South, Melbourne. The plan is to eventually make each of these teams or franchises available for sale to private investment. So, the SSL will be akin to the USA’s NBA or the English Premier League, where teams have ownership models.
However, a little like State of Origin Rugby League, teams will only draw upon surfers from their region or catchment (each team is allowed one wildcard surfer from overseas, West Australia or Tasmania). Another feature of the SSL competition is a unique classification process for the surfers. While each team must feature at least two women, the surfers will be classified as either Royalty (typically a former CT competitor like Owen Wright), Elite (the country’s best WSL/ISA-ranked competitive surfers at the peak of their powers, but not on the CT), Wildcard (one out-of-market or non-Australian surfer per team), or Free Surfer (Australia’s most exciting free-surfers).
While surfing fans are curious to see how the SSL rolls out – on the beach and the screen – dozens of eligible surfers are already eager to be involved. The SSL invited surfers to register their interest last week, and, according to the team at SSL, at the time of writing already more than 70 surfers had applied. While no names were given, the list was said to include past world champions, CS and QS surfers from Australia and OS, along with noted freesurfers.
Each surfer will be paid a flat rate of A$89,000. That puts the player wage bill for eight, six person squads at around $4 million. Mater appears to be playing a long game and is adamant he wants to create a secure pathway for Australian surfers. “I was really underwhelmed with what the professional options were (for Australian surfers), and so that’s why I wanted to build this league for them. You’ve got all this surfing talent, and there’s very limited opportunities for them.”
Mater also believes that an SSL premiership will become a meaningful aspiration for Australian surfers, something they’ll want on their list of accolades by the time they retire. “There’s a pathway to go to the Olympics, which is a very small group of people that happens, you know, every four years, which is tiny. There’s a pathway to go and win a world championship or a world title, which is fantastic. And we’re creating a third one, which is go and play professionally in the league and win a premiership… We’re really sure that’s good for Australian surfing, and will become more and more important for us, because we’re building this for 100 years, not for five.”
As for paying the wage bill, set-up costs and making a profit, Mater is confident his diversified business model will work. “You have your television rights, your media rights fee, you have league sponsors, you have team sponsors, which we’ve never seen before in surfing – that whole category of team sponsorship. Then you’ve we’re ticketing events. So you’ve got your ticket sales, merchandise, VIP, hospitality. And on top of that, you’ve got the franchise sales in the future.”
We can expect to see the hype build around the SSL in coming months. By the time it launches in January 2028, we’ll know who is surfing for which team, and fans might even be wearing team merchandise to the beach as they anticipate the first series. Some purists might cringe at the glossy, commercialisation of their favourite pastime, but it’s good news for them too. If everyone else is watching the SSL on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon between four and six, then the surf will surely be empty.
