The RUMBLE Roadmap
SKATEBOARDINGS PATH TO THE FUTURE
Read our 3 stage plan to improve skateboarding across Australia and the pacific
Stage 1 - Building a Solid Platform
The current stage we are halfway through. This stage is made up of 3 aspects to sustain skateboarding into the Future.
1. Create a strong pathway program. Am series skateboarders through the program are now skating X games, SLS and on the Olympic pathway.
2. Create Skateboarding as a product. The Eastern Rumble live event and broadcast were as good as any event to watch, the level is here now, and its time to grow skating for it’s Community. Focus on Increased viewership and spectators.
3. Put skateboarding in an improved financial position for growth, to support both Am and pro events as pathways and grow future investment into the sport. This is a Constant.
Corey Nixons run at the BMD Eastern Rumble changed the level of competition in Australia forever.
Key Details
Content from the leagues is getting 6 x higher viewership since 12 months ago.
We are communicating with major brands in Australia who use skateboarding to advertise their products but don’t support skateboarding and further educating them.
We are putting our foot down on lower revenue sponsorships that leave skateboarders and skateboarding underfunded.
The Rumble academy will soon be launching education on building your brand social media profile to improve the landscape financially for athletes.
Stage 2 - Building a LEGACY THROUGH INVESTMENT
In the not too distant future, The Rumble Pathway and Pro Tour league will be open for Investment. This changes the dynamic for skateboarding as it becomes widely owned by a larger group, brings in further resources and knowledge, and will help maintain skateboarding in the future. The new organisation to operate the league will be known as Pacific Action Sports.
The Investment aims to:
1. Spread ownership across the broader community.
2. Grow the sport, prize money and viewership to its full potential.
3. Create a lasting program for future generations.
4. Expand both the rumble and Am series leagues.
5. Connect and develop the entire pacific, not just Australia.
We want to build a pathway system for generations to come to have opportunity in the future.
Key Details
The Current Pro Tours do not have a verified pathway into their leagues, it is hand picked. We want to move into a position of effort based reward, not who you know.
The pacific region performs 10.4 times its weight per Ca-pita in global sport, making it the most talented sporting region on the planet.
There is an opportunity to create leagues here in the pacific that can rival the biggest stages in the world, with homegrown talent.
Sustainability and growth has been proven, and its time for skateboarding to grow.
Stage 3 - CLOSE THE GAP
We can tell you the gaps we are facing and aiming to improve in the skateboarding landscape. These are a big focus for moving forward and will be starting from next Season.
Mens Street
Mens Street has the highest ratings, engagement and investment from sponsors across all divisions. to put it in perspective, for every 1000 views a Mens Street Video gets,
Womens Street will get 200 views;
Mens Park/Bowl will get 75 views; &
Womens Park/Bowl will get 33 views.
This also similarly lines up with financial sponsorship in each division. We can confirm with the new formats that we have seen improvement in the lower performing divisions.
Surveying and feedback shows that divisions with more juniors have lower engagement. This will resolve itself in time as our juniors age through these divisions.
Womens Planning
Key Data
29 out of every 100 kids learning to skateboard are female.
From this 29, around 30% of these will continue to skate. (8.7 females will continue to skate)
Of these 8.7 Females, 20% of these will compete in the future. 1.74 out of 100 kids who start skateboarding.
Retention
When we finally get these girls competing, often they can be in regional areas, the past 2 years, the junior divisions have been split into male and female. This has left a large volume of young girls without people to skate with, compete against or interest to stay engaged in skateboarding. Prior to this, mixed divisions allowed girls to build a network and a group of peers outside of female only, producing people like Haylie Powell and Chloe Covell, who grew up in mixed divisions. Plans to improve this include running mixed juniors and less female events, to allow them to all get together at bigger stops and have healthier competition.
Repairing a Womens system
Some time ago, a big push came through for Equal prize money in skateboarding, Rumble, as well as majority of organisers followed this directive to close the gap in skateboarding. During this period, Womens participation numbers went from around 15% in competition to now currently around 11% in domestic competition. It's not a complete fail, with a number of females moving up to bigger opportunities, so the system has had some success.
The challenges have never been around the level of skateboarding, purely around participation numbers, and the focus going forward will be to redesign a plan around womens skateboarding for the current generation coming through and making sure they have a sustainable future.
Mens Street gets the highest ratings and largest investment in skateboarding competitions.
Females in regional areas are being isolated due to smaller participation numbers
Key Details
Focus to improve Bowl/Park funding by making it entertaining to attract investment
Focus on Womens participation and retention to be a #1 priority going forward.