Chris Mater, ex-CEO of Surfing Australia, is attempting to disrupt the landscape of Surfing to break into an under-commercialised audience.
The Surfing Super League (SSL) is hitting Aussie beaches in 2028, but before a wave has been surfed Mater wants to make a splash. And he’s not afraid to be controversial.
“The league is going to be quite polarising, people are going to love it or hate it. This is because surfers hate change, a lot of them are stuck, so they’re going to hate it. Bring on the haters,” he told B&T.
Rather than seeing this as a threat to his new domestic sports competition, Mater sees this as a positive, because no matter people’s stance on the league they “are going to talk about it”.
The biggest surfing competition in the world is The World Surf League (WSL). However, it only hits Aussie beaches three times a year — leaving a hole in the market for a new comp to ride the surf wave and capitalise on a large audience.
That is why Mater has launched Australia’s first professional domestic surfing property. The official league launch today heralds an 18-month commercial rollout ahead of its inaugural 2028 season, which will see eight franchises compete on eight consecutive summer weekends across Australia’s East Coast, broadcast live.
Helping the comp find its feet until sponsors jump on board is lead investor, David Ellsworth. Ellsworth has an advertising background previously the senior vice-president of creative strategy, content, marketing and new business at Coca-Cola Japan.
The launch kicks off a strategic build to convert Australia’s massive, under-commercialised surfing audience into a scalable sports asset. Research from the Australian National University values recreational surfing’s direct contribution to the national economy at $2.71 billion annually.
However, Surfing Australia revealed that despite having 6.3 million active surfers and 7.3 million fans nationally, the sport currently captures a tiny fraction of the commercial revenue generated by traditional domestic leagues like the NRL or Big Bash League (BBL).
The Surfing Super League (SSL) is engineered to close that gap by solving surfing’s historical broadcast limitations. Replacing unpredictable waiting periods with 15 live games of exactly 90 minutes across locked weekend windows, the league delivers around 30 hours of guaranteed, fixed-duration summer television content.
This has already caught the attention of broadcasters. With Mater revealing, that the comp is “in final negotiations with a broadcaster”.
He explained that the broadcast will be both domestic and international, and have an element of both free-to-air and pay TV.
LIV Golf style comp
The SSL is looking to create a professional live sports experience unlike anything “previously seen in Australian surfing”. The events will feature purpose-built infrastructure, including grandstands and ticketed viewing areas, giving fans a more traditional stadium-style experience around the surf competition.
Beyond the action in the water, each event will feature a range of entertainment and activities, including a dedicated industry zone (for surf brands to sponsor), live music, food and beverage areas, and possibly even other sports such as “volleyball and pickleball”.
The aim is to create an inclusive, festival-style environment where fans can enjoy the surfing alongside entertainment, food, music and other sporting activities.
Brands looking to ride the SSL wave
The SSL will offer brands sponsorship opportunities across both the league and its individual teams, creating a similar commercial model to major Australian sporting competitions such as the NRL and AFL.
At the league level, the competition is seeking a founding principal partner, alongside five major partners. Sponsorship inventory will span broadcast, beach signage, content, fan experiences and live events, giving brands the opportunity to align with Australian beaches and the summer season.
The league is also targeting major sponsorship categories traditionally associated with sport, including banking, airlines and insurance.
At the team level, each of the eight franchises will have its own principal partner, alongside five major partners. This will allow brands to align with individual teams and the markets and communities that are important to them, while still benefiting from the wider national competition.
The league’s short summer season also provides a concentrated sponsorship opportunity, with two-hour broadcast windows from 4pm to 6pm on both Saturday and Sunday, alongside the live event experience and supporting content.
