The pro surfing world had developed a severe case of “shut the fuck up” after news of a proposed, alternative tour broke yesterday.

No one wanted to say too much on the record, after a storm of wild rumour and speculation followed the revelation that Kelly’s Slater’s manager Terry Hardy and sports network ESPN are in the advanced stages of planning a new tour for as early as 2010. The proposed tour, known as the Champions Surf Tour, would include 16 surfers - 12 to 14 regulars and the rest wildcards - competing on a shortened five month season of eight events.

Prize-money would be a minimum of $1.5 million per event, with last place receiving US$40,000, as much as a contest winner currently receives. Prime-time TV coverage on ESPN is one of the big drawcards of the proposal.

Most of the surfers, including Kelly himself, appear largely in the dark on the details, despite the tour being widely referred to as “Kelly’s Tour,” a description he disputes. A meeting is scheduled in California during the US Open for surfers to meet with organisers of the new tour, hear more details and have any questions or concerns addressed.

Whether the new tour works together with ASP or operates as a breakaway tour hinges on the California meeting. How surfers would be selected and whether the existing ASP events and ratings would feed into the new tour is unknown.

The new tour is proposed to run from July to December in 2010, which doesn’t leave a lot of time to sort out the myriad sponsorship, legal, logistical and financial tangles which will inevitably arise. No details of dates and venues are available. And it leaves those surfers not included in the new tour in uncertain territory. Whether industry sponsors will be happy to see their surfers go off and surf on a tour that is a rival to the tour they support remains to be seen.

The people behind this new tour created a US sports show called Primeticket which ran successfully for many years and they believe surfing is the last sport to get its due recognition and be professionally presented.

"The only thing I will adamantly say is that it's not 'Kelly's Tour,'" Matt Tinley, one of the principal architects of the new tour, told Surfline. Tinley, who has a long history in Cable Sports TV, will "neither confirm or deny" any rumors about the specifics of the tour. "It's best if we have a view of the whole system rather than piece bits of it out -- it's best to lay it out to everyone in detail all at once." Tinley said a formal announcement on the new tour could be made in August.

ASP CEO Brodie Carr made the following statement in response to the rumours of the new tour:

"At present, ASP has not received any proposals or information regarding this matter. As such, we cannot offer a view, state a position or comment. We remain open to listening to any new proposal. We are committed to working closely with our immensely-talented athletes and core industry supporters in delivering our international fan base credible Men's and Women's World Champions who surf the world's best waves."

The surfers themselves are all keen for more information before committing to any new tour but the mood for change is thick in the air. Frustration with low prize-money and lack of growth in pro surfing’s spread and reach is at an historic high. Still, one WCT surfer branded the concept as, “The Harlem Globetrotters - a few guys in the twilight of their careers trying to make a few more millions.”

One ASP official told ASL the new tour would lack the credibility to call its winner a world champion, without a comprehensive feeder system of regional and qualifying events. “The ASP is not perfect but one thing it has got really right is that any kid anywhere in the world can dream of being a world champion and there is a career path there for them to follow,” he said. The Official said he thought the new tour would be chasing Kelly, Rob Machado, Andy and Bruce Irons, Dane Reynolds and Jordy Smith, and then go after some of the WCT’s other top seeds - Mick, Joel, and Taj for starters - as well as young guns like Clay Marzo, Rye Craike and their ilk.

Insurfnews.com, the website of WCT surfer Fred Patacchia, is reporting that the new tour has guaranteed funds for a minimum of three years and that Kelly is obligated to compete on the tour for at least those three years, by which time he would be 41.

“ASP is shitting in it’s pants,” it says.