What is the World Surf League?

The World Surf League is the governing body for professional surfers and is dedicated to showcasing the world's most talented in a variety of progressive formats. The World Surfing League was originally known as the International Professional Surfing League, founded by Fred Hemmings and Randy Rarick in 1976. In 1983, the Association of Surfing Professionals took over the management of the world track. As of December 2017, the WSL had over 6.5 million Facebook fans, surpassing more well-known sports such as the National Hockey League, Tennis Professionals Association, Major Football League. In January 2018, Forbes reported that WSL had signed an exclusive $ 30 million digital broadcasting rights agreement with Facebook over 2 years. From 1976 to 1982, International Professional Surfers, founded by Fred Hemming and Randy Rarick, was the world's original governing body for professional surfing. The predecessors of WSL refer to which organizations at the time mostly represented individual professional surfers. This is an important point because the International Surfing Federation still functions as the International Surfing Association and also names the winners of the competition as world champions (or a variety of them). The Surfing Professionals Association took over the management of professional surfing in 1983 and became world champions until 2015, when the organization was renamed the World Surf League. WSL has remained the dominant surfing organization and authorized body for professional surfers since its inception.