Meet Joe Carr, the WSL’s chief strategy officer and head of international. Photo: MMA Junkie
Remember back when Paul Speaker took the helm of the Association of Surfing Professionals and changed it to the World Surf League? Soon after, a lot more than just the name changed. The newly-named World Surf League took on a whole different look: big block letters, giant headphones on announcers, oddly placed couches on beaches, and graphics. Oh, the graphics! It all looked very… NFL-ish. Well, that was because Speaker, prior to becoming the CEO of the WSL, was an NFL executive and marketing guru. And although he’s since stepped down, there was outrage at the time. So much! How dare he come into our silly little game of sliding on waves and try to increase viewers? How dare he try and make a working business model? Guess who’s just come on the roster? Joe Carr, the senior vice president and head of international and content for… wait for it… the UFC.
According to MMA Junkie, Carr left his spot at the UFC for a new gig to lead the strategy and execution of the league’s international business. Along with the senior management team already in place, he’ll be the guy who oversees the World Surf League’s strategy, corporate development, the execution of international operations, sales, events, and athlete development.
“The decision to leave colleagues and the (UFC) after more than 5 years was one of the toughest of my life,” Carr said in a statement. “As much as I enjoyed the sport and the events, it was really the personal relationship with my teams around the world that I valued the most.”
Carr began his career with the UFC as a senior director of investment and strategy, where he was tasked with making the UFC gigantic–a role in which he excelled, judging by the numbers of fans.
“I was fortunate enough to receive an incredible offer to join another fast-growing sports organization in the WSL and move back to L.A.,” he said. “I see a ton of parallels between both companies and am leaving for the same set of challenges that attracted me to UFC.”
Of course, this is going to stick in the craw of a few people. Although the only real purpose of the World Surf League is to get more people to watch more surfing–it is a business, after all, and businesses exist to make money–it’s easy to see that hiring a guy that turned a fledgling sport of people smashing each other into a legitimate global phenomenon could very easily add to already crowded line-ups. Like I said, though, the World Surf League is a business, and this particular business depends on viewers. Unfortunately for every surfer out there, more viewers will eventually lead to more surfers… but hey, there’s always wave pools.
