What do you think the landscape of skateboarding will look like in 10 years? Go to TryFum.com/RICKYGLASER to get your free FÜM Base when you order the Journey Pack

I still think social media hurt skateboarding way more than it helped. Skaters where making good money in the late 90s Early to mid 00s before every one wanted to do there own solo things and skateboarding got over saturated.

The skateboard industry is very much like the music industry.

Glad to see you get a video sponsor bro. I bet people don’t even get the irony. Hope it helps so you can skate as long as you can.

Short version... GREED. If skaters continue to accept lower income for " perform on demand " then the industry will continue to roll with it. You hit the nail on the head on self marketing and sales of your own merchandise. I would also add that so many skaters today can perform whatever tricks but they move very clinical and serious lack flow or style / steeez.

Sports like football, basketball, baseball have been integrated into the entertainment complex and are part of society's bread & circus, hence the backing & revenue they receive/support

companies nowadays aren't looking for talented skaters so much as they're looking for marketable individuals, like Bam back in 2004. Talented skaters come and go, a few skaters manage to become legends but only amongst their peers. Trust and believe, If Logan Paul could kickflip down a 3 set, Nike would be pounding on his front door with a blank check lol. It also doesn't help that skateboarding in recent years has been shifting away from its image of athleticism and talent and has began to cater to individuals who prefer cruising on longboards or penny boards. Learning how to do an ollie through blood and sweat isnt as appealing to the new generation as cruising on a penny board while recording yourself on tik tok.

I feel like the only people complaining about skateboarding's downturn are the once big people/companies that got played out and became cookey. P-rod and primitive. Berra and the berrics. Kyro and braille. Schrock and revive. And a handful of youtubers that use key words in their titles like "downfall, doomed, is this the end?" To get clicks. I have yet to see a video of, let's say Julien stranger or any other core skate brand owner make a psa of how bad the industry is. The downfall of skateboarding narrative is created by these irrelevant brands and people.

This video is SPOT ON! The huge boost in income to skateboarders back in the day really had little to do with the skateboard industry moving things forward. It was SO much more the reality TV boom and trying to find interesting people to put on it and capture that younger audience. It feels like it happened TO them rather than them making it happen. Then social media came along and cannibalized reality TV especially for that younger demographic coveted by advertisers. Marketing budgets are how any of these entertainment industries can make serious money. Organized sports bring in advertising because they got organized and have leverage to make those deals. The “skate culture” has stereotypically rejected organization so it’s every skater for themselves pulling in deals through social media advertisers.

I’ve never watched Danny before but my god props for the way he just DIVES into those questions lmao

Thanks for uploading this. What skateboarding brings is ways to get motivated to land tricks like goals for an ambitious mindset. Meet a lot of great people. Especially when you get to travel. Whether across your country or across the world. Plus, it can keep you active and healthy when not slamming.

Love you Ricky! Good vid! Keep up the great work.

I can't even tell what makes a pro anymore. Things pros were doing in the 90s and 00s you can see going down at the park by an amateur. I think it's just too many great skaters, the trick tips made so many great skaters. So you need something besides just skating to set you apart

I remember when everyone was playing Skate lol

Great Vid! I was so stoked to see the infusion of new life that skateboarding got from the Olympics! I hope that it can continue to grow and that companies and people in the industry can let go of the infighting and just SK8

yo amigo! word up for the fresh upload! keep 'em coming- great synopsis and insights on the financial landscape! ¬ your homey from Cape Town, South Africa!

I LOVE YOUR VIDEOSS!!

when we are in a recession everything takes a hit, also with youtube and all the creators there's just so may people hard to split that money that many ways. i wish skateboarders made money like the nba

great video my dude

love your videos ❤

Amazing video Ricky great job

I'm seeing you putting the world cup in that intro respect I've still got the t shirt with Ryan on it from 2004.

The future of skateboarding is going outside and skateboarding

big chanel rick, keep grinding

Back in the day, I remember seeing the same skaters in every month of Thrasher Magazine. It's like they say, "it's not what you know, it's who you know".

Yeeewww we love ricky!!

boys we gotta keep skateboarding alivvee!!

There's a great skatepark in damn near every town down here in oz now and the standard of skating is getting better and better. There's little girls doing 900's now ffs but unless ya one of the lucky few that win contest consistently or get a big sponsorship deal with Nike or the like then there's just no money in it. There's more kids on friggin scooters these days but there's probably no money in that either. Hopefully that changes and top athletes can make a decent living out of it again. Gold medals are great and all but if there's no money in it then ya can't put the time in to pursue it professionally.

I've been bodybuilding for 12 years and like skate boarding we take everything to the extreme to win a contest and at the end of the year if your of the elite 1% you maybe win 30k a year. It's shitty becuase on the other hand we have stupid shit like football, tennis, basketball etc and I'd 100% would rather watch some skate a 12 stair and hit some fat tricks then watch someone run with a ball down the field.

Great video! Another aspect is the 'sellout' judgement. I remember a lot of people hating on P Rod and Sheckler for taking sponsorships from Nike and other big non-skateboarding brands. But that's where the money is...

Feels like the game is a lot different from 2010s, let alone the early to mid 2000s. That was like the peak imo. Nowadays It's all about marketability and diversifying outside of skating whether that be Social media, Arts, Music, etc. "Core brands" as a means to an end for all the Skaters out here, isn't really a thing anymore, and it's just way oversaturated. Unless you're on a Giant team it feels like you're better off just working a 9-5, getting the homies together, making your own brand and sponsoring your own team, trips, and films rather than making someone else rich, because you're just gonna starve and waste valuable life clock that you could've used bettering yourself overall.

i skate since 90's and at about 2005-2006 i stopped taking serious and dedicated my time to IT to make some money. Now i am a broke programmer and can't triple-flip,casper/dark slide or flip-underflip anymore

Danny Mullen sounding like a C.I.A Investigator when asking those questions 😅😅😅

Skateboarding at first was known to be a fun creative rebellious activity, a lot of pride involved in not wanting to adopt the corporate business mindset. Skaters didn’t want to view themselves as athletes.

watching this to see how the FPV drone scene will turn out, very similar things

What is that interview called

skateboarding is a lifestyle that should be attractive to productive and physically fit people. the selling points and products are the skaters and how they maintain themselves despite such a dangerous hobby. im sure there's a way to spin this into money, if they right people were paying attention.

This is why I’m a fan of you Ricki! You are not afraid of stepping out of the box!

Jason Lee populator of a modern street trick that every modern skater tosses into their routines.. had to 'pivot' to acting.. Mark Gonzales, his Buddy had to transition to the art world. They INVENTED stuff and still have to find scheckles in other places. Skateboarding is a fringe market and is looked at as a corny thing by many people or childish... We don't live in a world of 'every time you do the circus trick you get some $' until youtube came around but we see that as a limted time hang now as well

One thing that easily holds skating back from being as big as mainstream sports is how ambiguous it is even in competition unless you're super experienced. I can never tell how someones going to score after a run really even as someone who skates and watches content. Somebody who doesn't skate has no idea how hard some things are but everyone can enjoy a crazy dunk or a miracle catch or whatever. Can't really change that it just is what it is

Paul saying "paralysis by analysis" is neat. I haven't heard that before.

I've seen all "Extreme Sports" compete with each other in popularity over the years. It was mainly Skating and BMX being main rivals.

My 29yo brother has £100 wheels! All together, his set costs around £250

Im not saying P Rod and others don’t deserve the money they got but the big price tag on keeping those skaters also puts a damper on how much companies are willing to spend on more riders. Just like most people, companies want to make as much profit as well. There is no one solution to this problem. Every one would have to take just what they need to stay going and as hard as you try. It will be improbable to get everyone on board

Only the very top pros make a good living, this has always been true even with the gigantic growth of skateboarding. and we are due for another GIGANTIC down turn in the sport sooner than later. I've heard it said skating owes you nothing but wheel bite in the rain, if you skate with this in mind you won't ever be disappointed.

I think one of the main reasons that it doesn't have the popularity of things like NFL or the NBA or Football is that it isn't a team sport. People follow teams, their parents followed teams, their friends too. They have their favourite players but that isn't what they invest in. Players come and go. Teams stick around. Skateboarding only has individuals and we may love what they do but we won't dedicate significant time to follow them. They have a shelf life. We aren't going to be getting tattoos about them or coming together to watch them in a bar.

Different era in skateboarding.. its always had its ups and downs during certain era's... from 60s to 70 to the 80s then 90s and early 2000s... of course some pro skateboarders did pocket good money in the 90s and early 2000s..

this is the kind of video that can make your channel pop out

Push all skateboarding onto KZfaq! Make youself the ENTITY of the passion you love and push the content 💯 SCREW THE INDUSTRY

what about vert skating?

I feel so bad this one skater couldn’t come to to Jackalope cause he couldn’t afford the plane ticket and he’s and Olympic skater, it’s sad Fr. He said he slowly getting tired of it

You're becoming a great communicator

all that weed lol you should come out with your own weed products. call it ricky blazer.

A lot of non pro skaters are out here doing crazy Rodney mullen type tricks and still not signed. Its almost political who skate company's pick and determine who turns pro or the fact that these skaters on social media doing these crazy tricks arent in any leagues or competitions as well. And this comes from a spectator lol

Back in the day when skateboarding was not popular, we had a "skate or die!" or "skateboarding is not a crime!" attitude. Now that skateboarding is popular and mainstream, we have a "skate and get paid!" and "sellout and skate!" attitude.

lmao i love how the interview is at lowes

I thought Tony Hawk was the only guy ever to get rich off of skateboarding. And the big money came from the video games, not so much from sponsors.

Corporate greed keeps pro skaters broke. You put a lot more on the line to become a pro skater. We wouldn't even make 100th of the pay of like NBA players.

So true!!

i cant believe skateboarders dont make a tonna munz

Facts

I think social media truly challenges the monopolies of those in power... viva people power and liberation! ✊

Basically it boils down to antiquated $2 royalty sales from boards aren't enough for current inflation rates. But you also have a lot fewer younger kids skating in 2024 because of modern tech. Toddlers literally grow up with screens and internet. If you have fewer younger participants you have fewer board sales. The older dudes like me (37 years old) I throw my money around in skateboarding for sure, but how many of us are there. I doubt there's that many. Most dudes my age that are skateboarding are collecting decks to put on walls only. Meaning a lot of eBay purchases or other secondary markets.

Insightful.

Wow there you lost me for sure haha. Skateboarding is a lifestyle.

Samr reason every other sport and industry are like this as well. It is very top heavy. How is a dealership making 10 times more money than a world champion. The greed has fully taken over and the bottom feeders running the show are making fortunes off of everyone else's hard work and success. The world we live in where clips are free and nothing is your own due to clout

This video is funny to me as a Martial Arts Tricker It’s as brutal as skating I survived for 22 years and made more than a lot of pro skaters but there’s nothing to do I didn’t make it as a stunt man so I’m just starting life at 40

The industy looks like a pyramidal scheme. Old dudes exploiting kids for a few bucks. Meanwhile skaters competing with eachother for recognition, respect and skate brand status.. The cycle continues. Kids become old dudes trying to capitalize their skill set and survive. Or maybe i'm wrong and the pasion for danger and adrenaline carry skaters to live on the edge of homelessness. anyways....

I feel there's more people just watching videos and following skaters, so hopefully it will get better. Also hope i ain't wrong!

Not possible to make money with board sales since the market is insanely oversaturated. The shoes used to be the saving grace off pro careers but even that is getting smaller and smaller. We used to have 10 shoe brands making decent money selling skate shoes and merch to skaters and non skaters. Pro's who skated for brands like Es,Emerica,Etnies,Lakai,Circa,DVS,Osiris,Supra,Fallen,Globe,Adio,Ipath and few others were making money. And all the deserving pro's were on one off those companies. Now that pie got cut into just 4 slices. Vans,Adidas,Nike SB and New Balance. That's all you see out there. So all that money get saturated into just 4 places so you have skaters making good money if they skate for those brands and if they are not on those brands they are probably having a hard time. I knew from the start that this was bad for skating. I love the shoes these brands make but I knew it was gonna be bad for such a small industry like skateboarding. I also don't see a way out. If you get good enough to get on top off thsoe brands then you made it. If not,get ready to have a job while skating 3 hours a day.

What has p rod actually done to evolve and adapt skating to today? Guy would do anything for a dollar

Skateboarding is a lifestyle not a fashinable TV sport. The ones make a killing are marketable or found ways to be. For the ones making millions there are hundreds behind them that struggle to continue to skate at a high level and have a place to live and plenty of food.

Very similar to rock climbing! We are just now going into the getting paid, however idk how long that will last. Sad that we pay for headlines and not actual talent. Imagine how fast the human race would evolve if we focused on what we love instead of paying bills.

Jagger Eaton dad is in charge of the Olympics

Part of the reason why pros are broke actually falls back onto skateboarders themselves. In the early 2010s, there was an industry push for pros to sell their full skate parts on iTunes/other online venues. I bought multiple parts to help support my fav pros, but that idea got killed by skaters so fast it wasn't even funny....Plenty of other examples, e.g. companies do skate demos for free. No cover charge, imagine you seeing your fav band live for free...Not to mention a skateboard deck itself has been roughly $50 for almost 40 years...not keeping up with any economic inflation. Skaters are just now opening up the idea of $70 decks. A deck should have been like $100 by now, but skaters in mass will never agree to that. Thus board companies make hardly any profit off their sales, and subsequently their pro skaters make almost nothing in board royalties. The end result is now we have pro skaters with day jobs, while being just as talented as any other modern athletes. Our community is just way too cheap to support our idols. Instead of just complaining for the sake of it, I will offer a suggestion too. This idea goes against the "freedom" of skateboarding, but if normal average pros ever want to earn their worth I think they need to form some kind of large umbrella organization. Similar to how the NBA/NFL/MLB each have 30+ individual teams inside, but all agree on the same rules/direction/etc. Create a standard base salary, incentives for bonuses, unified coordination to bring in outside money, etc. I don't think this will ever happen...but pro skaters deserve a lot better, and nobody is going to advocate for them. The fact that this industry hasn't crumbled yet is honestly pretty incredible.

For skaters to get more money they need to bring more eye balls and numbers 3 times a week.

yeah only way to make money is to do it the way Supreme does it or Palace..make it about the clothing and etc..and yeah also when u get hurt pretty bad, its over

Interesting take. I cannot help but to wonder why only a couple of Pro skaters talking about how skating has financially failed them. If this issue is widespread, can you interview more cases? Two people just seem like a singled out situation.

Not everyone can make a living at their hobby, including KZfaq creators. The old way of making money being a skater by getting sponsored and selling gear, or even doing video parts, is largely gone. Because skating is *a lot harder* than just about anything else that the kids do nowadays. The best way to guarantee you can support yourself is to learn a trade and get good at it, even then there's no guarantee. But there's no guarantee in anything, life is hard. It will probably get popular again one day though.

Industry is insane, I don't wanna start talking about Skating in Germany...😢

I think you are 100% correct.

Because your average kid's Skater is basically a pro

Great video and think this is an important topic. As far as your sponsor goes, nicotine was one of the things I wished I never tried or started as a kid. I think even something that mimics vape use and pushing that on to kids is questionable. No hate at all just something to think about .

you can't have it both ways. mainstream sports are affiliated with cities and bring people a sense of pride and various streams of revenue through ticket sales, concession sales, merchandise, season passes, subscription services, etc. do you want to see skateboarding operate in this model? there are simply too many pro, flow, and am skaters for everyone to make the money they deserve. the skaters that are making enough to survive off of skateboarding have at least one kind of sponsor that is completely unrelated to skateboarding. it was kind of inevitable once skateboarding superstars became a thing. it made some people very rich and most everyone else remains broke, and it wasn't always about who had the most skill. then people were inspired by that and aspired to it. unfortunately that's not the reality. i'm not sure what the solution is.

I am skater but more Rollerblader. Don't hate me 😅 and rollerblading is almost since my first years 2003 not full of money in the industry. The best of the best get some money but never was rich. And now skateboarding almost too 😢 but I think it's more auf a world who has other interests... But as we see the people love the sport even there isn't much money! 🖤 And that's why I love skating and rollerblading is

This is exactly why i decided to not become a pro skater. Its just not worth it. Broken bones for a partime minimum wage salary. Alot of times they dont even pay you they just give you all expenses paid which sounds great, but when you think about it its basically unviolent slavery. Now, The word Professional to me means: to be able to afford a house, a car, and a family

Fumigation; oh what a nation.

i think it´s just skaters back then are better marketable cause the interest in skating was bigger. these days nyjah should be like the "richest" skater but in comparison to tony hawk he dont have that much. and every big financial skater got the money not from skating (tony from the games movies etc, bam from his shows, rob dyrdek from his shows and he was a succesfull buisness man and ryan sheckler the same) and if you have that big of a name like them a shoe company wanna get you way more and is willing to pay way more cause it´s likely they make more revenue. if we would ask some stranger what skater do you know they almost always know tony some bam some ryan and a few rob, but u wouldn´t hear too many say nyjah huston felipe gustavo etc. and in sports the amount of money u can generate is always depend on how much money u bring in and how many sponsors u got how much these sponsors are willing to pay, if we take shoe companies its quite obv nike has nyjah but u can´t expect nayjah selling the same amount of shoes like lebron christiano ronaldo or something so why would nyjah get the same deal like them.

The industry itself has been decimated and with it the pro skaters and with them the entire subculture of skateboarding. I'm going to rant but the culprit is Nike SB and the Olympics and other mega-corporations. All those kids who predicted this were 100% correct. When I was growing up skating in the 00s, I would walk into a skateshop to buy, let's say, skate shoes... And on the wall I would see Lakai, éS, Etnies, Fallen, Globe, DVS, DC, Osiris, Emerica, Circa, Supra, Ice Cream, Vans, IPath, Adio... I am sure I am leaving some out too. A whole wall of them, multiple different styles and colors of each company. Now in 2024 I go into a "skateshop" (which is hardly a skateshop but a major chain like Zumiez that sells 4-5 brands of boards in about 2-3 board sizes in the dusty back of the shop... because the actual skateshops have all closed) and I see rows of Nike, Nike, Nike, Nike, Nike, Nike, Nike, Adidas, Adidas, and New Balance. This isn't just about shoes of course but it is emblematic of the entire problem. All those kids who said things like "Nike SB is going to ruin skateboarding" "the Olympics is going to ruin skateboarding" and trashed all these other big-budget monsters coming into skateboarding were all called "gatekeepers" but they were 100% correct. There is hardly a skate culture anymore. Like I said it's not about shoes, I just point this out because all of those companies employed entire pro teams and fostered a rich culture around skating, releasing ads in magazines like Transworld and Thrasher, releasing full video parts, featuring in video games, then there were all the board companies, the trucks companies, the clothing companies... all of that. You could essentially tell who a skateboarder was just by looking at them because they had shoes no one else wore with the toe rippped off and the Matix sweater and the Krew pants and the Alien Workshop sticker on their laptop... It's not just companies like Nike getting involved, it's other things too like SLS and the Olympics and TikTok and social media... There's no longer a recognizable culture, there is no such thing as a "skater" anymore, it's just people who happen to skateboard sorta but are just like anyone else r the subculture is dead, the parks are empty, but there's hardly any progression because there is no hope of sponsorship for anyone anymore. I knew multiple kids with sponsorships growing up... That sounds crazy in 2024, when only about 25 pros (the ones lucky enough to get into SLS or ride for Nike) even make anything off their progression. This entire situation has made the quality of skateboarding go down. These megacompanies push every other skate company out of business, even long-respected companies, and now skateboarding is more of just another obscure olympic sport like curling. Sad.

i'd guess the olympians/sls skaters are probably doing ok

Inflation is causing people to struggle. It's common to see people working into their 70's because they didn't make enough money to put into retirement savings. I think it's important to make as much money as you can for emergencies and your future. If you ask me, make the money as long as it's legal and not taking advantage of others. Some of PRod's haters are probably still living with parents and have no bills. He's probably reading comments not realizing it's coming from teenagers. People that are richer than Paul have gone broke like NFL players and some rappers. So, I think it's okay for Paul to continue to try and get richer as long as he's not wasting the money.

Will the fume get me buzzed?

This doesn't need a video, skateboarding like art has no inherent value, everyone thinks you're a punk ass kid and you wonder why nobody wants to pay you to do something that is only self serving, until you teach and spread the love and joy, that is how braille was born, with a sprinkling of handing crap tons of money to a cult and refusing to ever actually explain what the thing you're donating to actually is. Also people like Aaron kyro and Andy shrock just prove you can't start paying people just to enable them to do nothing but skate. Ironically though, skaters that publicly complain about being "broke" are usually the kind with their own indoor private training facilities and opportunities 99.9% of the world of skateboarding will never see 😂

I think scooters put a dent in skating. Kids can instantly ride parks for a couple years until they're sick of it and quit. Skating takes years. The media doesn't push it much anymore. But if they did it would be in the most lame, embarrassing way possible. And there isn't much money in decks and skate clothing anyway. The Olympics and Nike made sk8 way more mainstream, but no one wants to do it now, so how did that work?

Stubborn

Skating and all the other are hobby sports while sports like mlb and nfl are corporate and that’s where skating failed trying to imitate

Here is the answer ask Tony Hawk the Illuminati.

it's not really enough to just be good at skateboarding. for better or worse, you're a walking billboard for the brands who sponsor you. i never understood the hate for the guys who have more mainstream sponsors - energy drinks, etc

Stop paying Xenu and you'll have plenty of spare money

That's partially why im kinda glad nike n adidas n monster n redbull n shit like that put their foot in... they're an actual good sponsor to have lol