U.S. Professional Water Ski Tour

The U.S. Professional Water Ski Tour (also known as the Coors Light, Michelob Dry, Bud, and Budweiser Water Ski Tour) was an annual standardized series of professional water ski tournaments held across the United States and Canada. The tour began in 1984. Tour stops were typically held on public water in metropolitan areas designed to draw large crowds and were televised on cable networks such as ESPN. The tour ceased in 2002.

History

International Water Ski Tour, Inc. (IWST) was formed by Rob Shirley, CEO and founder of MasterCraft, in 1984 with major sponsorship from Coors Light, MasterCraft, and Ski Supreme. The Tour's inaugural season had seven stops across the United States and featured men's and women's slalom, men's jumping, and men's freestyle.

After the inaugural season Shirley sold the tour to G.H. "Bud" Massey, previously the publisher of Spray Magazine. However, under Massey's management IWST experienced significant financial difficulties, culminating in skier's prize money checks bouncing after the 1985 Shreveport, LA stop, which resulted in Shirley personally bailing out IWST and resuming management for the final stop in Indianapolis, IN.

The next year, management of the tour was taken over by Rich Schultz, who had previously worked on promoting bass fishing events and saw water skiing as a marketable sport with an opportunity to reach a wider audience. Schultz moved the IWST offices to Mesa, AZ. Later, for the 1987 season, women's jump was added for the first time.

in 1989, World Publications, the parent company of Water Ski Magazine, took over the management of the tour, under a corporation called World Water Ski Tour. However, dissatisfaction with tour organization, prize money, and the sometimes dangerous conditions of tour events led a group of competitors, headed by Camille Duvall, to form the Professional Association of Water Skiers (PAWS) and establish a rival tour in 1990. Their initial press release promised a worldwide tour of 19 events with $100,000 in prize money at each event. Meanwhile, the World Water Ski Tour switched it's naming right sponsor from Coors Light to Michelob Dry as the two tours competed for tournament dates and sites. The PAWS tour was discontinued the following year, after they were only able to organize a few televised amateur events.

The popularity of the new sport of wakeboarding coupled with financial constraints resulted in women's jump being dropped from the tour in favor of wakeboarding in 1992. The same year, Anheuser-Busch, the major sponsor of the tour, switched the naming right brand from Michelob Dry to the Bud Water Ski Tour.

in 1996, Anheuser-Busch pulled sponsorship of the tour and the loss of funding resulted in women's slalom, men's freestyle, and kneeboarding being dropped from the tour. World Sports & Marketing, the organizing arm of the tour, secured Café de Colombia and Sea-Doo as the major sponsors of water skiing and wakeboarding respectively. The existing series of domestic tour stops, referred to as the U.S. Pro Tour, were combined with international events, such as the Moomba Masters, to form the Café de Colombia Water Ski World Cup.

Although women's slalom and jump were included in most of the international events in the World Cup from 1997 to 1999, women's skiing was not included in any U.S. Pro Tour events. An organization headed by Jennifer Leachman and Sherri Slone, Women Of Waterskiing (WOW), established a rival tour of female only tournaments in 1997. The WOW Tour found success on Fox Sports packaged as the 30 minute TV show Curves, showcasing tournament highlights and behind the scenes footage of the athletes.

Café de Colombia pulled sponsorship after the 1999 season, spelling the end of the international World Cup format. Many of the international events continued as stand alone tournaments. Domestically, the U.S. Pro Water Ski and Wakeboard Tour continued in 2000 and 2001 with no title sponsor, with both women's slalom and jump included on the tour for the first time since 1995.

In 2002, the economic downturn resulted in the tour, rebranded as the MasterCraft PT02 Pro Wakeboard Tour, being downsized to six events, with five of the six events featuring wakeboarding only, and just one event, the inaugural MasterCraft Pro Water Ski Championships, including slalom or jump. This effectively marked the end of an organized professional tour in the United States.

Since the tour ended professional water ski tournaments have continued as loosely affiliated stand-alone events. The International Waterski & Wakeboard Federation (IWWF) created an elite ranking list in 2003 that assigned points based on professional victories. The elite ranking list was replaced by the Waterski Pro Tour in 2021.

Season Champions

Tour Stop Champions

References