Yesterday, the Action Sports Tour (AST) was a big deal, with the five-stop summer Dew Tour and the three-stop Winter Dew Tour getting ready to launch.  Today, it’s world got a whole lot bigger as it has partnered with the Maloof Money Cup, King of Wake series and the AMA Motocross Championship to have a monster offering of seven action sports tours comprising more than 25 individual pro events and more than 75 total events (including the amateur Free Flow tour).  It’s name?  ALLI: The Alliance of Action Sports.  It’s co-owned by NBC Sports and MTV, and shows that Viacom/MTV is serious about this action sports thing.

Watch out ESPN, there’s a new big dog in town.

Read on for all the details.

NBC SPORTS AND MTV ANNOUNCE THE CREATION OF ALLI, THE ALLIANCE OF ACTION SPORTS

Alli to include seven national & international action sports properties, adding new partnerships with Maloof Money Cup, AMA Motocross Championship & King of Wake series to popular Dew Tour franchise

NEW YORK – December 1, 2008 – NBC Sports and MTV, a division of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B), announced today the creation of Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports™.  Alli is a global business that joins the former Action Sports Tour properties (AST) with Maloof Money Cup, AMA Motocross Championship and King of Wake series to create the most diverse and robust action-sports offering in the world. The new umbrella brand, which will continue to be co-owned by NBC Sports and MTV, will offer a schedule of seven national and international action sports tours and events, multimedia content and production, a digital hub and consumer-facing lifestyle brand.

Building on the successful foundation of AST, Alli will serve as the owner and operator of the Dew Tour and Winter Dew Tour, Free Flow Tour, and the China Invitational. In addition, Alli has formed partnerships with industry leaders and premier properties: Maloof Money Cup, the AMA Motocross Championships, and the King of Wake series.  Alli partners will continue to manage their respective events with the added benefit of television programming on NBC Sports and MTV, global media content distribution, sponsorship sales, and marketing and promotion across all platforms. A soon-to-be-launched digital hub will also serve as the online destination for all Alli properties and a leading source of all action sports content and news.

This announcement comes six months after the groundbreaking joint venture between NBC and MTV around the AST and its related businesses.  This wide-ranging, strategic partnership expanded the business across NBC and MTV’s multiple screens, including action sports competition and youth-focused lifestyle programming, cross-promotion, multi-platform content and distribution, consumer products licensing and an enhanced digital offering.  Moving forward under the Alli brand, the partnership will include over 80 hours of original programming offered annually across NBC, USA Network, MTV and MTV2

“Alli’s mission is to facilitate the momentous growth of action sports by showcasing both the competition and lifestyle aspect of these sports.  We believe these are the sports of a new generation and Alli will bring together the best properties, athletes, and brands globally for the fans of action sports,” says Wade Martin, President of Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports.

“When NBC Sports launched the Dew Tour we knew there would be an opportunity to expand into other action sports.  We are excited to bring the best programming across the entire action sports genre on multiple media distribution platforms to our audience,” says Kevin Monaghan, Senior Vice President, Business Development, NBC Sports & Olympics.

Added Jeff Yapp, Executive Vice President of Program Enterprises for MTV Networks Music & Logo Group, “This is a major step in building the business we imagined when we first partnered with NBC Sports. Building our online platform, creating a lifestyle brand, and expanding original content will positively impact the network of partners, athletes, fans and the action sports industry as a whole, which is everything that the alliance represents”.

An overview of the Alli properties is as follows:

Maloof Money Cup

Held for the first time in 2008, the Maloof Money Cup, owned and operated by the Maloof family, has quickly become the premier skateboarding event within the community and attracts every top athlete.  Including three professional competitions – Men’s and Women’s Pro Street, and Men’s Pro Vert – and the Amateur Championships, it boasts the largest single event purse in skateboarding with over $450,000 in prize money.

AMA Motocross Championship

AMA Motocross Championship is the top outdoor series in motocross and draws elite rider talent from all around the world. The MX Sports-organized series, which began in 1972, spans 12 races across the U.S., and at the end of each year, the AMA National Motocross Championship titles are awarded based on the riders’ performances over the entire series.

King of Wake

As the elite pro wakeboarding circuit, the King of Wake series has attracted the sport’s top riders from throughout the globe. With more than $300,000 in prize money over the eight-event season, riders compete over the course of the year to be named the “King of Wake” – an award based on points accumulated at each stop of the series. Events include Wake Games, Pro Wakeboard Tour (5 events), WWA National Championships, and WWA World Championships. The King of Wake is organized by World Sports & Marketing – the leading wake event producers since 1988.

Dew Tour

The Dew Tour, the premier season-long series in action sports, consists of five major, multi-sport events, featuring skateboarding (park and vert), BMX (park, vert, and dirt), and FMX.  Dew Tour is the most watched and attended action sports property in the world with over 250k spectators, 41 million total viewers and reaches over 100 countries worldwide. The events extend across the country, have a cumulative points system, and a $3.5 million competitive purse. The Dew Tour has been the cornerstone property of AST over the last four years, and its success has now enabled the formation of Alli, the Alliance of Action Sports. It crowns year-end champions including past Dew Cup winners Ryan Sheckler, Shaun White, Bucky Lasek, Jamie Bestwick, and Nate Adams.

Winter Dew Tour

The Winter Dew Tour is launching in December of ’08, and will expand Alli’s footprint into the winter action sports. It consists of three major, multi-sport events spanning across the country, with a cumulative points system, and a $1.5 million competitive purse.  The tour will feature 29 hours of original television programming. Each event features men and women’s snowboard (superpipe and slopestyle), and men’s freeskiing (superpipe and slopestyle).  Top athletes, Shaun White, Hannah Teter, Travis Rice, Simon Dumont, and Danny Kass, are already planning to compete.

Free Flow Tour

The Free Flow Tour, the Dew Tour’s official amateur series, provides amateur athletes the opportunity to earn a chance to compete against the pros in the Dew Tour.  The Free Flow Tour consists of 50 events across 26 cities in the U.S., featuring skateboarding and BMX. The winners of the Free Flow Tour Finals compete against the pros at the Dew Tour’s PlayStation Pro in Orlando, Fla.  Past Free Flow Tour winners include Chaz Ortiz (2007 Dew Cup Winner, Skate Park) and Mike Spinner (2008 Dew Tour Second Place, BMX Park).

China Invitational

The China Invitational is Alli’s first international expansion initiative. The inaugural China Invitational was held in April 2008 in Beijing, China and featured the top skateboarders competing in vert and park disciplines before a capacity crowd.

Well, Ortiz didn’t kid around, winning the contest and the Dew Cup, with P-Rod and Greg Lutzka close behind.  And our Mr. Sheckler?  Tenth.

Congrats on #1 Chaz — it must be great to be 14.

Video highlights below.

Watch highlights from the action below…

Check out the top highlights from the Saturday night contest in the video below.

My favorite part was listening to TJ Lavin and Jamie Bestwick debate what people should have been scored or how a run went down.  Classic.  While you won’t hear that in the video below, you will get to see some highlights…

Adam Jones was the big winner Sunday at the PlayStation Pro, not only taking home the title for the individual contest, but also grabbing the Dew Cup and its $75K award.  Jones’ biggest competition for the Dew Cup, Aussie Blake “Bilko” Williams (who won one event this season) did not compete as expected.

Robbie Maddison was close behind Jones in second place, both for the contest and for the Dew Cup, while Metal Mulisha rider Jeremy Lusk was third in both races.

FMX was only a contest event in three of the five AST Dew Tour stops this season, and Jones won this event and last month’s Toyota Challenge in Salt Lake City.

For more about the final, check out AST.com.

FMX Final Results – PlayStation Pro
October 19, 2008 – Orlando, FL
1. Adam Jones, Minden, Nev., 93.67
2. Robbie Maddison, Australia, 93.10
3. Jeremy Lusk, San Diego, 92.57
4. Beau Bamburg, Gresham, Ore., 91.90
5. Jeff Kargola, San Clemente, Calif., 90.23
6. Mike Mason, Carson City, Nev., 88.03
7. Myles Richmond, Cherry Valley, Calif., 86.67
8. Wiley Fullmer, Corona, Calif., 86.10
9. Derek Garland, San Clemente, Calif., 85.10
10. Ronnie Faisst, Mays Landing, N.J., 84.33

One year ago, Chaz Ortiz was making his first appearance on the AST Dew Tour at Orlando’s PlayStation Pro having qualified for a wildcard thanks to taking the Free Flow Tour title.  At only 13, he was competiting as an amateur.  This year, he won it all.

“I wasn’t expecting to win,” Ortiz said. “I came in here just wanting to have fun and I mean it all came together. To win it is ten times better.”

Ortiz didn’t just win the PlayStation pro, he dominated it.  Yes, Paul Rodriguez Jr. and Greg Lutzka were in it to the end, but Ortiz couldn’t be beat after landing almost every trick cleanly in the seven-minute jam session.

Three-time Dew Cup champ Ryan Sheckler, who led the race going into Orlando, was off of his game finishing well out of the running in the contest at 10th place and 3rd for the Dew Cup.

For the season both Sheckler and Ortiz won two stops (the other was won by P-Rod) but Sheckler’s poor showing in two contests made the difference.

P-Rod finished second in the contest and in the Dew Cup Race, followed by Greg Lutzka in third for the contest (and fourth for the Dew Cup).

Timmy Knuth, 17, who won this year’s Free Flow Tour amateur title in Salt Lake City last month, finished in fourth place today.

For more about the final and about the tour, check out AST.com.

Skate Park Final Results – PlayStation Pro
October 19, 2008 – Orlando, FL
1. Chaz Ortiz, Chicago, 92.75
2. Paul Rodriguez, Tarzana, Calif., 91.25
3. Greg Lutzka, Milwaukee, 86.75
4. Timmy Knuth (A), Melbourne, Fla., 82.10
5. Austen Seaholm, Anaheim, Calif., 79.60
6. Carlos De Andrade, Brazil, 77.00
(the following did not qualify for six man jam session)
7. Chris Mendes, Moreno Valley, Calif., 79.50
8. Rodolfo Ramos, Brazil, 78.75
9. Danilo Do Rosario, Brazil, 78.75
10. Ryan Sheckler, San Clemente, Calif., 78.00

It was supposed to be easy for Bucky — he was first in the points standing and needed a first or second-place finish (depending on where everyone else placed) to win his third Dew Cup.  Instead, he fell and ended up in last place, opening the contest up to Bob Burnquist, Andy Macdonald and Pierre-Luc Gagnon, who trailed him in the Dew Cup standings.

PLG took advantage by winning the contest with a huge 96.00 run — Andy Mac finished in second for the contest (and  only 13 points behind PLG in the Dew Cup race) and Danny Mayer came in third.  Burnquist ended up in sixth-place.

For PLG, the win comes three years after coming close to getting the Dew Cup in 2005 (he lost it when Lasek won it in the final contest).  PLG’s season has been a remarkable one outside the AST Dew Tour, with wins at the X Games and the Maloof Money Cup.  And while he has won at the Dew Tour before, this was his first win of the season (he had three second-place finishes).

Skate Vert Final Results – PlayStation Pro
October 18, 2008 – Orlando, FL
1. Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Canada, 96.00
2. Andy Macdonald, Boston, 87.00
3. Danny Mayer, Omaha, Neb., 86.00
4. Sandro Dias, Brazil, 85.25
5. Adam Taylor, Cocoa Beach, Fla., 81.00
6. Bob Burnquist, Brazil, 80.75
7. Anthony Furlong, Tampa, Fla., 79.50
8. Buster Halterman, Wellsville, Calif., 75.25
9. Jean Postec, France, 71.75
10. Bucky Lasek, Baltimore, 45.75

Corey Bohan, who came into the day third in the Dew Cup race, pushed hard and ended up second at the contest and second in the race after Luke Parslow, second in the Dew Cup standings, was unable to crack the top three.

Enarson won the contest thanks to two huge runs that gave him the top spot going into the third and final run.  White was in first after one run but stumbled on his second, opening the door for the 17-year old from San Diego to grab his second win on the tour.

White came close to taking the Dew Cup in 2007 but lost it to Ryan Nyquist after crashing on his final run.  This year, with the Dew Cup lead his going into Orlando, he had a comfortable lead and didn’t need to finish first to take home the overall honor which has a payout of $75K.

BMX Dirt Final Results – PlayStation Pro
October 18, 2008 – Orlando, FL
1. Dennis Enarson, La Mesa, Calif., 93.33*
2. Corey Bohan, Australia, 93.17
3. Cameron White, Australia, 93.09
4. Rob Darden, Greenville, N.C., 92.59
5. Chris Doyle, Pittsburgh, Penn., 92.42
6. Luke Parslow, Australia, 91.00
7. Nate Berkheimer, Las Vegas, 90.33
8. Ryan Guettler, Australia, 87.34
9. Anthony Napolitan, Youngstown, Ohio., 86.67
10. Ryan Nyquist, Los Gatos, Calif., 85.92
* Score is average of best two out of three runs

Tim “Fuzzy” Hall in 2006 at the Toyota Challenge.

It’s the final stop of the AST Dew Tour for 2008, and the action sports stars plan to send it off with a bang. Meanwhile, BMX dirt has become the Tour’s sensation, with outrageous air and even more outrageous tricks.

Fuzzy Hall designed and built the Dew Tour BMX dirt course for the final stop, the PlayStation Pro in Orlando. Now he will also ride it as a competitor. “He got a wild card to get in,” says Utah rider Eddie Buckley, the BMX coordinator for the Tour. Buckley is also a rider, but here, “I’m just the hired help.”

The previous stop was in Salt Lake City, where blazing heat made it uncomfortable for riders. “It’s only about 80 degrees in Orlando now, but the humidity is about 89 per cent. It sucks” Buckley says

He adds that the Florida course is big. “The Salt Lake course had a lot of hips, (jumps at an angle). This one is more of a straight course, the drops go down in a straight line. They are really big, there was huge air in prelims,” Buckley says.

He adds, “Everybody’s up and ready for tonight because of how close the points are. After the prelims, the first, second, third and fourth place riders were all within a few points of each other. To win, they’ll all need something new. You also saw that a lot yesterday in park and vert. They are going to have to bring their newest and best.”

That means that the level of skating and riding has once again been ratcheted up another notch.

Buckley says that after the Saturday night BMX dirt contest under the full moon, they and the other action sports stars of the Tour will party hearty, but not with the gaggle of groupies who present themselves for availability by the finish area.

“It’s definitely going to be a great party tonight, we’re going to celebrate a great season, and hopefully no one will get hurt. When we hang out, we’re just all friends. We’re not looking for chicks, but just to hang out with the boys,” Buckley says.

- by Wina Sturgeon, AdventureSportsWeekly.com