O surfing it is a sport that has been gaining more and more followers in Brazil. According to estimates by the Brazilian Institute of Surfing (Ibrasurfe), the practice moves billionaire figures, something around R$ 7 billion a year. The amount includes expenses with accessories, clothes and boards.
The significant amount shows that the sport is increasingly in evidence. Data from the 2019 Ibope Repucom show that the country has more than 54 million people over the age of 18 interested in following the surfing lifestyle. Fans of the practice reach 25 million.
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One of the reasons for the modality's success has to do with the relatively low cost for the practice, the track record of good athletes, in addition to the high chances of career professionalization.
Currently, the sport has at least four great athletes in the sport, with some names well known to the Brazilian public, such as Gabriel Medina, Italo Ferreira It is Filipe Toledo.
Surfing is a sport that generates a lot of money, especially when sponsored by big brands. O professional surfer salary, for example, can reach millionaire figures. When added to prizes and publicity, the remuneration can triple in value.
To give you an idea, data from Stab magazine showed that Gabriel Medina had an annual salary of US$ 3.05 million in 2018. In the same year, the surfer won US$ 473,000 in prizes. For these reasons, the athlete got the second place in the ranking of highest paid surfers in the world.
Filipe Toledo was another Brazilian who occupied a place in the magazine's ranking, this time the fifth position. The athlete had an annual salary of US$ 2.1 million and still took US$ 388,000 in prize money.
It is worth mentioning that with each stage won in tournaments, the athlete can pocket significant amounts. In the World Surf League (WSL), for example, Medina and Ítalo receive more than US$ 70,000 for each stage won, as shown by the data for the current season. The amount is equivalent to almost R$ 365 thousand.
Despite the representative numbers, as in other sports, surfing also suffers from gender disparity, in which women receive less significant figures compared to men.
“We still have a long way to go before we reach the ideal place, because women's surfing in Brazil still has little incentive and structure. Compared to Australia and the US, we are still far behind. It will be interesting to see surfing in the Olympics, I think it will popularize the sport even more. I hope we have more investment in the athletes, mainly in the grassroots, amateurs”, comments surfer Maya Gabeira in an interview with Vogue.
However, the expectation is that, with the success of Brazilian surfers in the tokyo olympics, other athletes have more and more recognition in the market.
