The ASP has announced a deal with ESPN, Facebook and YouTube for broadcasting the tour in 2014. It’s a change from the model previously used where event sponsors were responsible for the broadcasting. It’s also not the first time ESPN has locked in for tour coverage – when Kelly Slater was pitching the Rebel/Dream/Champions Tour a while back, apparently ESPN were on board for broadcasting.

ESPN is locked in for live broadcasting in the U.S. but details of how it will work in Australia are yet to be released. Apparently Fuel TV are pretty confident they will retain the rights to them. There will also be broadcasts available on YouTube and Facebook will be leveraged for closer ties between tour news, surfers and fans.

Read more on this from Fred Pawle in The Australian and you can check more about the tour changes on their micro site here.