Words by: Nathan Cary

The Skate Park Of Tampa has had a long tradition of LIVE streaming their beloved Tampa Pro contest online for at least 7 years. People from all over the world could tune in and watch their favorite pros skate LIVE in the most reputable contest of the year. Things over the years have changed with SPOT, including management and sponsorships. One of the biggest changes is when the Skate Park of Tampa partnered up with Street League.  However, this year is the most drastic change to effect the fans cam this year; They are charging money for the LIVE stream.

This year SPOT/Street League has partnered up with an online company called “ETN” to live stream the event this weekend. You have to download the app, then select from these choices….

The Streetleague Facebook account has also been online defending ETN after fans were angered when they realized SPOT is looking to charge for online veiwership.

Here are the payment options…

If you subscribe and plan on cancelling before your first bill I urge you to be careful. Unsubscribing on the app doesn’t work. You have to go into the “settings” in your phone and turn off “automatic subscription renewal.” I’ve heard of a couple of people getting billed after trying to cancel from not changing their “settings.”

This whole situation just seems like a down and dirty cash grab at the expense of the fans of skateboarding.Who’s to blame? Who is profiting? Is it Nike, Monster Energy, Streetleague, or maybe Brian Schaefer? Time to look further into it, start a discussion (get out the pitchforks?).

EDIT: ETN is owned by Rob Dyrdek