US Open 2008: Show Me The Money

For years snowboarding has been accused of selling out. On the surface this seems to be the case. One can hardly turn on the TV and not see shreds ripping across the commercial landscape hacking all sorts of mainstream wares. Then there are the made for TV spectacles like the X Games and Olympics, which show the easily digestible sides of snowboarding i.e. Shaun White.

If snowboarding has sold out, then the first people to get paid should be the riders. Unfortunately that hasn’t always been the case. Snowboarding used to be a part time gig with world champions holding down day jobs while climbing podiums on the weekend. That is starting to change and nowhere is this more apparent than at the 2008 US Open at Stratton Mountain, VT. With the Open slopestyle event, a new era of rider compensation is on display. At stake over the course of the Open is nearly $200,000 in prize money for a select group of top athletes. To start with there is $20,000 going to the top male and female finishers in both the slopestyle and pipe. This opens the door for $40g for any riders who are legitimate double threats. Then there are the overall awards on the line. While the female side of the Ticket To Ride Tour card still has the 6 star Roxy Chicken Jam next week at Mammoth, the top dude for the TTR will be crowned on Saturday and handed a $50,000 check. The most coin is being handed to the overall Burton Global Open Series champions. $100,000 will be awarded to the winners of both genders.

If you are following along that means that in theory a dude could find themselves $190,000 richer. This dude is Peetu Piiroinen. Actually I am wrong. Including the Big Air prize purse Peetu could earn himself $200,000 in two days. Now that’s a payday. Sure it’s a long shot but anyone who has seen Peetu ride knows that his chances for a lucrative showing at Stratton are better than any five-dollar scratcher ticket.

Technically the ladies have to wait another week to get the same satisfaction but a lot can still be decided on the slopes of Southern Vermont. The chicks have their work cut out for them as four ladies are in a heated contest for the whole shebang. Brit Jenny Jones has traveled across the drink to face off against Jamie Anderson, Kelly Clark and the Australian Torah Bright. While these ladies will need to wait to get the $50,000 overall TTR award they can each leave Stratton $150,000 richer.

With all of this money on the line it leads one to question what happened to the days of the 10 percent rule? If snowboarding has really sold out, then who has the receipts and who is buying the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh round… hell, every round 'til next year's US Open? If Kelly Clark wins we may never know.