Here is a letter from Ryan Kingman, Team Manager of Element skateboards, this is there perspective of whats going on with the contracts.
Cuong Nguyen- What is going on with PJ Ladds contract, and Terry Kennedy.
Why are you not allowing Flip Skateboards to not allow PJ to have a part in the DVD?
Ryan Kingman-
Thanks to all for your words of encouragement and constructive
criticism.
For those of you who don't know me, which is all of you, my name is
Ryan
Kingman, I am the team manager at Element Skateboards.
As most of you already heard, we are in a bit of a predicament with
Flip
Skateboards over PJ Ladd.
You see, PJ wanted to leave Element to rider for Flip.
Fine, understood, PJ is a grown man and can do as he pleases.
However, there is an ugly side of skateboarding that most of you out
there
are fortunate enough not to see, or at least in full truth.
That is the business side of skateboarding. Unfortunate as it may be,
at
the end of the day, we must all try to put a roof over our heads and
some
food in our bellies. And to do that, all of us must participate in the
strange and dark arena of skateboarding business.
Now understand this...
There is no personal battle here to in any way hinder PJ's career as a
skateboarder.
In fact Element and I have gone above and beyond the call of duty to
help PJ
attain new levels of achievement.
For instance, there's the time PJ was arrested in Sacramento, for
skateboarding, and was falsely accused of 3 felony battery charges.
We instantly paid his bail, making sure he was safely out of harms way
(jail), and then retained the best possible representation money could
buy
to ensure: one) he didn't go back to jail, and two) he was free of any
further charges or damages due from these infractions.
His lawyer fees alone were over $11,000. Would it be wrong of us to try
and
recoup some of that money since we spent it trying to help out PJ?
Element also went out of it's way to make sure PJ was paid for his
representation/sponsorship(above the average am pay at the time) and
was
taken care of to the best of our ability by paying his rent and paying
for
his parking and skating violations.
I personally tried to make PJ's life as easy as possible so he could
focus
on the one thing he loved more than anything, skateboarding.
To do this to the best of our ability, which translates to spending as
much
money on PJ (to help him and his skateboarding) we must have some sort
of a
guarantee that the person, in this case PJ Ladd, is going to be genuine
in
their return for such payments. This translates to contracts.
And for those of you about to say contracts are a form of selling out,
then
you would be in for a sorry surprise to know that just about every
skateboarder out there today has multiple contracts. For no one in
their
right mind is going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on
someone if
there was not a safety factor. This business has been here for some
time and
has been the unfortunate learning grounds for many a pro and even more
skateboard businesses that have fallen to the way side for just such
unsafe
practices.
In regards to Terry Kennedy and how it relates to PJ, well please read
on...
Terry Kennedy approached us to ride for Element as he was unhappy with
the
way he was being treated by his sponsor. That part is of little concern
to
me, because that is their business not mine.
Unfortunately there was no agreement, signed or unsigned between Terry
and
his sponsor. Instead of coming after us for some sort of monetary
compensation (money) they decided to slander Terry through their
advertisements. Fine, understood, it sucks but again, that's their
perspective.
When Flip approached PJ to rider for them, there was the contract.
Now please try to understand what I am about to say, you cannot force a
skateboarder, especially PJ Ladd, to rider for your company, you know
that
and so do I.
But since we were trying to protect our investment in PJ, we were
fortunate
to have a contract. You see there is a flip-side (no pun intended) to
all of
this which is that a contract also protects a skateboarder. It
guarantees
that they will get all the support they need to further their career
and
help them to get their checks on time so that they too can put a roof
over
their head and food in their belly. After all, as much as it may seem
as a
sellout, the pro skateboarders are also trying to make money out there,
and
more power to them.
So back to PJ...
Element is not suing Flip. As far as I'm concerned PJ can do as he
wishes, I
truly respect him and his skateboarding ability.
But is it wrong for us to ask for some form of compensation for this?
I am disappointed that he wanted to leave Element, but I can live with
it.
For as I told PJ myself, "I want you to become the best you can, with
Element would be great, but without us I wish you the same."
So let the haters hate, for it only makes us want to achieve higher
level of
excellence in skateboarding today.
Element is a positive force in skateboarding and we will ENDURE.
In short, we are not holding PJ captive. Someone else is, because they
are
unwilling to pay for him to ride for them. This could all end tomorrow
if
that company would part with some money that is rightly owed to us.
I apologize for the lengthy response, as most of you may not even take
the
time to read it, but I figured I at least owed you that.
Thanks again for your kind words of encouragement and criticism.
Regards,
Ryan Kingman
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