In May 2001, the Pro Tour lost Motorola as its main sponsor and was on the point of dissolution when the PSA came to its rescue. If it is to survive and claim an acceptable level of television coverage, the Pro Tour will need clear delineation from the FIS (world skiing federation)controlled World Cup which, since snowboarding became an Olympic sport in 1998 (Nagano, Japan), has held a predominant position due, in part, to the fact that its World Cup series is the only qualifying route to the Winter Olympics.
Historically, the Pro Tour events have been distributed by such companies as Isabell Ellenrieder's Move The Crowd and Othmar Valzacchi's SportsTV Production but, due to the ownership fragmentation of individual events, none have been able to represent the composite tour - something that the PSA is working toward overcoming.
The Professional Snowboarder's Association (PSA) is battling to save the 10-year-old tour it took over in late-2001 from the International Snowboard Federation
