Street League Skateboarding has announced the 2011 League schedule and locations for it's second year. Founded by Rob Dyrdek the 20-year professional skateboarder and entrepreneur, Street League was a success in it's inaugural season effectively launching a new way of judging skateboarding by using live scoring to determine the winner. The new system made for more exciting finishes and better live television.

The season kicks off May 7th in Seattle culminating in the Street League championships in New Jersey on August 28th.

Two changes to the 2011 series immediately stand out; the championship prize purse is being raised from $150,000 to $200,000, and unlike last year, the competitors will no longer be allowed to compete in other events like the Dew Tour or the Maloof Money Cup. They will, however, be allowed to compete in the Tampa Pro and the X Games, the two Street League sanctioned events.

The 200k makes Street League the richest first place prize purse in skateboarding history, but will it be enough to get the worlds best skaters to sign an exclusive contract?

A couple of situations will play out if indeed this is the case; the best 24 competition skaters like P Rod, Chaz Ortiz, Nyjah Huston, Greg Lutzka, and Ryan Sheckler will battle it out for the $200k while also making X Games Skate Street a contest worth watching.

The rest of the skateboarding world will get their opportunity to compete for the prize money from the remaining street contests. The Dew Tour could become irrelevant fast unless they figure out a way to make it worth the top remaining skaters time to compete. The Maloof Money Cup is no walk in the park either, there's plenty of money up for grabs which will be sure to bring out skateboardings favorite skaters that don't normally compete in contest.

The most interesting fallout from the new contract rule will be which side the skaters choose. For some the decision is already made, for others it may be more difficult, but no one will have a tougher time deciding than Chris Cole. Chris has made a great living just by winning the Maloof Money Cups, but also has history with Street League and the X Games.

One things for sure, the Maloofs will attempt to help influence his decision one war or another, and Street League threw the first punch by launching their new announcement with a shot of Cole from last year.

In any of these situation the winner will be the fans, so lets sit back and see how this all plays out.



Stop 1: May 7 - 8th Key Arena, Seattle WA (Sunday Finals 4-6pm EST on ESPN)
Stop 2: June 11-12th Sprint Center, Kansas City MO (Sunday Finals 4-6pm EST on ESPN2)
Stop 3: July 16- 17th Jobing.com Arena, Glendale AZ (Sunday Finals 5-7pm EST on ESPN2)
Championship: August 28th Prudential Center, Newark NJ (5-7pm EST on ESPN2)

Skate League official series information