National Basketball Association

Maloofs expand skateboarding competition to NYC

Published Feb. 9, 2010 7:57 p.m. ET

foxsports

The Maloof Money Cup skateboarding competition is expanding to New York City this year.

Joe and Gavin Maloof, who own the NBA's Sacramento Kings, said Tuesday they will hold Maloof Money Cup New York June 5-6 at Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, featuring street skateboarding competition. The winner will earn $100,000.

The Maloofs have agreed to donate the $1.8 million, world-class skate park they will build for the competition to the city of New York through the City Parks and Recreation Department's ``Adopt-A-Park'' program. Joe Maloof said the cost of the skate park will be defrayed by contributions from sponsors Vans and Monster Energy.

The Maloof Money Cup will return to Southern California for the third straight year, featuring street and vert competition, from Aug. 4-8 at the Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.

``I always felt the most important thing was to start in California, where it was born,'' Joe Maloof said. ``We'll always stay in Orange County and the L.A. area. That will always be No. 1. However, we needed to get an East Coast presence. It's a privilege to get into New York. It's not easy to have an event in New York.''

The New York competition will include a wild-card contest to give local skaters the opportunity to compete against the top pros in the industry. Pro skaters Chris Cole and Geoff Rowley, New York skating icon Steve Rodriguez and Joe Ciaglia of California Skateparks will lead the design of the street course. The New York prize purse is nearly $250,000.

The Maloof Money Cup Orange County will expand to five days.

Invited pros include defending champions Cole in the street competition and Alex Perelson in vert. The 18-year-old Perelson won last year's vert after becoming just the fourth person to land a 900 during a competition.

The Maloof Money Cup Orange County pays out nearly $500,000 in cash and prizes, with $100,000 going to the street winner and $75,000 to the vert winner.

Maloof said the competition will expand to South Africa in 2011.

``I think this thing has evolved from a small skateboarding camp to a major skateboarding event,'' Maloof said. ``It's going to expand opportunities for skateboarding around the world.''