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The World Surf League has announced big changes to its format while admitting the 2020 season is still very much in doubt.
The enforced shutdown of the World Surf League has fast-tracked the competition's shake up, with a grand final surf-off to decide the title from next year.
A "next call" on June 1 will shine more light on the likelihood of any events being held this season due to the coronavirus outbreak.
But WSL chief executive Erik Logan said the unexpected halt had also served as a prime opportunity to bring in changes that had been on the table for a number of years.
He said from 2021 the surf-off will take place on the final day of the men's and women's Championship Tour seasons at Pipeline and Honolua Bay, respectively.
Regular season performers will be rewarded courtesy of a seeding system, with Logan set to announce the finer details of the new format in July.
Two-time world champion Tyler Wright backed the new format, saying it will raise the intensity of the showdown for the crown.
"The difference is that you get to win in the water, which is huge," the Australian said.
"It comes down to nobody else, and that kind of intensity, that kind of competitive pressure, raises the bar. It's pretty exciting."
Last season's men's crown was fortuitously decided when the world's top two Gabriel Medina and Italo Ferreira met in the Pipe Masters final.
That heat broke viewership records and will now be a guaranteed scenario thanks to the changes.
"I was glued to Pipe last year on the last day," American pro Conner Coffin said.
"So it's a great moment for the sport and it's exciting to think that from 2021 onwards that will always be how the world title is decided."
The WSL also said the new Challenger Series, made up of eight second-tier Qualifying Series events for men and four for women, will run at a different time of year from the top-flight CT.
That will allow surfers who fail to requalify for the CT a chance to compete in the top-flight the very next season rather than waiting a full year in a system Wright said would give the sport's "up-and-comers" a better platform.
Logan said the remainder of the 2020 season was still clouded by uncertainty with the Rio Pro in Brazil, set for June, officially put on hold in the hope COVID-19 travel restrictions will ease in coming months.
The Championship Tour's Gold Coast opener set for March 26-April 5 has already been cancelled, while top-flight events at Western Australia's Margaret River, Victoria's Bells Beach and Indonesia's G-Land have all been postponed.
In the Qualifying Series, the Gold Coast Open at Burleigh Heads has been cancelled while 12 other events have been postponed.
"Where and when we will run this year is still very much an open question, but we will continue to work with governments, world health authorities and our local communities on returning to the line-up," Logan said.
