The first professional championship was held in 1973 in Landover, Maryland. Skaters competed in three disciplines: men's singles, ladies' singles, and pair skating. However the competition was not held again until 1980. It was held again from 1980 to 1982 as a two-team competition. In 1983 individual competition once again resumed alongside continued team competition. 1983 also marked the first year in which ice dancing was contested. Team competition was discontinued in 1986. The last professional championship was held in 2000.
The professional championships were held in Landover, Maryland every year until 1997, when it moved to the MCI Center in Washington, D.C.
Beginning in 1990, the championship started taking the name of its sponsor. Thus the 1990 competition was called the "NutraSweet World Professional Championships". Other sponsors have included Durasoft Colors, Equal, Metabolife, and Hallmark.
In 1998, the competition was sanctioned by the International Skating Union (ISU) as an "international open" or pro-am event. Because the ISU restricts the use of the title "Championships" to refer to ISU Championship events, that year the event was formally known simply as the "Equal Sweetener World Pro".
In 1999, Button's Candid Productions was acquired by SFX, which was in turn acquired by Clear Channel Communications a year later. At the same time, public interest in professional skating competitions was declining, more elite skaters were choosing to retain their competition eligibility by participating only in sanctioned events, and networks were shifting towards a time-buy model which made skating events less lucrative for producers. All of these factors contributed to the competition's demise after the 2000 event.
In 2001, a successor pro competition produced by IMG under the name "Hallmark Skater's Championship" was held on the usual December date at the MCI Center. In 2002 the IMG-produced event was held again under that name, this time in Columbus, Ohio, as a sanctioned pro-am competition. This competition is also no longer being held.
