The X Games are saying “home” to Southern California after years of hard work and heading north to Sacramento for the next three years.
The extreme sports competition will celebrate 30 years at the California State Fairgrounds starting Aug. 22 to 24 next year, the organizers of the X Games announced on Thursday. The sports, which include skateboarding, BMX and motocross, have been based in Southland since 2021.
The last IX Games was in Northern California in August 2000 when skateboarder Bob Burnquist won the gold medal and Eric Koston took the top spot in the skateboard park, the most widely accepted competition of the Summer Olympics.
Bob Burnquist of Brazil turns during the warm-up for the big air skateboard event at the 2012 X Games in Los Angeles.
(Grant Hindsley/Associated Press)
“Some of the greatest moments in X Games history took place in San Francisco Bay,” X Games Chief Executive Jeremy Bloom said in a statement. “Twenty-five years later, we are thrilled to bring the X Games back to Northern California to celebrate the brand's 30th anniversary.”
IX Games was created by ESPN to provide an extreme sports TV platform and premiered in Rhode Island in 1995. Years ago it was when athletes like skateboarding and BMX legends Tony Hawk and Dave Mirra pioneered new tricks, and when, in 2012, a competitor did the first snowmobile front flip.
Los Angeles first hosted the Summer X Games in 2003 and has hosted many times since then, including 2021, when COVID-19 regulations prevented spectators from watching the games in person. The most recent games were held in Ventura County this summer. With the exception of a few years, Southern California has hosted more Summer X games than any other part of the country.
Next year's games will be held at the former Raging Waters site at the Cal Expo/California State Fairgrounds in Sacramento. The games will feature music and contests with more than $1 million in prizes, according to organizers.
“I grew up outside of Sacramento, so this is definitely my dream,” said five-time X Games BMX athlete Bryce Tryon in a statement accompanying the announcement. “The X Games have always been a big part of my life, so it's great to feel like I'm playing host to a tournament that has given me so much over the years and shown my hometown the best that action sports can bring. .”
Source link
