X Games: The Expansion

This is so hot on the heels of Volcom being sold to PPR for $608 million dollars it’s almost as though the two things were planned. Action Sports is big time now, just in case you had not realized that. It has come to a point where these sports are barking at the doors of Baseball, Football and Hockey. Entire generations are being raised on these sports, massive corporations have huge business interest in skateboarding, snowboarding, surfing, FMX and BMX. We are no longer “core,” it no longer exists people, so out with all the grumpy old timers and lets make way for the new school. Lets make way for those who want to make money instead of treating this whole industry like a hobby.

Today X-Games came out and announced that they are taking their event global. Instead of only having the Summer X-Games and the Winter X-Games they will be expanding into foreign markets and holding 6 events around the world each year. At the moment X events are being held in Los Angeles, Colorado and Tignes, France. The sites of the three new events will be determined by a competitive bidding process beginning in 2012. Sounds like the Olympics to us, lets just hope that Action Sports does not become the same lark that the Olympics has become or house some of the same controversy. The idea of bringing the X-Games global is a great idea. The more people that see Action Sports the more money it generates and the greater acceptance it will command. Something that is without a doubt long over due. But, who incurs the real cost at the end of the day? The athletes.

Stephen Murray after his crash at The Dew Tour.

When you really break down Action Sports or any sport for that matter the one and only thing that keeps it going is the actual engagement of that sport by the athletes. What keeps people interested? What keeps the viewer coming back? Progression. As soon as a snowboarder landed a double cork so did all the rest and then they started landing triple corks. What will be next? Logic would dictate that something must come next and more powerful then logic, business dictates that something must come next because after all we need to keep people interested in order to keep ratings up, in order to make money. However progression comes at a price and I am not talking in a monetary sense. In the past five years we have seen BMX pro Stephen Murray suffer paralysis, Snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffer brain damage, FMX pro Jeremy Lusk die, Snowmobile pro Paul Thakcer suffer paralysis, FMX pro Jeff Kargola die, Big Wave surfer Sion Milosky die and BMX pro T.J. Lavin suffer a massive head injury. This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to injury and career ending crashes that are never really addressed.

Jeremy Lusk and Jeff Kargola. RIP guys.

With massive X-Games expansion should also come some way to make sure that athletes are taken care of in the event that they suffer debilitating injury or death. This past summer Action Recon was at the Summer X-Games and while at the FMX best trick event we witnessed little known FMX rider Paris Rosen almost kill himself while trying a front-flip. What credentials did this guy have that should place him in the X-Games? None what so ever. As a matter of fact while watching warm up with FMX legend Seth Enslow I heard him comment time and time again that Paris had no business being out there and we both witnessed the fact that he could barely ride his bike. Paris was voted in by a panel in a last minute decision because X-Games wanted to have someone that would try the front-flip and there was heated argument and debate over it being a good idea or not. Well Paris Rosen got in, tried the front-flip and ended up with a broken femur, a grade 2 concussion, a bruised right lung and a mild liver laceration as well as injuries to his rib cartilage and left hip. Here is the crash.

Expansion, progression and global growth are all things that will indeed benefit Action Sports. They are all things that will bring in huge amounts of money and ensure that future generations will be able to not only enjoy these sports, but will also have the opportunity to thrive on them both from a participant and business point of view. That being said it is not fair to have it take place at the exploitation of athletes without providing them a proper safety net to fall back on in the case of injury. This is something that X-Games has the opportunity to pioneer and something that they directly owe to the athletes who made X-Games what they are today. There has been a lot of talk about the expansion, the fans, the money and the sport, but there has not been much talk of how the athletes will be treated and is pisses us off. Step up X-Games, money does not solve all the worlds problems.

Related posts:

1. outside the lines : Pushing the limits.
2. Robbie Maddison to Rally at X Games 17 along with Shaun White and others
3. Josh Hansen getting Ready for X-Games.
4. Danny way pulls out of competing in this years X-games.
5. Action Sports, safety and the future of our athletes.