ESPN crosses international X games from schedule
Editor | 07-10-2013
Sports broadcasting giant ESPN has announced the end of non-US sponsorship of X Games events in 2014.
The X Games features competitions in snowboarding, freeskiing and snowmobiling in the winter and skateboarding, BMX, motocross and rally car racing in the summer. The move will mean that events in Tignes (France), Foz do Iguacu (Brazil), Munich and Barcelona will not continue to run, leaving domestic X Games events in Aspen, Colorado and Austin to be held as scheduled.
Yet even as it was making the move, ESPN denied the cancellation of the international events was a reflection of the action sports industry as a whole or its popularity in other countries. Indeed it said that it was proud to have run what it called world-class competitions for both the athletes and spectators but that the overall economics of these events did not provide a sustainable future path.
"I don't think the decision to discontinue the events outside the US speaks negatively to the action sports genre and how vibrant those sports are," commented ESPN senior vice president for programming Scott Guglielmino. "This is really about the events on the ground and us choosing to discontinue those events."
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