The ESPN Winter X Games were a resounding success at Mt. Snow, Vt., last February. In what has become one of the world’s most important snowsports events, a reported $445,200 was awarded to this past year’s competitors, 83,500 spectators were drawn to the resort over five days and 2,500 ESPN staff, who started trickling in as early as October, were joined by 500 volunteers and the Mt. Snow staff in a massive effort to stage the televised games and deal with, for example, the mega-event’s production, logistics, accommodations and risk management.
“ESPN created a grand stage for these alternative sports and is in it for the long haul,” said Chris Stiepock, X Games director of marketing and communications. “We are in constant dialogue with the athletes and the producers are very mindful that the X Games are a lifestyle thing.”
Indeed, the X Games are building loyal young viewers. According to ratings, the games attracted 550,000 households and in the 12-to-24 male audience it represented 35 viewers for every 100 households that tuned in. Those categorical numbers blow away Major League Baseball, the NBA and the NFL, which reaches only as high as 15 viewers in that category. And ESPN commits 13 hours of coverage over four to five days. “That’s a lot of exposure for alternative sports that can use the X Games as a vehicle,” Stiepock noted.
ESPN is the network that not only opened the door for alternative sports, but also is the leader of televised coverage of those sports by far.
The X Games have been the Mother Lode for action sports. Some of the event fields include 30 or more competitors, all of whom receive some financial reward. “A 16-year-old, who finishes in last place in the Big Air event wins $250,” said Stiepock. Tina Dixon, an X Games competitor and prize winner since its inception says, “The X Games just keep getting better and better each year. They really appear concerned about the athletes.” Tina, who is sponsored by companies such as K2 and Sessions, has been victorious in the Big Air and BoarderCross events. “The first time I was in the games I paid my own way (rather than receiving sponsor per diem), but I would have no problem with the newcomers having it easier financially.”
It appears that ESPN is in a great position to help these young professionals. The X Games attract sponsors such as AT&T, Nike, Mountain Dew, Taco Bell and General Motors to purchase integrated packages that include advertising buys and cash. And it would seem that the X Games are well suited to provide support beyond the excellent exposure that it gives to the sports.
Consider that many of the competitors in action sports (ski, snowboard, snowmobile, mountain biking, climbing, wakeboard, etc.) do not have per diems, appearance fees, health insurance, legal protection, pension plans, let alone education about being a professional. The action sports product companies are just too small to be able to cover those types of costs for their sponsored athletes. The competition sponsors pay millions to the TV networks (such as ESPN, ABC, NBC and TNT), which orchestrate competitions such as the X Games and Gravity Games to cover operation costs and profit.
Any number of sponsors or even the Olympics, Grand Prix, and Goodwill Games could provide some financial support.
Where would such an endowment to help these athletes be directed? There is an entity known as The Guild of Action Sports, which currently is in its initiation stages and is patterned after a combination of the Screen Actor’s Guild and the NFL Player’s Association. The Guild’s mission is to serve and protect the athletes by providing specific personal services and benefits, and represent their interests to allow them more personal and professional freedom. Services include, for example, legal and financial consulting, pensions, health insurance and disability, travel, marketing, communications, training, education, sports agent referrals and group representation to name a few.
These follow-the-money issues are not uncommon. Similar issues have been raised for decades about college athletes and last summer there was a big hoopla in golf over the Ryder Cup profits and where the money goes. Tiger Woods made noise about the money that is paid as rights fees and sponsorships going into the pockets of the networks and the PGA as a result of the world-famous golf pros competition. In action sports there are few millionaire competitors and not much of the money goes to charities, that’s for sure.
It would be much easier if we could measure the value of exposure that these competitions bring to the sports and be able to quantify its value for the area operators, product suppliers and action sports industries.
No doubt the X Games will help Mount Snow in visitation and awareness. They provide the industry a great opportunity, but how much does it increase the national statistics of visitation and products sold? Were those X Games-inspired phone calls from the Midwest received by Mt. Snow made by people who regularly ride at Buck Hill, Minn., or are more people in this valued demographic group coming to snowsports as a result of seeing the X Games on TV? These programs, events and competitions are so big that everyone involved could be a winner. Could the X Games give a share back to an action sports guild to support development of the individual professionals?
Seeing action sports on television is pretty cool, there’s no doubt. But we must remember the debate that ensued when snowboarding was incorporated into the Olympics. We were not sure about the benefits or harm that the Olympics might do to the lifestyle, which is a central element of snowboarding. Tina Dixon summarized it for the action sports world: “The heart and soul of snowboarding will continue regardless of TV coverage.” Pro rider Travis Parker said, “I’m concerned that the big sponsor companies’ influence over the representation of snowboarding on the airwaves is out of the riders’ control and their sometimes kooky portrayal of snowboarding may not be what we want.”
That may indeed be the price we pay to be able to take advantage of the opportunity afforded to us by the enormous success of the X Games and other similar events.
Roger Lohr is a public relations and marketing consultant.
