Snow Patrol: Winter X Games Draws Record Crowd Of 84,100 Fans

Winter X Games 14 Sets New Four-Day Attendance Record

Winter X Games 14, which concluded yesterday in Aspen, drew approximately 84,100 people for the four-day event, "easily topping the previous Aspen record" of 76,150 set in '07, and besting the all-time record of 83,500 fans in Mt. Snow, Vermont, in '00, according to the ASPEN DAILY NEWS. The event "also saw two single-day records broken." Around 34,500 fans attended on Saturday, which featured Aspen-native Gretchen Bleiler winning the women's superpipe snowboard competition, setting a "single-day X Games record." Also, Friday night's men's snowboard superpipe, which Shaun White won for the third straight year, drew a night-record 20,500 fans. The "increasing star power of the athletes and the X Games themselves, and the fact that the event is free and that it's an Olympic year probably contributed to the record attendance" (ASPEN DAILY NEWS, 2/1).

SNOW WHITE: White was profiled on last night's edition of CBS' "60 Minutes," and CBS' Bob Simon noted the snowboarder "has become one of the most recognizable redheads since Lucy and a veritable rock star in the world of action sports." White is looking to defend his Olympic Gold Medal in the halfpipe at the Vancouver Games, and his "competitive drive has earned the kind of fame and fortune usually reserved for big-time athletes in far more mainstream sports." White’s popularity also “has attracted corporate America.” The 23-year-old is “carefully building himself a business empire and insists on a hands-on role in any deal he makes.” White, who makes around $10M a year, helped “develop his very own best-selling videogame and designed a line of streetwear” for Target. Simon said to White, "With the nickname like the 'Flying Tomato,' you could have ended up on a bottle of ketchup." White: "Don't think I wasn't pitched." Meanwhile, White took Simon to his "very own top-secret training facility hidden high -- very high -- in Colorado's rugged backcountry." The 500-foot super-pipe was built by Red Bull, one of White's sponsors. When asked how many other snowboarders he shares the super-pipe with, White said, "Just me" ("60 Minutes," CBS, 1/31). NBC's Lester Holt said since the '06 Turin Games, White has been the "face of extreme sports, a trailblazer who's inspired a generation of boarders and captured the attention of even casual followers of snow sports" ("Nightly News," NBC, 1/30).