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ESPN Signs Extension With Aspen SkiCo To Keep Winter X Games At Buttermilk Through '19

ESPN and the Aspen Skiing Co. yesterday announced a deal that will keep the Winter X Games "at Aspen's Buttermilk ski area for another five years" through '19, according to Jason Blevins of the DENVER POST. Aspen "beat out several other bidders" to host the event. Park City, Utah, "initially expressed interest but wanted the event to reschedule to April." Two Lake Tahoe ski areas in California -- Squaw Valley and Heavenly -- submitted "a joint bid that would have separated X Games events into two venues across the lake." Whistler in British Columbia "pondered hosting, but local officials demurred at the idea of flipping and racing snowmobiles." Quebec City "also submitted a bid." But Aspen "emerged as a clear favorite." The four-ski-area valley provides "an entire ski area ... to ESPN for months as the network assembles the venue infrastructure and technical networks required for hosting the sprawling event" (DENVER POST, 1/23). ESPN Senior VP/Programming & Global X Games Scott Guglielmino said a return to Aspen simply made "a lot of sense." He added, "It seemed like a natural fit. One of the things, from an Aspen perspective, was it really works for us. With the Winter X Games, it's a little bit of a different animal than Summer X. We have a big footprint. When we show up, we take up quite a bit of resources, in terms of different hills we use, the personnel, the hotel rooms and all that. You put all that together and Aspen is a terrific fit for X Games." U.S. snowboarder Shaun White, who opted out of this year's X Games to rest up for the Sochi Olympics, said of Aspen, "It's probably the best facility in the world right now. The X Games does pull out all the stops" (AP, 1/22).

WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU: Guglielmino said that with seven other bids "on the table over the last 18 months to host the X Games ... the extensive process helped both his company and the SkiCo better understand the event and how it should run." He added, "It became very clear that this is the place for X Games well into the future." Guglielmino said that the "availability of Buttermilk Mountain to host the event, the appeal of Aspen, the quality of the courses ... and the local support the games receive were all pieces of the puzzle." SkiCo and ESPN execs said that the "extended commitment will allow them to experiment with new ways to grow the X Games, which have launched the big air, halfpipe and slopestyle disciplines of skiing and snowboarding to new heights." In Aspen, Curtis Wackerle notes when asked whether that could mean "new events outside of the Buttermilk venue -- a freeride competition on the cliffs at Snowmass, perhaps? -- officials wouldn’t say." But the "opportunity is there to examine those options." Guglielmino said that another "potential way to grow the X Games would be to add another day to the event, starting competition on a Wednesday instead of a Thursday." The games have traditionally run from Thursday through Sunday (ASPEN DAILY NEWS, 1/23).

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