Winter X Games 13 Draws 68,100, Lowest Attendance In Five Years

Winter X Games 13 in Aspen/Snowmass drew a four-day total attendance of 68,100 over the weekend, marking the "lowest in the last five years," according to Catherine Lutz of the ASPEN DAILY NEWS. The 68,100 figure falls short of the 72,500 fans last year and "well short of the record 2007 attendance" of 76,150. Nonetheless, ESPN officials said they were "very pleased" by the totals. Lutz reports the event drew the biggest crowd Saturday with 26,700 attendees, while Sunday's event drew 16,800 spectators. Attendance on Friday totaled 12,900, while Thursday saw the "slimmest attendance" with 11,700. It is unknown whether the lower total turnout this year is "yet another effect of the gloomy national economy, or whether the persistent rain and snow throughout the weekend kept fans away" (ASPEN DAILY NEWS, 1/26).

GIVE & TAKE: In Denver, Sara Burnett wrote the Winter X Games and the "younger crowd they attract have been a great deal for the Aspen area." ESPN Thursday reached a deal to keep the Winter X Games in Aspen/Snowmass through '12, and the agreement was "welcome news for area business, which used to slog through an otherwise uneventful January just waiting for Presidents Day weekend and spring break" (ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS, 1/24). ESPN’s Sal Masekela said of this year's event, “All this played out before really big, packed crowds, and it seems no matter the economic climate or how the playing field may change, these athletes and their fans never think recession, only the word ‘progression’” (“Winter X Games,” ESPN, 1/25).

Primary Sponsor U.S. Navy Targets  X Games Audience For Recruitment

SHREDDING FOR A CAUSE: In Denver, Jason Blevins reports as snowboarding sheds its "mutinous mirage," its top athletes are "parlaying their blossoming status as icons and heroes into banners for a variety of causes." Some riders "embrace environmental issues and others cancer research through groups like Athletes for a Cure." U.S. Gold Medal-winning snowboarder Kelly Clark's Kelly Clark Foundation will "establish a scholarship program for snowboarders aspiring to attend mountain schools, where curricula focus on winter sports." U.S. Gold Medal-winning snowboarder Hannah Teter's Hannah's Gold maple syrup "donates sales proceeds to the Kenyan village of Kirindon." And U.S. Silver Medal-winning snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler "works with her sponsors, such as K2 and Oakley, to generate money for global-warming education and products made of recycled and recyclable materials" (DENVER POST, 1/26).

SAFETY FIRST? In Denver, Mark Kiszla writes the X Games "marks the spot where, sooner or later, an athlete is going to die in the name of televising a stupid human trick." The "painfully uncomfortable question" is, when is the needle "so dangerously pushed into the red zone that these stunt men and women become exploited for our vicarious thrills?" Skier Anna Segal said that as prize money increases, the temptation "becomes greater to push tricks to the dark side of safety limits." Kiszla: "Does a made-for-TV event take dangerous advantage of the competitor's toughness?" Snowboarder Spencer O'Brien said that ESPN's schedule "allows no wiggle room for a postponement due to unsafe conditions, even if the health of athletes should be the No. 1 concern" (DENVER POST, 1/25).

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