ESPN today named Austin its X Games host city from '14-17. The event will be hosted at the city’s new, 1,500-acre Circuit of the Americas, which has an amphitheatre for concerts and road course for F1 races. Austin beat out bids from Chicago, Detroit and Charlotte. ESPN Senior VP/Programming & X Games Scott Guglielmino in a statement said, “The combination of resources, support and fit brought us to Austin and we couldn’t be happier.” Austin will become the first new host city for the X Games in a decade, and it will hold the event May 15-18, 2014. L.A. has been the home of Summer X Games since '03 and held the event in late July or early August most years. L.A. will hold its final event this summer. Awarding the event to Austin is the latest in a series of steps taken by ESPN to reinvent the X Games. The company recently expanded the property globally and created a bid process for six events worldwide. It selected Iguaza Falls, Brazil; Barcelona; and Munich as the host of three int'l events. It is in the process of selecting a new host city for the Winter X Games in the U.S. Aspen has hosted the winter event since ‘02.
