“For many inline skaters, the X-Games serves as a target of resentment and scorn, due to the perceived mistreatment and industry bias the X-Games has demonstrated towards rollerblading over the last two decades. But is the X-Games truly responsible for blacklisting our industry and condemning it to a visibility death-sentence or is it just another scapegoat, redirecting attention from the internal issues that once existed within our sport. I’m Butch Lehman of Roll Minnesota, and I invite you to join me as we seek to uncover the truth about the X-Games.
In this video essay, we will explore the earlier beginnings of the X-Games, its ascent into pop-cultural relevancy, and its over-saturation, leading to the removal of inline skating and many other action sports competitions. After the 1999 X-Games, and the infamous Tony Hawk 900, ESPN pursued a number of new business opportunities including the Winter X-Games televised qualifiers, the Tony Hawk Gigantic Skatepark Tour, The X-Games Music Awards, X Games Global, and a number of other events that saturated the extreme sports market, resulting in diminishing attendance and TV ratings. Sports like skysurfing, street luge, bungy jumping, mountain biking, and surfing all faced a similar fate as the X-Games over-extended itself and consolidated its base to skateboarding, BMX, and freestyle moto-x.
This year, X-Games was cancelled, and with their contract expiring here in Minneapolis, it remains to be seen what impact this will have on the event both financially and organizationally. With X-Games already struggling to retain its current audience and appeal to new demographics, I am hopeful that X-Games with reevaluate its approach and broden it’s reach, adding new sports like scootering, and reintroducing legacy sports like inline skating. I’ve even heard some talk about X-Games exploring esports and video games, but who knows what they do.” - Roll Minnesota
