What’s Next For X Games After ESPN Sells Majority Stake To MSP Sports Capital

On Wednesday, private equity firm MSP Sports Capital (known in part for its investment in McLaren Racing) announced that it has acquired a majority interest from ESPN Productions for X Games.

This news isn’t surprising for those who have been following the various rumors and reports in recent years that ESPN was exploring a sale of X Games, though nothing ever seemed to have roots until Sportico’s JohnWallStreet reported in January that MSP Sports Capital and Jahm Najafi, who cofounded the firm with former Diamondbacks and Padres stakeholder Jeff Moorad.

However, details about streaming rights and whether ESPN would retain linear broadcast rights weren’t clear until Wednesday’s announcement.

In the new arrangement under the multi-year agreement, ESPN Productions will retain a minority, non-controlling position in X Games, and ESPN will serve as the domestic linear broadcast partner.

It’s clear from the addition of former Twitch vice president of original content Steven Flisler as the new X Games CEO what direction MSP Sports Capital hopes to steer the brand. X Games has seen marked digital growth in recent years; X Games Aspen 2021 saw triple-digit growth on social and digital media platforms, with 105 million video views across TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat (+483% year-over-year).

But X Games’ young viewer base isn’t looking to watch skateboarding and snowboarding competitions on broadcast TV. What has drawn the coveted youth demographic, however, are TikTok trick challenges and Instagram livestreams at the competition.

Flisler has extensive background in producing live events in the esports and stick-and-ball sports realms, including some Olympics work at NBCUniversal, but doesn’t have a robust action sports background.

Lest endemic action sports fans worry about the future direction of X Games becoming watered-down, however, they should take some heart in the further announcement that 10-time X Games gold medalist Tony Hawk is joining the X Games investor group as a brand steward.

“Skateboarding is part of my DNA and I support a community where change and advances in action sports is happening on a daily basis,” Hawk said in a statement. “Being part of the advisory board for X Games is an extension of my decades of competing and much more forgiving to the body, and I look forward to being constantly inspired by so many incredible athletes.”

Though retired from professional skateboarding, Hawk delighted X Games fans in 2021 when, at 53, he showed up for the men’s vert contest being held near his home at CA Training Facility (CATF) in Vista, California, and ended up driving home to get his pads and his board and entered the best trick contest.

The response to Hawk’s appearance, which made even mainstream news outlets, was another example of what an important ambassador he is to skateboarding’s future. Having him in an official advisory capacity as X Games plans its future is a smart move.

The next X Games event under the new leadership will be, as expected, X Games Aspen from January 27-29 and will air on ESPN and ABC. The winter event, which celebrated its 21st year in Aspen in 2022, was closed to spectators in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid-19 but welcomed fans back this past January.

The summer 2020 iteration of X Games, which would have been the last one held in Minneapolis as that agreement expired, was canceled for the pandemic, and it has run as a closed contest in 2021 and 2022 across multiple Southern California locations, including athletes’ personal training facilities (such as Elliot Sloan’s mega ramp, pictured below).

With fans unable to attend in person, the possibility of getting a closer look at athletes’ private training facilities in 2021 (including motocross athlete Axell Hodges’ and BMXer Pat Casey’s private compounds) was part of drawing more eyeballs to broadcasts; X Games 2021 telecasts saw a viewership increase of 13 percent versus X Games Minneapolis 2019 across ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC.

MSP Sports Capital has not announced where Summer X Games 2023 will be held or if it will welcome spectators; to my knowledge, there is no public agreement between X Games and a venue.

According to its press release, MSP Sports Capital is “prioritizing premiere athlete and fan experiences, and investing in technologies to launch the brand into the future.”