History
The programming department of ESPN in 1993 came up with the idea of holding a meet for athletes from the alternative, or extreme, sports. After nearly two years of preparation, the first Extreme Games were held in Rhode Island and at Mount Snow, Vermont, from June 24 through July 1, 1995.
Competition in nine sports attracted 198,000 spectators. Based on that success, ESPN decided to do it again in 1996, when the name was changed to the X Games.
Rhode Island again hosted the event, which drew about 200,000 spectators. Meanwhile, the network had announced that the first Winter X games would be staged at the Snow Summit Mountain Resort in Big Bear Lake, California, from January 30 through February 2, 1997, featuring competition in ice climbing, shovel racing, snowboarding, snow mountain bike racing, and a multi-sport crossover.
The 1997 and 1998 Summer X games were staged in San Diego. The second Winter X Games, in 1998, were held at Crested Butte, Colorado. Crested Butte also hosted the Winter Games in 1999, when the Summer Games moved to San Francisco for two years.
Summer attendance climbed continuously over a three-year period, to 221,000 in 1997, 233,000 in 1998, and 275,000 in 1999. ESPN hasn't released attendance figures since then, so the supposition is that they've reached a plateau or declined somewhat.
Attendance at the Winter X Games hasn't been nearly as high. Big Bear Lake drew 38,000 spectators in 1997, but that dropped to 25,000 in 1998 and was estimated at "more than 30,000" in 1999.
The Winter Games then moved to Mount Snow, Vermont, which drew 83,500 spectators in 2000. However, that dropped to about 50,000 in 2001. Again, ESPN hasn't released attendance figures since then.
The Summer Games were staged in Philadelphia in 2001 and 2002, while the Winter Games moved to Aspen, Colorado, for two years, beginning in 2003.
ESPN has developed several other events related to the X Games. The X Trials are qualifying events; the X Games Road Show is a two-day interactive expo that travels around the country; and the Xperience is a promotional tour for the X Games themselves.
