AWWWWW. No X GAMES for us.

[getmoore]

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/...-it-a-good-run

I thought we had it in the bag!

[TexasT]

http://www.wxyz.com/dpp/news/region/...-it-a-good-run

I thought we had it in the bag!

I figured Austin would be tough competition. Not the city itself, as X Games are being held on the outskirts of town [[you think Detroit is big? Austin is 300 sq mi) but Circuit of the Americas, the all-in-one racetrack/entertainment complex. It's an easy pick - it's the "all inclusive resort" vs the exotic, DIY vacation. ESPN is ESPN - Austin is a cool city, but low hanging fruit [[which is why Detroit had the backing of a lot of major X Games athletes).

But from X Games Detroit:

Over the last few months, thousands of people have rallied behind an idea. Some of those people made videos. Some rented helicopters. Some shared statuses. Some simply pushed “like” buttons. Some showed up to events. Some took pictures. Some wrote articles. Some cut grass, built ramps, spray-painted bed sheets and buildings. Some gave money. Some gave a lot of time. Energy. Thoughts. Sleepless nights. We can’t thank you enough for these things.

Today ESPN announced that the X Games are going to the Circuit of the Americas racetrack [[COTA) on the outskirts of Austin, TX. First, sincere congratulations to COTA for landing the games. While we have never visited the track, it looks like a state-of-the-art facility. As we understand it, this decision largely boiled down to the turn-key efficiencies that come with using a single standalone venue like COTA; efficiencies you don’t have with the sort of downtown multi-venue experience Detroit desired. We wish the X Games the best of luck in Austin.

The X Games in Detroit would have been monumental for the brand, for the broader action sports industry, and for our city. As ESPN expands their franchise globally, Detroit offered them the opportunity to inject their brand with a needed authenticity in the North American market. Detroit offered a host city who knows how to put on large scale events, from electronic music festivals to Superbowls. We offered them partners who were eager to invest in the X Games experience in a manner that would have guaranteed the successful execution of their current product and enabled significant long-term growth. Most importantly, Detroit offered ESPN a chance to enact the values that underpin action sports in a way that could have made a significant and meaningful impact; we offered the X Games brand the opportunity to become part of the movement of young people who are transformatively re-engaging with a city that so many once abandoned. Today ESPN walked away from the opportunity.

Here’s the secret: It doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter because we are not walking away, and we don’t believe the movement of people who have gotten behind this cause are either. To-date, the X Games have served as a rallying point for us, and we imagined that upon winning the X Games they would be a medium through which we could express and perpetuate the ever-growing vitality of our city in front of a global audience. Over the last few weeks we’ve realized that ultimately it’s probably more fitting that we just create that medium ourselves.

So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to create our own “X Games.”

We’re not entirely sure what this looks or sounds like yet, but we’ll have details made public in the coming weeks. What we are sure of is that people want an event that reflects the intensity of their passion for Detroit, for action sports and culture, and for the bold lifestyle those sports represent. This is an event we can build, and we’re excited to do so.

In short, we’re happy to report that, as always, the breakup was mutual. Please let everyone know that we’re ‪#‎NotDoneYet‬, and neither are you.

[bailey]

Good run. Austin was the lazy, corporate pick. can't say anyone should be too surprised.

#notdonyet...

Good luck to them... I see a whole lot of cease and desist actions and blacklisting of athletes and teams that might collaborate with anyone that tries to move in on Disney's turf.

[313WX]

I figured Austin would be tough competition. Not the city itself, as X Games are being held on the outskirts of town [[you think Detroit is big? Austin is 300 sq mi) but Circuit of the Americas, the all-in-one racetrack/entertainment complex. It's an easy pick - it's the "all inclusive resort" vs the exotic, DIY vacation. ESPN is ESPN - Austin is a cool city, but low hanging fruit [[which is why Detroit had the backing of a lot of major X Games athletes).

But from X Games Detroit:

So it took all of that to say "Sorry, but too bad, so sad!!! It wasn't you, it was me..."

[marshamusic]

Dang!!! Sorry we didn't get the X-Games! It's funny, I really loved the idea of this event, and the wild promo videos, though it's really not my kind of fun.

But I sure thought it would be exciting and good for the city [[now that I think of it, maybe I've been hoping that an event like this would entice my son, who lives in SFO, to come here to see this :-)).

I sure hope that all of the work that the organizers put into this effort can somehow be leveraged for another purpose.

Oops, just read the statement above and see they're going to do an event anyway. I wish them well. It will probably be awesome.

[TexasT]

So it took all of that to say "Sorry, but too bad, so sad!!! It wasn't you, it was me..."

Um, I think the big news of that post was throwing their own event and to stay tuned.

[TexasT]

Oops, just read the statement above and see they're going to do an event anyway. I wish them well. It will probably be awesome.

Yeah, if their backers stay in, I could see it being pretty awesome. We shall see. They basically had all the plans put together in their official bid to ESPN.

Sort of reminded me of when ESPN tried to bully the Big Ten into a television contract and the Big Ten said "fuck off, we'll make our own conference network." Reading the accounts of the back and forth between ESPN and Delaney was pretty entertaining.

[Danny]

Screw them! So Austin has a dirty old horse racetrack to host their so-called X-Games. Detroit has better venues than Austin, Chicago including Barcelona, Spain. I won't be watching that sport in 2014 forget it. Detroit can't host then Olympics and it can't host the X-Games! Detroit has more skateboarder running around the streets than Venice Beach, California. Here's a message for Shawn White and other future skateboarders. Don't to go Austin! It is a cartel town filled with Le Eme, The Mexican Mafia, The Texas Syndicate and Aryan Brotherhood. Other Mexican-Hispanic Gangs are waiting to rob, still and kill those who going to Austin.

[313WX]

Um, I think the big news of that post was throwing their own event and to stay tuned.

No, I read that part.

It's like if you decide to throw your own party at your house out of spite because everyone else agreed to hold the party everyone was planning for and has been invited to at someone else's house.

[michimoby]

It sounds like they discovered ESPN wasn't a proper bedfellow recently, and it would have been an estranged relationship for the chunk of time the X Games were in town.

Consider the outcome if that was the case: Detroit decides to no longer host the Games after the contract expires, and you're left with almost more negative press than positives. In some ways, this is a blessing in disguise.

On the other hand, as 313 puts it: maybe they're throwing a party out of spite.

[Left_For_Texas]

Screw them! So Austin has a dirty old horse racetrack to host their so-called X-Games. Detroit has better venues than Austin, Chicago including Barcelona, Spain. I won't be watching that sport in 2014 forget it. Detroit can't host then Olympics and it can't host the X-Games! Detroit has more skateboarder running around the streets than Venice Beach, California. Here's a message for Shawn White and other future skateboarders. Don't to go Austin! That are is Cartel town filled Le Eme, The Mexican Mafia, The Texas Syndicate and Aryan Brotherhood. Other Mexican-Hispanic Gangs are waiting to rob, still and kill those who going to Austin.

LOL and them some more characters to make 10.

[illwill]

Agreed.

I highly doubt any other city put in as much effort as Detroit. I'd bet that Detroit put in TWICE the effort of Austin. Our effort alone showed our passion. I agree that it's best to part company.

The X Games organization is not one that truly appreciates a city like Detroit. They'd rather go with "what's currently hot/trendy" instead of going to an authentic city such as Detroit.

Blessing in disguise.

[stinkytofu]

Bummer decision, interesting response from our bid team. Maybe a little bitter, but definitely intrigued for what is up their sleeve. All in all - major props to everybody who worked on this. The bid was exciting and really well done.

[TexasT]

No, I read that part.

It's like if you decide to throw your own party at your house out of spite because everyone else agreed to hold the party everyone was planning for and has been invited to at someone else's house.

Got it. Your comment made it sound like the post's purpose was to explain the nature of the breakup [["all that to say this?") when I think the bigger purpose was to put out the idea of an alternative event.

Is it out of spite or because they've done so much of the leg work to host an event like this, have financial support from backers, national support from top X Games athletes, and local support from Metro Detroiters? Why not do it?

[GPCharles]

It's like if you decide to throw your own party at your house out of spite because everyone else agreed to hold the party everyone was planning for and has been invited to at someone else's house.

- Sounds like Kramer and Newman's competing Millenium New Year's parties.

[bailey]

- Sounds like Kramer and Newman's competing Millenium New Year's parties.

Newmanium Games!

[Downriviera]

Man I really wanted this. Austin was the safe pick, but X games are not safe they're gritty. Detroit was perfect for this.

[poobert]

I've never been to Texas, but if I had to go, I'd go to Austin. I don't really have much frame of reference, but I hear good things, from young folks. I guess I would hate it more if it went to someplace I thought was total crap.

I'm starting to believe "gritty" and "authentic" are synonyms for blighted. Otherwise I can't really figure out what it means.

A quick google search turned up this:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...eet_Austin.jpg
Is there something I should hate about this that I'm missing? Are we more extreme because of the extreme levels of crime, blight, and suburban sprawl?

[eno]

Bring on the Hunger Games!!

[michimoby]

I've never been to Texas, but if I had to go, I'd go to Austin. I don't really have much frame of reference, but I hear good things, from young folks. I guess I would hate it more if it went to someplace I thought was total crap.

I'm starting to believe "gritty" and "authentic" are synonyms for blighted. Otherwise I can't really figure out what it means.

A quick google search turned up this:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...eet_Austin.jpg
Is there something I should hate about this that I'm missing? Are we more extreme because of the extreme levels of crime, blight, and suburban sprawl?

Austin's a remarkable city that has a history of pulling off, successfully, one of the largest multi-day festivals in the country. It's basically got the vibe of Ann Arbor, but larger.

---

You bring up an interesting point around "extreme": have we considered at all that the proponents of "ruin porn" [[and whatever else we call it) are actually a hindrance to rebuilding certain areas?

It seems far fetched, but...here in Brooklyn, there's a big uproar around the mixed-use development plans for the Domino Plant. Now, I wouldn't say the alternative suggestions are necessarily bad [[turning it into an art center), but it does highlight the fact that run-down areas with the propensity for redevelopment may face occasional blowback from squatters and artists.

Again, that's not a bad thing...in context. Detroit needs every decent idea it can muster at this point.

[TexasT]

I've never been to Texas, but if I had to go, I'd go to Austin. I don't really have much frame of reference, but I hear good things, from young folks. I guess I would hate it more if it went to someplace I thought was total crap.

I'm starting to believe "gritty" and "authentic" are synonyms for blighted. Otherwise I can't really figure out what it means.

A quick google search turned up this:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...eet_Austin.jpg
Is there something I should hate about this that I'm missing? Are we more extreme because of the extreme levels of crime, blight, and suburban sprawl?

I have no issue with Austin. It was one of the top contenders when I chose to leave Chicago - I just picked Detroit instead. I figured ESPN would choose Austin or Detroit - Austin was the easier decision.

As far as gritty, I'd say yes, blight has something to do with it. But really, I'd say it's more the tough makeup of the citizenry. The "dammit we'll do it ourselves" mentality, as evidenced by XGD moving forward with its own event.

Austin had that decades ago but it's slowly losing it [[hence the eternal slogan "Keep Austin Weird") and becoming a superficial shell of itself.

But, it's a nice city.

[Downriviera]

At least Chicago didn't get it. The Stanley Cup and X Games would be too much for us to bear.

[illwill]

MLive Detroit ‏
Final results of ESPN's X Games host city Facebook poll: 23,334 Detroit; 15,565 Austin; 9,305 Charlotte; 856 Chicago

[Jason]

I've never been to Texas, but if I had to go, I'd go to Austin. I don't really have much frame of reference, but I hear good things, from young folks. I guess I would hate it more if it went to someplace I thought was total crap.

I'm starting to believe "gritty" and "authentic" are synonyms for blighted. Otherwise I can't really figure out what it means.

A quick google search turned up this:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...eet_Austin.jpg
Is there something I should hate about this that I'm missing? Are we more extreme because of the extreme levels of crime, blight, and suburban sprawl?

Their venue is a huge race track complex in a rural area [[about 7 miles from the venue to the edge of their suburbs).

The city itself is a sunbelt city with a dabbling of college town mixed in. The images you found of the city are selective and you can get a better sense of it by exploring it in google maps. It's definitely not a bad city but it's not what you would expect. I really have no idea how it happened but for some reason the city has become a popular [[that's partly why it's being criticized as a safe choice) place to host the kinds of events that redbull would sponsor.

I agree that the blight was played up a bit, like a strange kind of ruin porn. But many of those sports have their roots in blighted urban areas because they have interesting physical forms and because there's fewer people to give them trouble and kick them out. Detroit's bid was in better keeping with the underground spirit of these sports that a lot of people in those sports think has been lost to corporate interests.


I think having their own event is a good move. There's clearly a lot of interest for an event like this in Detroit, and if X Games isn't going to take advantage of that interest then they should take advantage of it themselves.

[TexasT]

Ha, so I regularly post on an Austin-based board. They are happy about the Games coming but a lot of bitching about how Austin is now mainstream:

The ship has sailed. We may have the roadway system of a town of a third our size, but we are officially in primetime now. Not just because of xGames. We are through and through a big $#@!ing deal now. I'm not as excited about it as I used to be, but it's happening. And any shred of hope you cling to that Austin will return to its past of decades ago is $#@!ing dead. Quit $#@!ing whining and plan accordingly. Adult human beings adapt. Baby human beings cry.