By Rory Carroll
LOS ANGELES, Sept 15 (Reuters) – The MoonPay X Games League will hold its inaugural winter draft this week, betting that a team-based format and closer ties with the Olympic movement can build on strong audience growth for action sports, Chief Executive Jeremy Bloom said.
Eileen Gu, the most decorated freestyle skier in Olympic history with three golds and three silvers, is expected to be selected first overall, he said.
The draft follows the debut of the X Games Summer League, which featured teams representing Los Angeles, New York, Sao Paulo and Tokyo competing across events in California, Chiba, Japan, and New Orleans.
The title race went down to the final event in New Orleans, where New York secured the championship and a $500,000 prize for its athletes after injured BMX rider Daniel Sandoval delivered a fourth-place finish that proved decisive.
“It was a walk-off win for New York,” Bloom said in an interview on Tuesday, describing the dramatic finale as evidence that athletes had embraced and helped shape the league concept.
The summer series drew 18.3 million television viewers in the U.S., up 78% from a year earlier on linear television, Bloom said, while generating more than 200 million video views globally.
The winter format presents different challenges, including staging events at ski resorts rather than in more controlled urban venues. But Bloom said the X Games’ established brand, which has run for three decades, gave it confidence that fans would respond.
RATINGS, ATTENDANCE SOAR IN 2026
This year’s Aspen X Games attracted 15.3 million U.S. television viewers, up 43% year-on-year, he said. The event sold out in three weeks and drew nearly 50,000 spectators over the weekend, while also featuring music performances from artists including Gunna, Disco Lines and Kaskade.
The Winter League will begin with a draft on Wednesday, with athletes to be allocated to teams rather than competing primarily under national flags.
Bloom said the approach would distinguish the X Games from the Olympics, where national representation remains central, while allowing the two properties to complement one another.
“We see ourselves as a tremendous partner” to the Olympics and national governing bodies, Bloom said.
X GAMES INFLUENCE ON OLYMPICS
Action sports once sat outside the sporting mainstream when the X Games launched in 1995, he added. Now, its core disciplines are Olympic events, with skateboarding and BMX set to appear in their third Olympic cycle at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
The Olympics can turn athletes into global stars during a concentrated period of competition, Bloom said, while the X Games can sustain their profiles, stories and commercial appeal during the four years between Games.
“The more that we can help build global icons, the better their ratings will be, and vice versa,” he said.
In addition to Gu, who was born in San Francisco but represents China in international competitions, Bloom highlighted snowboarders including Mark McMorris as well as skier Alex Hall.
The Winter League is scheduled to include stops in Aspen, Calgary and Ruka, Finland, combining competition with live music and festival programming.
Bloom said that mix remained core to the X Games identity.
“The X Games has done more to shape youth culture than it has done in even snowboarding and BMX,” he said.
(Reporting by Rory Carroll; Editing by Jamie Freed)
