The X Games is out to show there are riskier moves in action sports than flying upside down above a halfpipe.
The name that put action sports on the map, then turned it into big business that eventually landed in the Olympics with its risk-taking, counterculture vibe, will debut its multimillion-dollar reboot with nothing less than the future of one of the sports industry's best-recognized brands at stake.
Sports like snowboarding, skateboarding and BMX biking that were founded on a spirit of devil-may-care individuality are becoming team enterprises.
Those same sports that were founded on the idea that it was more about hanging out and doing cool stuff than medals, money and winning are now building franchises that organizers say are selling as part of eight-figure transactions.
The debut of the new team concept, scheduled to cover both the upcoming summer and winter seasons, is set for Friday in Sacramento, California. Among the headliners are skateboarding's Nyjah Huston, Garrett Reynolds and Chloe Covell.
Eileen Gu, Chloe Kim, Mark McMorris and Scotty James are among those signed up for the winter portion.
“I love working on big ideas, and this is a big idea,” said Jeremy Bloom, the Olympic freestyle skier and former NFL receiver who was hired by MSP Sports Capital shortly after they bought a majority stake in the X Games from ESPN in 2022. “But ideas are only worth the word on the page. The execution of ideas is always the hardest part.”
What was wrong with the X Games? Nothing, really.
The winter version, traditionally held in Aspen, Colorado, drew 50,000 fans this year and ratings on ESPN and ABC rose 48%.
But when MSP — which has stakes in F1, and Premier League soccer teams among its investments — bought the property in 2022, it had a bigger vision.
It wanted to build a season-long race for a title. The way to do that was by creating summer and winter teams that hold drafts. Both seasons will run over three events — for instance, the summer league will go to Tokyo and New Orleans after the debut in Sacramento; the final event takes place late next month.
Earlier this year, the investment group UNA Sports Group bought the summer and winter teams based in New York for what the X Games said was an eight-figure transaction. Private equity investor Allen Thorpe bought the summer team in Los Angeles and the winter team based in Park City, Utah, the home of the 2034 Olympics. On Thursday, private equity group Summit Ventures and entrepreneur Ali El Ali bought the team based in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Thorpe called the new version of the X Games “an entirely new category of sports ownership.”
Bloom sees owning a franchise not as a revenue stream but rather, a growth opportunity.
“When you set aside the NFL, which is really the 2,000-pound gorilla, it's not really a world where you're looking for, like, (cash-flow) return or profit-sharing return,” Bloom said. “You're just looking at growth. Growth in a brand, growth in fans, growth of viewership.”
A best-case scenario for owners of these X Games teams might be to replicate what happened in the WNBA where, for instance, the Indiana Fever is worth an estimated five times its former value since the arrival of Caitlin Clark.
F1 teams, thanks to spending caps and a surge in popularity driven by the Netflix series “Drive to Survive,” have also enjoyed a surge in value.
UNA, which bought the New York franchises, made the decision partly based on a study it published that projected the value of the global action sports market at $650 billion in 2027.
"Action sports today look remarkably like women’s basketball did five years ago or women’s soccer eight years ago: passionate participants, a loyal core audience, strong brand equity in the category leader, and a fragmented competitive landscape with no dominant league format," the paper said in detailing the strength of the league idea.
The paper made no mention of lessons learned from LIV Golf.
The league always hoped its franchises would generate value and was trying to sell minority stakes in the teams, saying they were worth $300 million. The team concept hasn't caught on and the pullout of the Saudi investment fund backing the league is putting the worth of those teams at risk.
While golf still resides in the category of a niche sport, its schedule has a familiar cadence and the tug between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf largely was a difference in vision among some players who were rich and others who were richer.
Action sports has less of that. For every athlete like Huston or Gu — whose sponsorship income dwarfs what they've collected in prize money over the years — there are dozens more who have to scratch out paychecks in sports that have struggled to generate big prize pools.
“Skateboarding, depending on what your deals are, you can make some money,” said Bob Burnquist, a 14-time X Games skateboard champ who is the general manager of the Sao Paulo team. “But there were several times throughout your career, where I was there for glory and I did it and I knew it. Because if you quantify the risk, it's not really on my side. If I won the event, I'd make ‘X,’ but if I got broken trying to win the event, I'd owe the hospital.”
One of the lures for the athletes was a guaranteed base salary, the likes of which is basically unheard of in actions sports. Also, travel expenses will be covered and they'll receive a health-care stipend, in addition to a prize-money pool. That's among the reasons some of the biggest names, including Kim, Gu, Huston, James and McMorris signed on.
Now, the question is whether enough people will buy into the team concept to the point where they're willing to watch an entire season of action sports unfold.
Bloom — a once-in-a-generation athlete and entrepreneur who made his mark both in individual and team sports — is staking his reputation and that of the X Games that the new idea will work.
“It's still special to win a world championship and World Cup overall titles and make it to the Olympics, there’s no doubt,” Bloom said. “But I was really drawn to this idea and notion that for the first time ever, action sports athletes could feel that camaraderie.”
AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Australia's Chloe Covell competes during the women's finals at the Street Skateboarding Worlds in Rome, Sunday, June 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)
FILE - China's Eileen Gu competes during the women's freestyle skiing halfpipe final at the 2026 Winter Olympics, Feb. 22, 2026, in Livigno, Italy. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
FILE - Nyjah Huston, of the United States, competes in the men's skateboard street preliminaries at the 2024 Summer Olympics, July 29, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)
LA GUAIRA, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelans searched for survivors beneath collapsed buildings Thursday and rescue teams raced to northern areas rocked by a pair of powerful earthquakes that officials say killed at least 164 people. Many more were feared dead.
The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes that struck Wednesday evening were among the strongest in Venezuela in more than a century and were felt throughout the region. Nearly 1,000 people were injured and thousands were reported missing across the country. The coastal region of La Guaira, which is north of the capital, Caracas, experienced some of the heaviest damage and casualties, officials said.
Buildings were evacuated as far away as Brazil’s Amazon, about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) from Caracas, where the country’s main airport was damaged and closed.
In cities across northern Venezuela, panicked residents poured into the streets and many walked among the debris searching for the missing. Television broadcasts showed rescue workers using power tools to get through piles of rubble.
In La Guaira, retired schoolteacher Juan Alberto Mendaño climbed through wreckage and past a dead body when he spotted a woman who was trapped and signaling with her hand for help.
“God, let them rescue her as quickly as possible,” said Mendaño. “When we heard the scream, there was nothing we could do.”
At another damaged apartment complex, residents shouted the names of missing people: “Mirna! Marquitos!”
Offers of help poured in from around the world, including from the United States, which seized Venezuela's then-president Nicolas Maduro at the beginning of the year in a surprise military operation.
The natural disaster poses a major challenge for acting President Delcy Rodríguez, the former vice president who took office in January after Maduro's capture. Venezuela has been facing economic disarray for more than a decade, and many people reject the legitimacy of the political movement Rodriguez represents.
Rodríguez, who gave the latest death toll early Thursday, said authorities were shifting rescue teams from other parts of the country to La Guaira, which she described as a “disaster zone.”
“Dozens of buildings have collapsed there ... and we are currently carrying out intensive rescue operations to save lives,” Rodríguez said. Footage on state TV showed three children, covered in dust but alive, pulled from the rubble in La Guaira.
Rodríguez appealed to businesses to make heavy construction equipment available for rescue operations, adding that search and rescue teams certified by the United Nations were on their way to help.
While Venezuela sits near multiple fault lines, its position straddling the South American and Caribbean plates makes strong earthquakes much less common than in other parts of Latin America.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the first earthquake, with a magnitude of 7.2, hit west of Moron on the Caribbean coast, about 170 kilometers (105 miles) west of Caracas. It had a depth of 22 kilometers (about 14 miles). Just a minute later, USGS reported a second 7.5 magnitude earthquake, with a depth of 10 kilometers (about 6 miles) and an epicenter 16 kilometers (10 miles) southwest of Moron.
Officials urged people to remain outside as aftershocks could cause further damage.
During the quakes, people ran from swaying buildings. Many were stunned Thursday morning as they saw buildings reduced to skeletons, furniture hanging out of windows and helicopters circling overhead.
In La Guaira, Cristian Carreño stared at his charred apartment building tilting precariously to one side.
“I lost everything,” he said. “There are people still inside, I imagine, that couldn’t get out. It’s incredibly devastating.”
Dayana Delgado, mother of three children, said she was desperate because her 8-year-old son was missing.
“I want to know where my child is, if he’s trapped or in a shelter,” she said.
Delgado asked where the heavy machinery was that government officials had promised, pointing out that neighbors were the ones digging through the rubble.
Authorities warned people against returning to homes with structural damage. In downtown Caracas, hundreds spent the night huddled in parks, parking lots and other open spaces.
“We were afraid the buildings would collapse on us,” said María Cristina Díaz, a 41-year-old janitor. “My mother, my daughter and I were cold. We didn’t sleep a wink.”
“It was awful. We cried, we screamed. Thankfully, we’re alive,” she added.
Parts of the capital lost power and cellphone service, Rodríguez said. Subway services were suspended and natural gas was shut off, she said. Classes will also be canceled for several days, and the Ministry of Education said some school buildings would be used as shelters and donation centers.
Families began posting missing-person flyers with photos of loved ones, while others shared handwritten lists of names as they searched for those still unaccounted for. Venezuelans living abroad struggled to make contact with relatives.
The U.N. human rights mission in Venezuela called on the government to lift local restrictions on social media so people can get more timely access to potentially life-saving information. In August 2024, Maduro ordered X blocked in an attempt to suppress the exchange of information among those who rejected his claim of victory in the July presidential elections.
Rodríguez declared a state of emergency in an address to the nation late Wednesday. She said the government was creating a $200 million reconstruction fund for hospitals and homes damaged by the earthquakes, and had instructed the economy and finance ministers to oversee the effort.
Countries from across the world from Qatar to Mexico began to send aid to Venezuela. Rodríguez expressed thanks for the messages of support and offers for help.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had spoken to Rodríguez following the quake, said the United States is “immediately deploying search and rescue teams, medical resources, and humanitarian assistance to Venezuela.”
“We will have a whole government response,” Rubio said Thursday in Bahrain, noting the were facing logistical obstacles with Caracas’ airport collapsed. “It will be big. It will be fast. It will be effective.”
Garcia Cano reported from Bogota, Colombia and Janetsky reported from Mexico City. Associated Press writers Anna-Catherine Brigida in Mexico City, Danica Coto and San Juan, Clara Preve in Buenos Aires; Astrid Suarez in Bogota, Colombia; Cristina Fuentes in Madrid; and Maria Teresa Hernandez in Beijing and Edith Lederer in the United Nations contributed to this report.
An injured woman walks in La Guaira, Venezuela, a day after an earthquake struck the area, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
Damaged buildings stand a day after earthquakes struck La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Juan Pablo Arraez)
Neighbors helps a man evacuate his damaged home after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026.(AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
A vehicle is trapped in a fissure caused by an earthquake in La Guaira, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP PhotoJavier Campos)
Residents walk among the rubble of building damaged in earthquakes the previous day in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
Patients lie outside a hospital evacuated after it was damaged in an earthquake in Catia La Mar, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
People camp on a sports court following an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026 (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
Rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Rescue workers search through the rubble after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Campos)
People stay outside their homes after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
People sleep outside their homes following an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, June 25, 2026 (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
A boy comforts his mother after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Pedro Mattey)
A man holding a dog cries after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Javier Campos)
Rescue workers search through the rubble after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026.(AP Photo/Javier Campos)
Rescue workers search through the rubble of a collapsed building after earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Rescue worker carry an injured man after an earthquake in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, June 24, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
