No British X-posure for X Games

Image Courtesy of BBC

I confess to your all, something very strange happens to me twice a year. I become gripped by the urge to throw all my eggs in one basket, go to a ski resort and try and improve my skills in the park. No coincidence that these urges collide with the X Games, first in Aspen, USA and then followed in March by its European counterpart in Tignes.

The bright lights, the baggy clothing, the incredibly level of skill, it’s all just so appealing to me. Dream Job? Probably doing the X Games broadcasts, which are done with ESPN and Canal +, who are both doing a fine job of showing off this extreme sports event to the max, what a shame then, that no many people in the UK really have any idea that it’s on.

I know, I’m talking about a niche sport here, I know not everyone is fascinated by just how many spins are possible when flying through the air, but you have to admit that freestyle skiing is pretty impressive to watch. So impressive that every time I excitedly show my mother the latest competition on TV she looks at me in fear and begs me never to try doing it myself (too late, but that’s for another day).



Ed Leigh and Graham Bell - Courtesy of BBC



Here in the UK our snow sports programming is limited essentially to Ski Sunday, who have also brought in token snowboarder Ed Leigh. They’re doing a pretty good job, trying to bring snow to the masses in the UK, but let’s not forget where ski Sunday started, with ski racing, and it now seems to be more of a ‘One Show on Snow’ although it’s distinctly improved from a few years ago, the showing of competitions seems far less at the forefront of the producers minds than displaying Graham Bell in some far flung European Resort doing things that his audience won’t ever get a chance to do in a million years.

The X Games are shown on the formidable Extreme Sports Channel, who are very good at giving a platform to all the obscure things my friends and I seem interested in. In the winter, it’s dominated by snow sports and urban ride events and in the summer it switches to motocross, surfing and skating. All of this is highly watchable for an extreme sports fan, but for access to Joe Public, not so great.

I’ve been lucky enough to see the first run of ESPN covering the Aspen X Games in 3D, and it was impressive. It needs work, but it’s the first time it’s been done in that format, and there are a lot of 3D firsts still to come. I personally think a lot of snows ports lend themselves to 3D, but certainly for freestyle, the execs in the big offices need to remember that the bit in the air is the part you want to see and the part that looks the best. For all intents and purposes the landing isn’t so crucial, this seems to have been a prevailing factor certainly for the big air competitions, in that we’re losing all the impressive qualities of 3D because we aren’t getting close enough to the air time and then suddenly the rider has landed and you’ve lost the feeling of 3D perspective.

In order to get these events right, the broadcasters need to start working with the athletes. Consulting them on footage and working with them to decide where the best shots will be. These riders have for the most part been in tons of movies with very experienced snow sports directors, they will have picked up something, believe me. They want to look good to the audience too, so why can’t sports broadcasters accept they don’t know everything sometimes and get some fresh eyes on board. These competitions are different to football, golf etc so you need to look at it as something entirely new.



Katie Summerhayes @ MK Snowdome
Courtesy of SCUK



But back to the original point, despite all this impressive technology, these riders and these competitions just aren’t getting the exposure. In the UK we have some promising talent competing around the globe and we will have 3 competitors in the X Games Europe, which you’re even less likely to see here in the UK than you would its big American brother, simply because its a much smaller operation (although a great atmosphere, I attended last year and very much enjoyed it!).

At the end of the day, the sad fact is that British sports broadcasters are increasingly sticking to the big guns. Football, Rugby, Golf, Tennis and Boxing, and everyone else is suffering. Minority sports can’t expect to get funding and exposure if they aren’t given a chance to sell their wares on the big stage. Snow sports are selling a product, but it’s two very specific ones; to the rich people on chalet holidays or the kids who are stomping tricks at snowdomes every week and their parents, and which of these groups will be driving forward funding and exposure for our young athletes, well I’ll leave you to decide that one for yourself.