X Games Draws Inspiration From F1 With Announcement of New League

A big change is coming to the freestyle skiing competition world: X Games has announced plans to implement a new, team-based format in 2026.

Dubbed the "X Games League" (XGL), the competition series will involve a season-round calendar for both summer and winter action sports. Check out the press release below.

X Games League Announcement

"In essence, we've used Formula One as a model for this new X Games League," said Jeff Moorad, Executive Chairman of X Games and Principal of MSP Sports Capital.

"To that end, we are creating a year-round calendar and introducing new commercial opportunities to accelerate the overall growth of X Games. These opportunities will provide a secure and sustainable future for our most important stakeholders—the athletes."

At the outset, the Winter XGL will involve four events and a minimum of four teams, with plans to expand the competition series further as it gains traction. A press release about XGL noted, "In an industry first, XGL athletes will be provided with a level of stability that includes guaranteed compensation as well as new commercial opportunities."

Each team will have athletes from multiple disciplines. For instance, a woman half-pipe snowboarder could be on the same team as a man Slopestyle skier.

XGL athletes will compete for team and individual points and be eligible for team and individual purse prizes. X Games plans to secure team investors and proposes that the teams will generate additional revenue streams for investors and athletes through team-specific merchandise sales and sponsorship deals.

X Games further explained their decision in an Instagram post addressing FAQs. See below.

X Games plans to host sport-wide drafts where teams can select athletes, another element borrowed from mainstream sports.

"As both an active athlete and an advisor for X Games, I'm excited about the opportunities this new format presents," said Scotty James, nine-time snowboarding X Games medalist and X Games strategic advisor.

"The long-term vision not only aims to grow action sports on a global level, but also provide athletes with greater security than ever before. For the first time, we will be able to focus on performance while benefiting from a stable and sustainable career path in action sports."

To editorialize a bit: this could—emphasis on the could—be an enormous development for freeskiing. Freeskiing has struggled to develop the rabid fan bases associated with other popular sports like football or Formula 1. At face value, it doesn't make a ton of sense. Who doesn't want to watch people throwing triple corks? That's cooler than Travis Kelce running around in tight pants, right?

The missing element addressed by the XGL is teams. When you sit down to watch something like Formula 1, much of the fun is associated with picking a team, rooting for them, and becoming invested in their successes and failures. When they win, you're stoked. When they lose, you're bummed. Stakes are involved with most popular, mainstream sports, and stakes make things exciting.

Aside from one-off team events here and there, freeskiing hasn't successfully capitalized on this element. Now, I wasn't in the room when X Games and their overlords, MSP Sports Capital, dreamt up XGL, but I can only imagine this is their attempt to capture the larger audiences enjoyed by team-based sports. And, as someone who will always root for developments that could benefit athletes, I'm hoping this all pays off, particularly for those putting it on the line in competitions.

In an Instagram post, X-Games alluded to what I'm getting at here: "We're putting the top athletes into a contest structure that is known and easily digested by the masses."

To check out the full press release, click here.

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