Barcelona to host the ‘X Games’ in the next 3 years, the world’s main action sports event

Barcelona (ACN).- Barcelona will be one of the permanent host cities of the Summer X Games, the world’s most important actions sports event. The Catalan capital will organise competitions in skateboarding, BMX, car rallies and motocross in the next three years. The X Games organisation, owned by the U.S. sports broadcaster ESPN and with links with the ABC network, has confirmed together with Barcelona’s Mayor, Xavier Trias, that the Catalan city will organise the Summer X Games in 2013, 2014, and 2015; a sports event that might be organised in Barcelona after 2015 if both organisers and hosts are happy with the results. Organisers explained that this extreme sports competition would bring 140,000 visitors to the city and would generate between €60 and €70 million in revenue for the local economy. Furthermore, Trias stated that this event will place Barcelona on the map as one of the world capitals of action sports, consolidating “Barcelona in the frontline of world’s sport”. The X Games have a TV audience of some 350 million viewers.

Between May 9^th and May 12^th 2013, Barcelona will host the X Games. It will organise competitions in skateboarding, mountain bike extreme (called BMX), car rallies and motocross  (called Moto X). The Catalan capital will repeat as the organising city in 2014 and 2015. In addition, the games might stay in Barcelona for more years after 2015 if the organisers and the City Council are happy with the results obtained.

Xavier Trias emphasised that “Barcelona will show once again its capacity to organise great events”. The X Games will also contribute to consolidate “Barcelona in the frontline of world’s sport”, he added. Trias said that Barcelona has to combine “culture, innovation, creativity, but also sport, as a way to disseminate healthy and social values, but also as a mechanism to generate wealth”. Furthermore, the Barcelona Mayor also said that such an event will help the city to arrange the practice of these sports in the city. The X Games will enable the creation of permanent facilities for skateboarding in Barcelona, indicated Maite Fandos, Deputy Mayor in charge of sports.