It’s Rio deja vu all over again. Chicago has lost its bid to host the summer X Games, ESPN’s made-for-TV extreme sports competition.
ESPN announced Wednesday that Austin, Texas will host the summer X Games for four years beginning in 2014. The four finalists were Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Austin and Detroit.
The summer X Games, which have been held in Los Angeles since 2003, will move next spring to the Circuit of The Americas, a 1,500-acre racetrack and sports complex in the Texas capital.
“We are incredibly excited to partner with the Circuit of the Americas to bring the X Games to Austin in May,” Scott Guglielmino, senior vice president of programming and X Games events, said in a statement. “The fantastic COTA facility provide(s) a unique opportunity to grow the X Games in a new region of the country and in a city that has a proven track record of embracing big events.”
The announcement ends an eight-month process that winnowed down a field of 13 potential host cities to the final four, which were announced in April.
Chicago was vying to snare the high-profile X Games, which would have brought about $50 million in economic impact to Chicago per year, according to a recent study. The games, held over four days, were set to take place in the United Center and on its adjacent parking lots.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-x-games-host-city-20130717,0,4341560.story
ROFL
Wonder if all those murders in the city of Chicago had anything to do with it....
ESPN announced Wednesday that Austin, Texas will host the summer X Games for four years beginning in 2014. The four finalists were Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., Austin and Detroit.
The summer X Games, which have been held in Los Angeles since 2003, will move next spring to the Circuit of The Americas, a 1,500-acre racetrack and sports complex in the Texas capital.
“We are incredibly excited to partner with the Circuit of the Americas to bring the X Games to Austin in May,” Scott Guglielmino, senior vice president of programming and X Games events, said in a statement. “The fantastic COTA facility provide(s) a unique opportunity to grow the X Games in a new region of the country and in a city that has a proven track record of embracing big events.”
The announcement ends an eight-month process that winnowed down a field of 13 potential host cities to the final four, which were announced in April.
Chicago was vying to snare the high-profile X Games, which would have brought about $50 million in economic impact to Chicago per year, according to a recent study. The games, held over four days, were set to take place in the United Center and on its adjacent parking lots.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-x-games-host-city-20130717,0,4341560.story
ROFL
Wonder if all those murders in the city of Chicago had anything to do with it....
