- The inaugural Action Sports and Music Awards are held on April 7 to a packed crowd of 6,000 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. The event unites action sports athletes, sport legends, musicians and Hollywood celebrities, presenting the most explosive evening in the history of action sports. Celebrities LL Cool J, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and Chris Klein host the event, which includes performances from the original members of Black Sabbath, Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals, and more.
Philadelphia hosts X Games VII August 17-22. Downhill BMX makes its debut, which is held at the Woodward Camp in central Pa. For the first time in X Games history, the events are held inside and outside an arena -- the First Union Complex -- where 234,950 spectators were in attendance.
In August, ESPN and The Mills Corporation announce a licensing agreement to build state-of-the-art public X Games Skateparks at several Mills retail centers across the country. The skateparks, designed by the industry’s top course designers, will offer public facilities for skateboarding, bike stunt riding (BMX) and in-line skating. The first park opens in November at the Discover Mills mall in Gwinnett County, Ga., just outside Atlanta.
2002 Winter X Games VI is held in Aspen, Colo. January 17-20 at the resort’s Buttermilk Mountain. Two new skiing disciplines are added: Ski Slopestyle and Ski SuperPipe. The event draws 36,300 spectators, as well as the entire 2002 U.S. Olympic Snowboard Freestyle team, all of whom compete in Winter X Snowboard SuperPipe just weeks prior to the Salt Lake City Olympics.
- In January, over 100,000 fans watched athletes catch air in front of Kuala Lumpur's picturesque Twin Towers while competing in the Junior X Games and Asian X Games Qualifier presented by Toyota. Athletes in the Junior X Games competed for trips to Camp Woodward in the US, while medallists in the Asian X Games Qualifier earned spots at the X Games VIII in Philadelphia, PA.
March 21-24, ESPN along with its partners, hosted the inaugural Latin X Games Qualifier in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. More than 200 of Latin America’s best action athletes from Skateboard, Bike Stunt, Aggressive In-line Skate, and Wakeboard competed for a spot to X Games VIII. Over 37,500 spectators attended the event and over 30 million households tuned into Globo’s coverage of the event.
The second annual ESPN Action Sports and Music Awards are held on April 13 at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles. Jay Mohr hosts the event. Musical performances by the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Jay-Z with an all-star band, X-Ecutioners featuring Xzibit and Static X, Unwritten Law and 3rd Strike entertained the venue-filled crowd of 6,000.
On May 10, Touchstone Pictures and ESPN present the major motion picture ESPN’s Ultimate X to large-format theatres across the country. The film chronicles the breathtaking highlights and dramatic stories behind X Games VII and showcases the eye-popping skateboarding, BMX biking, Moto X, and street luge competitions on the giant screen for the first time.
On May 28, ESPN announces a new event, X Games Global Championship, which will feature two distinct venues hosting competitions in summer and winter action sports simultaneously. Six teams of the world’s top athletes will be grouped together by their region of origin to compete in the four-day event, May 15-18, 2003. Results from both venues will be combined for an overall team score. X Games sports include Skateboard, Bicycle Stunt, Moto X and Aggressive In-line Skate; Winter X sports include Snowboard and Ski. Venues include the Alamo dome in San Antonio, Texas for summer events and Whistler Blackcomb Resort in British Columbia for winter events.
In July, ESPN’s European X Games Qualifier II saw athletes from 20 European nations compete in front of 35,500 spectators who came to Barcelona’s Olympic Pier to witness three whole days of adrenalin action. In the end, 10 athletes from Spain, UK, Germany, France and Sweden qualified to Philadelphia USA for X Games VIII.
X Games VIII returns to the First Union Complex in Philadelphia August 15-19. Another park course is added to accommodate the unique riding style of skateboarding. Women’s Skateboard and Moto X exhibitions are featured. The average per day crowd at the First Union Complex is 40,210, a new record for the X Games. The overall crowd count totaled 221,352, including the X Games’ two-millionth fan. X Games VIII was the most-watched X Games ever as nearly 63 million people tuned in on ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC Sports.