ASPEN, Colo. (AP) — The Winter X Games will stay in Aspen through 2019.
The deal was set to expire after the event this weekend, but ESPN and Aspen Skiing Company announced a five-year extension Wednesday. This will be the 13th straight year Winter X has staged snowboard, ski and snowmobile events in Aspen.
Scott Guglielmino, senior vice president of ESPN programming and X Games, said that other options were explored, much like a few months ago when the decision was reached to relocate Summer X from Los Angeles to Austin, Texas. In the end, Guglielmino said a return to Aspen simply made “a lot of sense.”
The winter action sports event will be without one of its premiere athletes as two-time Olympic gold medalist Shaun White skipped the competition to rest for Sochi.