Shaun White is launching a season-long half-pipe league with more than $1.5 million in prize money, aiming to bring unity to an action sports calendar that has long been fragmented and disorganized.
The 37-year-old three-time Olympic gold medalist, who retires after the 2022 Beijing Olympics, has dubbed the new organization the “Snow League.” The first season will begin in March next year and run through to the 2026 Winter Olympics. There will be five sports, all of which will include snowboarding, with freeskiing planned to be added mid-season.
“At the end of the day, we know going to the Olympics and winning a medal is great, but this is the same as winning Wimbledon or the NBA Finals, it’s even more prestigious,” White said.
Snowboarders capture the hearts of the masses at certain times, like the Olympics, but tracking the sport’s biggest stars like Chloe Kim, Scotty James and Ayumu Hirano has always been a tough task because halfpipe competition is largely a standalone event with no consistent TV or streaming schedule: the Winter X Games, the Dew Tour and a string of Grand Prix competitions that aren’t necessarily interconnected.
White, meanwhile, remembers competing for $50,000 in contests in Japan as a kid. Such prizes are rare now, and his league plans to bring them back, along with giving bonuses to riders who win in the season-long standings.
“It feels so needed right now,” said Ian Warda, the league’s chief operating officer and former Burton executive. “The sport is in an interesting transitional moment and kind of a pivotal moment: Where do we go from here? And I couldn’t be more grateful that Sean has taken on this responsibility and that he thinks it’s important to him to develop the next generation and build a better platform.”
White made it clear he wasn’t trying to eliminate the X Games or other events or tours, just to give the sport a more stable schedule with bigger prize money, and he also wants the league to be part of the complex Olympic qualification process.
All of this fits in well with what White has accomplished in his unique career. A snowboarder since he was a teenager, he essentially created the sport we know today on halfpipes around the world. For decades, snowboarders struggled with the notion of competing for big money and Olympic medals. White has made it the norm, and now that he’s retired, he wants to inspire his fellow snowboarders to explore a broader canvas.
“If I can leave this sport in a better place than when I started, that would be amazing,” White said.
The league is still finalizing deals with resorts and exploring the best possible media distribution model. U.S. Ski & Snowboard president Sophie Goldschmidt supports the idea. Kim, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, is one of the riders White approached to support the new league.
“It would be great to have a competition that was more athlete-focused so we could have more opportunities to shine and showcase what we do best, which is snowboarding,” she said. “I’m grateful to Sean for his contributions to the sport and his unwavering mission to elevate it.”
Snowboarders, like many professional athletes, typically earn the majority of their income from sponsorships rather than prize money, but White would like to see snowboarders receive bigger checks at the end of the events that take them all over the world.
“A lot of athletes are like, ‘I don’t want to fly to New Zealand and take part in a tournament with a $5,000 prize, but the flights and hotel costs more than that,'” White says. “Plus, who’s going to see it? You can post it on your social pages, but that’s it.”
The Snow League plans to send 20 men and 16 women to compete in the tournament, which will be decided on a “Championship Day” consisting of quarterfinal, semifinal and final rounds.
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AP Winter Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympicsAP