Update: Wednesday, 3:15 p.m. -- Josh Katzenstein of The Detroit News reports that ESPN's senior vice president for the X Games says the network took into account the possibility of Detroit filing for bankruptcy when making its decision for the X Games.
"The reality of it is, we made our decision based on many, many factors," Scott Guglielmino said. "I think the revitalization story is a very, very interesting one, but certainly from a volatility perspective, sure, (the bankruptcy possibility is) something we've got to factor in ultimately when we make a decision like this.
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Detroit is edged out in a national competition to host the X Games for at least three years, starting next summer, ESPN announced today.
Austin is picked over Detroit and two other finalists -- Chicago and Charlotte -- after site visits and presentations by each finalist.
"The Texas capital will host an X Games summer event for four years beginning in May 2014 at the new 1,500-acre Circuit of The Americas sports and entertainment complex in southeast Austin," says a network release. "The selection follows a highly competitive eight-month-long process."
Related article: X Games Reactions Mix Frustration, Do-It-Ourselves Spirit
Detroit originally was among 17 semifinalists. It became one of the four finalists in late April.
Kevin Krease, left, and Garrett Koehler spoke about their plans in a Deadline Detroit podcast April 23.
The televised extreme sports events, held in Los Angeles since 2003, run four days and feature skateboarding, inline skating, motocross, BMX biking and a one-mile car race. LA's last turn as host begins Aug. 1.
Detroit's energetic effort and high-profile promotions were organized by Kevin Krease, 27, and Garret Koehler, 26, who set up an enterprise called Action Sports Detroit just seven months ago.
They posted a statement on Facebook after the announcement. "We wish the X Games the best of luck in Austin," it says. The post drew 200 comments in an hour.
Here's are other excerpts:
While we have never visited the [Austin] track, it looks like a state-of-the-art facility. As we understand it, this decision largely boiled down to the turnkey efficiencies that come with using a single standalone venue; efficiencies you don’t have with the sort of downtown multi-venue experience Detroit desired. . . .
We are not walking away, and we don’t believe the movement of people who have gotten behind this cause are either.
Krease and Koehler believe the Texas city won because ESPN wants "the turnkey efficiencies that come with using a single standalone venue like [Austin's racetrack]" rather than Detroit's "downtown multi-venue experience."
On that theme, Curbed Detroit editor Paul Beshouri quips: "Maybe we should've started on that whole Arena District thing a few years sooner?"
A disappointed local Reddit user reacts less charitably on an X Games thread:
We offered them spray paint, dance music, and gnarly skate spots. They chose cowboy boots, Formula One and heat stroke weather in a state that is not friendly to skater culture.
Another Reddit commenter, also using a screen name, posts: "Detroit: not hipster enough, despite being totally hipster now."
The local organizers, who initially worked from Krease's condo at the Park Shelton in Midtown, proposed events at Ford Field, Campus Martius Park, Belle Isle, Hart Plaza, the Detroit River, Joe Louis Arena and Roosevelt Park next to the iconic Michigan Central Station. Detroit's bid also included plans for a music and cultural festival at Hart Plaza or elsewhere.
Koehler and Krease staged a splashy night event May 28 with thousands of people at Campus Martius during a visit by the site selection team and teamed up with a downtown ad agency, The Work, to produce a 5:34 video (below) that was submitted with bid materials and now has nearly 264,000 views on YouTube. It was introduced at an April 20 party in Eastern Market that raised $26,000 toward a planned Corktown skate park.
Support came from Dan Gilbert, founder and chairman of Quicken Loans and Rock Ventures. He contributed a sizable sum and Compuware Building office space, Crain's reported April 14. "How much money Gilbert will provide hasn't been disclosed, but it's believed to run into the low seven figures," Bill Shea wrote.
Local bid advisers included Susan Sherer, who helped bring Super Bowl XL to Detroit in 2006 and was executive director of the host committee, and staffers from the nonprofit Detroit Sports Commission, part of the Detroit Metro Convention and Visitors Bureau. Ford Racing team provided a car and driver for a video of rallycross course sites.
