X Games bid applicants and backers in Detroit and three other cities are getting antsy for a decision they expected by now, ESPN acknowledges in an article-style posting with a "be patient" subtext.
It's been two months since the list of more than 20 applicants was whittled to four finalists, each hoping to replace 11-year host city Los Angeles and stage the games from 2014-16. . . .
An ESPN spokesperson says they are "very far along in the process." . . . The announcement will come prior to X Games LA, held Aug. 1-4 in Irwindale and downtown Los Angeles.
Detroit's rivals for the four-day summer competitions for the three years are Chicago, Austin and Charlotte, N.C. The games, held in Los Angeles since 2003, feature skateboarding, inline skating, motocross, BMX biking and a one-mile car race. A Detroit River event could be added.
The host gains national broadcast exposure and a hefty economic impact from visitors, employment, construction of facilities and purchases of goods and services. Last summer's games drew 144,700 people.
Wednesday's unusual update by Devon O'Neil, a Colorado freelancer for ESPN, quotes local supporter Ben Clarke of Keego Harbor, owner of the three-year-old People Skate and Snowboard shop in that Oakland suburb:
"The city itself represents action sports in a lot of ways. It's a gritty place.
"The bid process alone has brought a big community together. It wasn't just a bunch of money being thrown at a problem and making it look like we care. It was literally spray-painting a banner with the X Games Detroit hashtag and hanging it up on freeway overpasses. It's been a grassroots level of effort and that's very Detroit to me. It's a city that is what you make of it."
Kevin Krease, left, and Garrett Koehler spoke about their plans in a Deadline Detroit podcast April 23.
"Each city has gone to significant trouble to win," O'Neil writes.
Detroit's energetic effort was organized by Kevin Krease, 27, and Garret Koehler, 26, who've been friends since they attended Miami University early last decade. Krease set up an enterprise called Action Sports Detroit last November, based initially at his Midtown condo in the Park Shelton.
They propose 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 includes 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 (see video below) during a visit by the site selection team and teamed up with a downtown ad agency, The Work, to produce a five and a half-minute video submitted with bid materials. It was introduced at an April 20 party in Eastern Market that raised $26,000 toward a planned Corktown skate park.
Vital help came from Dan Gilbert, owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers and chairman of Quicken Loans and Rock Ventures. He contributed a sizable sum and Compuware Building office space, Crain's reported. "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 include 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.
Los Angeles Magazine last week endorsed Detroit as a kindred spirit deserving to be the next host after that city's last X Games.
