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Action sports takes off in Minneapolis, the new home of the summer X Games

With an international audience, the 2017 and 2018 X Games will shine a bright light on the City of Minneapolis.

Minneapolis welcomes X Games and world-wide exposure

MINNEAPOLIS, July 10, 2017 – Meet Minneapolis, Convention & Visitors Association, is excited to welcome X Games Minneapolis to U.S. Bank Stadium July 13-16 in the first event of a two-year run that will bring an estimated 100,000 people to downtown Minneapolis and the Mall of America over the four days, along with national and international media exposure for the event and the City of Minneapolis in one of the first major, multi-day sports events at the new stadium.

The media coverage across the spectrum will show viewers not just that there’s an event in Minneapolis but will show off the city, as well, and in multiple platforms to viewers across the globe. ESPN and ABC will televise a combined 18.5 hours of live X Games Minneapolis 2017 coverage, which will also be accessible via the ESPN App to viewers who receive their video subscription from an affiliated provider. Additional coverage of sports and music will be carried on ESPN3 as well as the latest coverage across ESPN digital platforms, including XGames.com, the X Games app and X Games pages across YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and more.

For the first time, select X Games events will be broadcast live in virtual reality via the Samsung VR service, available via Samsung Gear VR. Following X Games Minneapolis 2017, ABC will deliver four hours of anthology programming on Saturday, July 22 as part of the World of X Games series.

In addition to all of the content on ESPN’s U.S.-based media platforms, X Games Minneapolis will be televised globally in 210 countries and territories to more than 504 million homes, including live coverage in Australia, Canada, Caribbean, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Latin America, Middle East, New Zealand, UK, Ireland, France, Spain and Africa.

This chance to share the city with the world is just one benefit of the event. Perhaps more tangible is the 8,300 tourism and hospitality-related jobs that are supported by X Games Minneapolis and its fans who come to the region.

Also, the event is accessible for anyone who wants to take part: Thursday is free and open for the public to view world-class competitions on Medtronic Plaza outside the stadium as part of X Fest. Music concerts and additional competitions at the stadium and Mall of America are lower-cost and will attract a possibly new and younger audience to the city.

“After 18 months of planning and building excitement, we’re thrilled to finally welcome X Games athletes, staff and fans to Minneapolis,” said Melvin Tennant, president and CEO, Meet Minneapolis. “Working with the X Games team from ESPN could not have been a better experience, and we hope that the event’s success this week will encourage them to consider returning beyond 2018 to Minneapolis.”

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ABOUT X GAMES MINNEAPOLIS
The world’s premier action sports competition debuts July 13-16 for its first year at the new U.S. Bank Stadium in downtown Minneapolis. The event will feature more than 200 of the world’s best action sports athletes competing for medals and prize money in BMX, Skateboard and Moto X disciplines. The event will also feature world-class musical performances from A Day To Remember on Friday, Flume and Minneapolis’ own Atmosphere. All three musical performances will take place at the Commons stage, located outside U.S. Bank Stadium.

Additional information on all X Games Minneapolis 2017 events is available on www.xgames.com for fans or on www.espnmediazone.com for media only.

ABOUT MEET MINNEAPOLIS
Meet Minneapolis is a private, not-for-profit, member-based association. It actively promotes and sells the Minneapolis area as a destination for conventions and meetings, works to maximize the visitor experience and markets the city as a desirable tourist destination to maximize the economic benefit of the greater Minneapolis area.

Meet Minneapolis is accredited by the Destination Marketing Accreditation Program (DMAP) of the Destination Marketing Association International.

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