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For the first time ever, Sacramento is set to host the extreme sports competition X Games this weekend at Cal Expo starting Friday, June 26, through Sunday June 28.
This will be the first stop of the new X Games League (XGL) — a co-ed team-based competition featuring four city-branded teams that compete year-round.
Sacramento is the first stop for the new competition followed by Japan and then the MoonBay X Games League championship in New Orleans. The events include skateboarding, BMX and motocross.
X Games Chief Marketing Officer Kevin O’Connor said Sacramento is the “perfect spot,” for the games based on their relationship with the state. California has hosted the X Games more than 20 times in California in cities like Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco.
“We love California, and we think that California has really loved us back,” O’Connor said. “Sacramento also has just a great action sports community, you know, it's a community that loves sport in general, and we couldn't be happier to be here.”
There will also be post-event concerts from electronic artist Kaskade Friday, Grammy-award-winning producer DJ Mustard and EDM artist Subtronics.
Tickets are available for individual, three-day and VIP.
What to expect?
The XGL will have four teams competing this weekend – Los Angeles, Tokyo, New York and São Paulo. Each team is made up of 10 athletes per team, five women and five men.
They held their first ever action sports draft this summer and will hold a winter draft in September.
Athletes in XGL include skateboarders Gui Khury and Sky Brown for team Sao Paulo, skateboarders Chloe Covell and Davis native Nyjah Huston for team New York, skateboarder Arisa Trew and BMX rider Rim Nakamura and skateboarder Tom Scharr for team Los Angeles.
Nyjah Huston, of the United States, celebrates after winning the Street League Skateboarding Super Crown World Championship final in Sao Paulo, Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024.AP Photo/Andre Penner
Brady Baker, a BMX two-time silver-medalist and two-time gold-medalist at the X Games, is one of the athletes that will compete in the games this weekend. Baker is an Auburn resident on team LA and will compete in BMX dirt and park competitions.
“It's cool being paired with BMX and skateboarders in the league, and to try and tally points, and get this overall championship, which I believe is for a $500,000 purse split between the athletes,” he said. “We're all trying to get that, that's the goal.”
Baker said the games this weekend feels like a local event. He said he has a few tricks up his sleeve for competition.
“I want to step the bar up like I have every other year,” Baker said while mentioning back-to-back gold medals 2023-2024. “I had to settle for silver in 2025, so in 2026, I'm trying to get that gold medal back.”
Also included in the festivities this weekend is the X Fest, which is an area that will have interactions like a freestyle trampoline zone, according to O’Connor.
“We've got a wake jam with professional wake boarders, and a kind of a jet ski show,” O’ Connor said. “The Sacramento Low Rider Commission is out there, and Velocity Car Club, so we've got some other cool things that are just to make a great day for the family to come out.”
What the games mean locally
The X Games coming to Sacramento is huge for the amateur and upcoming skateboarders in BMX riders.
Former skateboarder Mike Rafter stated in 2006 in the Sacramento News and Review that Sacramento could host the X games. Rafter said Sacramento has always been a breeding ground for skateboarding.
“Part of the reason is because in the 90s, there was a lot of suburban sprawl, which meant they were building schools, churches, hospitals, parks, playgrounds,” Rafter told CapRadio. “Usually when that architecture happens, skateboarders are the first to discover it.”
The California golden bear stands in front of the X Games display as organizers announce the games would be held at Cal Expo in Sacramento for at least three years starting in 2025 though the event was eventually postponed to 2026. Dec. 12, 2024.(Chris Felts/CapRadio)
He started skateboarding at 14 and he became pro in the 90s, and he participated in the original X Trials in the 1990s. He’s also worked for what is widely considered the biggest skateboarding magazine in the world — Thrasher.
Rafter said the X Games doesn't come to every city and is an event that happens periodically. He said people in Sacramento should go to witness the event.
“There's not a lot of chances for people to see that kind of thing in person, and I don't think people should miss it,” he said. “I would say that if you have the opportunity to get out there [this] weekend and check it out, check it out for as long as you can.”
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