Industry News
What do you do when you are a retired three-time Olympic gold medalist (the most of any snowboarder) who has also won 13 X Games gold medals? You start your own halfpipe league that will feature the best snowboarders in the world of course! That is what the 37-year-old Shaun White is launching which will start next March 2025 and run after the 2026 Winter Olympics.
The season-long halfpipe league will offer more than $1.5 million in prizes and will be called The Snow League. There will be five snowboarding events with plans to include freeskiing by mid-season. White, a 37-year-old, three-time Olympic gold medalist who retired in 2022 after the Beijing Games, will hand select 36 of the best athletes to compete against one another to become the world champion.
The Snow League’s goal is to produce the ultimate global league for snowboarding and freeskiing competition. The $1.5 million in prize money is geared to attract the top athletes to compete in the events. The sport is known for offering prizes of $5,000 to winners which sometimes does not even cover the cost of the flight, lodging, or food to attend. White’s goal is to give the sport a more reliable calendar that offers more lucrative cash prizes.
“The Snow League is coming to push the limits of winter sports competition to deliver season-long intensity, relentless clutch performances, and jaw-dropping finishes as we hit the world’s most iconic winter resort destinations,” The Snow League’s website stated.
The Snow League will feature a global competition format and the league’s first event is scheduled to take place next year and will start in the United States. The remaining four events will be held at other winter resort destinations around the world. “I have so much gratitude for the rider culture that I was able to compete within, that’s why my next journey is to be a teammate, working with the best of the best to pave the way towards a limitless new era for the next generation,” White said in a press release.
Attracting athletes to compete in the new league while not competing with other games, events, or tours is one of the goals of The Snow League. White is also looking to make the league part of a complex Olympic qualifying process. “The Snow League will give riders, freeskiers, and sports fans all over the world a proper home for what I believe is the most exciting athletic competition in all of sports,” he said.
