Three-time Olympic gold medalist and entrepreneur Shaun White has announced the first professional winter sports league for snowboard and freeski halfpipe competitions called The Snow League, which will launch with its first event in the USA in early 2025. The announcement was made June 17 at Stagwell Sport Beach at the Cannes Lions Festival in France.
According to a press release, “The Snow League is the future of winter sports competition with a new global multi-event competition format at the highest level.” The first season will start with five halfpipe events, beginning in March 2025 and ending in winter 2026 after the Winter Games in Milan. White hopes that The Snow League will discover new superstars, underdogs and fierce rivalries in the world of snowboarding – and also of freeskiing.
“After all my years competing in many different formats in the snowboarding space, I’ve come to realize that snowboarding and freeskiing athletes deserve a legit professional league,” White said. “Beginning next year, The Snow League will give riders, freeskiers, and sports fans all over the world a destination for what I believe is the most exciting athletic competition in all of sports. Now is the moment to elevate the next generation of winter athletes who are pushing the limits of competition.”
How are the athletes selected?
The Snow League snowboarding field will consist of the top 20 men and top 16 women in the world. Riders will be selected based on a modified ranking from the World Snowboard Points List. The WSPL is the definitive universal, transparent and fair ranking system for snowboarding competitions around the world.
Competition and season format
As the first competition platform where the world’s elite can compete year-round and season after season, the league will offer five halfpipe competitions in the first season, with more events and disciplines planned in the following seasons.
Prize money will be distributed at each event. Athletes will also earn points for their results, which will be accumulated at the end of the season, where additional prize money will be distributed to the best in the league.
The events will include one day of training and two days of competition, including a qualifying day and a championship day.
In the first season, there will be snowboard halfpipe competitions for men and women at all five events. The plan is to introduce freeskiing in the middle of the first season. Athletes will collect points based on their results at the individual events, which will be added up at the end of the season to crown a world champion. The total prize money for the inaugural season will be at least 1.5 million dollars, making it the highest prize money in the sport.
Sports fans will be able to experience the events with deeper technological integration, unprecedented access and coverage that reveals the strategy, tactics and stories behind winning and losing, and they will be able to cheer and bet as winter’s top athletes compete for the world title.
The Snow League’s proposed schedule minimizes Olympic conflicts and maximizes the league’s global visibility. In the inaugural season, the first event will be held in the US, followed by four events around the world.
Who runs The Snow League?
Omer Atesmen, an entrepreneur who has successfully built and sold businesses in sports, technology and advertising, will serve as CEO of The Snow League. Atesmen previously worked with White in developing sports news at The Skills and is a former Stanford engineer, Kellogg MBA and management consultant at Boston Consulting Group.
Ian Warda, former VP of Global Integrated Marketing at Burton, joins as COO. During his time at Burton, Warda successfully planned and executed the annual Burton US Open Snowboarding Championships and developed world-class events and media properties while also leading the brand and athlete marketing strategy.
Sandy Macdonald, Olympic judge and competition director at countless world-class competitions, becomes the league’s Head of Competition.
Investors in the new league’s first round include Will Ventures, Ares Management Funds, David Blitzer and Ryan Sports Ventures. The Snow League has hired Range Sports to advise it on the strategy and implementation of its media rights and commercial partnerships.
Sophie Goldschmidt, President and CEO of US Ski and Snowboard, said: “The Snow League is shaping up to be an incredible stage for our athletes to compete at the highest level and is a welcome addition to events like the Toyota US Grand Prix series within the competitive snowboard and freeski ecosystem. We want our athletes to have the opportunity to participate in more events, consistently be introduced to newer audiences, and have the chance to achieve success at the world’s best venues. US Ski & Snowboard is excited for our athletes to compete in this new platform.”
