Sportonomics: Shaun White and The Snow League

Shaun White is not your average pro snowboarder. He is a three-time Olympic gold medalist (more golds than any other snowboarder), owns his own lifestyle snowboard brand Whitespace, and has amassed 15 X Games gold medals. After retiring from snowboarding, Shaun has begun to work on accomplishing something even bigger than his own legacy: a new sports league. 

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White announced The Snow League on Monday, June 17. White aims for the league to provide winter sports athletes like himself with a more direct opportunity to support themselves competing and a path towards being a world champion. The Snow League will be the first professional snowboarding and freeskiing competition winter sports league and will debut in 2025 with a five-event season with a global competition format. If you are wondering when and where the first event will take place: March 2025 in the U.S. The other four events will be held at winter resort locations around the world and will conclude shortly after the 2026 Milano Cortina Games. Though the first season will only be open to men's and women's halfpipe events (and skiing being introduced in the middle of the season), White explains this narrow focus as wanting "to do it correct. we don’t want to have to go back on something. We want to crawl before we walk before we run...everything we’re doing is very calculated.” As the winter league progresses, gains traction, and grows, it hopes to add other events, such as big air or slopestyle. 

Surely, Snowboarders like Shaun White or Chloe Kim capture national attention. But these short bursts of attention during the Olympic games are difficult to retain as almost all halfpipe events are standalone with very inconsistent streaming/TV schedules. White's new league will fix that. In fact, White tells of how he competed for a $50,000 grand prize at Japanese contests when he was just a kid. These prizes are less frequently found today and White hopes to bring those back as well as a bonus for riders who are at the top of the season-long standings. White is not just making another league; he is building a legacy of supporting the next generation of snowboarders and the sport itself. Another plan of White's is to make the league part of the Olympic qualifying process, which will further support the athletes. The Snow League will bring 20 men and 16 women to its contests, with the final bracketed day, "Championship Day," featuring the quarterfinal, semifinals, and final rounds of the league's season.

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White announced The Snow League on Monday, June 17. White aims for the league to provide winter sports athletes like himself with a more direct opportunity to support themselves competing and a path towards being a world champion. Contributing to this opportunity is the total prize money for the first season, which will be more than 1.5 million dollars. A prize will be given at all five events and at the end of the season. Truthfully, snowboarding athletes make most of their money with sponsors just like other action sport athletes. These sponsors will often pay for the costs of equipment, travel, coaching, and more. As Shaun White mentioned, an athlete could travel to New Zealand to compete for the opportunity to win a $5,000 prize, but the travel and hotel expenses might be even more, making the event difficult to join. The Snow League, on the other hand, will pay generously. If an athlete qualifies for an event, they will be compensated for being a part of it. The league will act as a competitive platform and a way to bring up the new generation of snowboarders.

How does The Snow League pay so well? The league is backed by numerous key investors, including Will Ventures, David Blitzer, Ares Management Fund, and more. Range Sports will advise on both media rights and commercial partnerships. Snow League CEO Omar Atesman has previously worked with Shaun White creating educational sports content for a startup similar to MasterClass with athletes. Now, the sports industry entrepreneur is CEO of an exciting new league that, with any luck, will bring the sport more publicity and more athletes in the spotlight.