Action Sports Conference
Ron Semiao closing remarks

Closing Remarks
Ron Semiao - Senior Vice President of ESPN Films & Creator of ESPN X Games
at Action Sports Conference
July 30th, 2009 - X Games 15, Los Angeles, CA

The only thing I wanted to mention and talk about is something I’ve been noticing. you know as our country and even globally have really been going through some tough economic times lately, and we at ESPN have not been immune to that at all. The X Games have not been immune to that and certainly has resulted in cancellations of events, which certainly doesn’t help the athletes, doesn’t help people in other ends of the business.

But the one thing I really want to throw out there is just a matter of thought of going forward, is to try and think how “We” as a genre of Action Sports can hopefully emerge stronger from this economic downturn that we’ve had. Because the one thing that I think that not enough happens is us working together as companies.

When we, ESPN, see Alli / Dew Tour doing a .5 rating on NBC, that’s not good. It’s a bad rating. And it’s not good for action sports. It’s not good for the athletes. And it’s not a situation anyone at ESPN looks at that and thinks competitively “that’s a good thing for ESPN,” is looking at it completely wrong. That’s a bad thing for ESPN, because we really need to have an ongoing interest in the athletes, (and) in the sports. And I think that the genre of action sports needs some type of booster rocket, because I think certain areas are plateauing.

We’ve had some nice rating increases with the X Games and Winter X Games, and they are a good story to tell in that regard. The sponsorships up to now has not been a good story. That’s directly due to the recession we’ve been in. But what I think we really need to try and do is think of how we as companies can work together and to help not only to build our own businesses, but help build the genre more overall. I do believe in the philosophy that the rising tide does lift all boats. And you know you take an example like, I’ve heard but don’t really know this, the surfing industry, a lot of times doesn’t agree on a lot of things. However, the companies involved agree on one thing that their championships are very, very important to the surfers. They are very, very important to all the brands. So while the brands maybe competitive on a day to day basis. When it comes to this big event, they are allies and they rally with each other. All of them contributing to make the event the best it can be to showcase the sport, to showcase the athlete, and to showcase their respected brands. I don’t think we do enough of that in action sports overall.

Throw something out … I don’t see why ESPN on our X Games website, why can’t we promote the telecast schedule of the Dew Tour. And vice-versa. You will see it in some of the bigger sports. When the NFL playoffs are going on, and they are being televised by Fox has some games, CBS has some games, and NBC has some games. What you will notice is that they all promote each other during those games. Cause they are happening in a short period of time and what they are trying to do, they are just trying to serve the fan. It’s a matter of putting some competitive juices aside for what is good for the overall business. You will see that in baseball. You will see that in the NBA. When ESPN and TNT are doing the NBA playoffs, we’ll promote on our games that the game that will be on the next night will be on TNT and vice-versa. It’s a matter of trying to make one plus one equal three.

And that’s something, that I just think would really help all of us, would really help the genre overall and hearing ideas today of some great stuff. Talking about how we tie in music, and approaching it more of a lifestyle as opposed to competitive events. That’s great. And I don’t know how it gets done, maybe it’s along the lines of the G7 Summit, where the 7 top economies of the world get together and try to come up with ideas. Maybe it’s a matter of someone taking the initiative, or some company taking the initiative and say let’s do a summit where we have a diversify group of people from different areas. Whether it be manufacturers of equipment, apparel, other areas of clothing, event people, athletes…. and try having a group discussion and a fruitful situation where we are talking about how we collectively grow all of our businesses. And I just think it would make a better world for all of us. So with that, I hope you have a great time tonight (at X Games), thank you for having me here …