The Caesars Superdome has been converted to an action sports arena, with skate parks, motorcycle ramps and dirt jumps, as New Orleans prepares to host the inaugural X Games League Championship beginning Friday.
Nearly 100 of the top skateboarders, freestyle BMX and motocross riders from around the world will compete across 20 events over three days, earning gold, silver and bronze medals before the new league’s first-ever championship and $500,000 purse.
“I’m really excited, it’s so unreal, just being able to even be on my BMX bike in the Superdome,” said Broc Raiford, a pro BMX rider from Destrehan and one of a handful of Louisiana athletes competing in the games. “The fact that the X Games is coming here, and not only that but the championships of the X Games, just makes this event hold that much more weight in our action sports world.”
Destrehan native Broc Raiford competes in the Men’s BMX Street Final at 2023 X Games Japan at ZOZO Marine Stadium in Chiba, Japan, where he finished in fourth but suffered a knee injury that kept him out of competition for two years.
It’s the first time New Orleans has ever hosted the X Games, which was founded by ESPN more than three decades ago and sold to a private equity firm in 2022. And it promises to bring a new demographic to the Dome.
“A big objective is to inspire the next generation of action sports fans, but also to get kids moving,” said X Games CEO Jeremy Bloom. “Not every child is inspired by traditional sports. So we want to try to bring skateboarding, BMX and moto and some of the broader action sports communities to the kids that might not be as attracted to traditional stick-and-ball sports.”
Bloom said he expects about 10,000 attendees a day at the Superdome, filling half of the arena’s reduced capacity.
The event also is expected to provide a much-needed bump to local hotels, restaurants and tourist-related businesses during the traditionally slow summer season.
Alice Glenn, executive vice president of New Orleans & Co., said hotel bookings as of July 12 showed higher occupancy compared to the same weekend last year. Occupancy rates in the city’s 26,000 downtown and French Quarter hotel rooms are projected to increase from 62.2% to 64.7%. On Saturday, they’re projected to increase from 68.5% to 72.1%, and on Sunday from 40.1% to 47.3%.
Organizers say many attendees are expected to come from local and regional drive markets, meaning they likely will not require overnight accommodations.
“Similar to other strong weekends in New Orleans, hotel demand is driven by a mix of events, meetings, conventions, and leisure travel rather than any single attraction,” Glenn said in a statement.
Building community
New Orleans is one of three cities to host the X Games this year, which for the first time shifted from a single, annual event to a touring, league format. Instead of awarding one medal per event per year, winners are crowned at each multi-day events, while four teams of 10 athletes each accrue points over the course of a season.
That means not only more opportunities for medals but more opportunities for fans. Sunday’s culmination of the X Games League’s inaugural season follows events held over the past month in Sacramento, California, and Chiba, Japan.
Wyatt Fontenot, who grew up in Opelousas, won the bronze medal in the Moto X Best Whip competition at X Games Sacramento on Friday, June 26, 2026 at the Cal Expo.
Beau Dennis, a BMX enthusiast since childhood and a Baton Rouge resident, is planning to drive to New Orleans Friday and stay overnight at a hotel so he can ride bikes Saturday morning before attending the second day of competition.
“Look, I wasn’t going to travel to California to go to the X Games, but if it’s right here in my backyard, then absolutely I’ll go,” Dennis said.
Two new “spotlight” events will be contested for the first time in X Games history — Scooter Park Best Trick on Friday and Men’s Skateboard Park Best Trick on Saturday — with the possibility of incorporating them into future editions depending on audience response.
Outside the Dome, the free X Fest in Champions Plaza will feature New Orleans brass bands, Mardi Gras Indians, a lowrider car show, drift carts and an alligator handler.
And the first two days of competition will be followed by nighttime concerts at the Smoothie King Center — Metro Boomin and J.I.D. on Friday, and Subtronics and Bunt on Saturday.
Sarah Farnsworth, who oversees global engagement and philanthropy for X Games, said organizers began months ago, with the help of the Greater New Orleans Sports Foundation, to find suitable local nonprofit groups with which to partner.
Over the past week, Farnsworth said, they’ve brought dozens of young participants in local programs inside the dome to get a behind-the-scenes experience with athletes and staff during the build-out of the venue and getting a front row seat to closed-door practice sessions.
Participants in the nonprofit Son of a Saint mentorship programs were among the invited guests at a closed-door practice session for athletes in the X Games League Championships at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Thursday, July 23, 2026.
“They are literally at the course watching. The athletes are coming over and saying ‘hi,’ signing autographs, taking pictures and talking to them,” Farnsworth said Thursday, speaking from the Superdome shortly before the arrival of a group from the Son of a Saint program.
“The athletes love it, we all from X Games love it, and then you just see these smiles,” she added. “It’s really neat.”
Farnsworth said X Games has distributed more than 3,000 free tickets to those groups, including 1UP Bike Life, as well as first responders and military service members through its X Games in the Community Program.
