X Games CEO Jeremy Bloom talks new format, Colorado roots, CU football

“You can take the guy out of sports but you can’t take sports out of the guy. You build these memories around sports and they just hit different. It’s nostalgic, and that feeling inspires me to build something special for these athletes now.”Until Deion Sanders arrived a few years ago, that is. And Bloom has seen the Buffs’ resurgence up close in Boulder.”In my family, unless we were watching John Elway and the Broncos, we were never inside. It was always hiking and biking or skiing and snowball fights or playing football for me. Literally the best childhood ever.”Meanwhile, the sport readies for a reinvention behind Bloom and majority owner MSP Sports Capital.Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.And Bloom still lives in Boulder, not far from where he starred as a freshman All-American as a wide receiver and punt returner for Colorado football.A year-round, team-based league format, with a draft. AI judging. Sports betting. New, more visceral media and content strategies.It’s infusing parts of major American professional sports leagues, plus Formula 1-style elements, like a possible points system for a championship cup.It’s a natural role for Bloom, who has largely transitioned to tech entrepreneurship and now the financial and private equity worlds over the past 13 years after brief NFL stints and a world-champion skiing career.”The X Games of the future will look different than X Games past,” Bloom said.”But that’s exciting. What an amazing way to spend my professional days: enhancing the X Games and helping these world-class athletes.”Here’s what Bloom told the Coloradoan about the sweeping X Games changes, plus his thoughts on Deion Sanders at his alma mater, growing up in Northern Colorado and the changing NIL world of college athletes:Team formats, draft coming to Summer, Winter X GamesThe “X Games League” is the biggest departure from the X Games’ first three decades.Starting in 2026, there will be 10-athlete teams (five men, five women per squad) for Summer and Winter X Games, respectively.According to Bloom, X Games teams are currently being sold and will have individual names specific to certain regions and cities, like most other pro sports. Those teams will draft athletes to compete in events around the world, with podium finishes counting toward team totals.Bloom hopes that the team format will be a galvanizing force for the X Games.”We have some of the most marketable male and female athletes in the world. Now you’re putting another layer of stakes to everything they do,” he said.Free agents will still compete alongside drafted team competitors, and they can still win individual medals at events.But the team element also includes firsts for many extreme sport athletes, like contracted salaries, health care coverage and travel stipends.This part, especially, had Bloom excited about the impact it could have for X Games competitors.”As a former athlete, I would have been so fired up for this. Because these kinds of sports, you can see people doing other work, other jobs just to support their dreams,” he said.”These athletes deserve this. They put their bodies on the line for love of the sport and deserve to be compensated like it.”Also under discussion? The Winter X Games League may feature more than just the current skiing and snowboarding competitions — including completely new disciplines.AI judging, sports betting also on table for X GamesThere are some other novel ideas being considered for the X Games’ future.This week, X Games announced that it will use an experimental AI technology developed in collaboration with Google Cloud during this year’s event.

He waged one of those early battles, too. Bloom sued the NCAA in 2004 (and lost) when the NCAA ruled him ineligible to play football after receiving sponsorship money for his skiing career.The former Buffs great played from 2002-03, during the tail end of CU football’s more decorated and last nationally relevant era.Chris Abshire covers high school and community sports for the Coloradoan.“That movement was so rebellious and counter-culture and new in sports. They really built X into what it is today,” Bloom said.

“It’s not 20 or even 10 years ago where fans will automatically sit in front a TV and watch for hours. And we love ESPN/ABC and their partnership, but you need to bring the content of these incredible athletes to where our fans watch, however they watch,” Bloom said.

Jeremy Bloom’s favorite X Games memories

Bloom said he was a fan first before his elite athletic career, recalling how invigorating the X Games felt when he was a teenager.Born in Fort Collins and growing up in Loveland, Bloom said he had an ideal home to foster his passion for winter and extreme sports.”I’m still just a stone’s throw away from Loveland and Boyd Lake where I grew up. Or Loveland High School where my sports career really took off. So Northern Colorado holds a special place in my heart.””I’m very disappointed the NCAA didn’t spend any time, energy or money thinking about what a common-sense framework would look like for NIL.

Bloom: ‘Grew up in the greatest state’

He cited Levi LaVallee’s trying for the first-ever snowmobile backflip, Travis Pastrana jumping his motorcycle into the San Francisco Bay and motocross/rally car racer Brian Deegan’s larger-than-life rivalries as formative memories.However, he remains critical of the NCAA for how the NIL and impending revenue sharing models have been implemented.

Bloom was a prominent advocate for player compensation and “Name, Image and Likeness” rights long before NIL and player compensation was allowed by the NCAA after numerous legal battles.”As a former player and now fan, I’m just grateful to Deion and the risk he took to come here. For bringing incredible players and people like Travis Hunter, and obviously a Heisman Trophy with it.

Like some of the best extreme sports tricks, this moment is full circle for Jeremy Bloom.The 2025 Winter X Games return this week (Jan. 23-25 in Aspen).

On Deion Sanders and CU football’s recent resurgence

Bloom said being CEO for this transformative time in the X Games couldn’t have happened without his Northern Colorado background.Now, that money aspect would be quaint in the modern world of college athletics.

“I grew up in the greatest state here in Colorado,” he said.”From the outside, I think it’s impossible for people to grasp how much he’s ignited this community around CU and Boulder,” Bloom said.

Bloom ‘on right side of history’ with NIL

The Northern Colorado native, Loveland High School star, former Olympic skier and ex-Colorado Buffaloes football great was recently announced as the new X Games CEO.Bloom also said that a major factor for the X Games and the new league will be a more “visceral” media strategy.”I was around 13 when the X Games first launched, and it’s such an iconic brand. I just remember being inspired by these athletes basically inventing new sports,” Bloom said in an interview with the Coloradoan.”I was 19 and the NCAA basically said, ‘We own you. Your name, your image, your likeness.’ I always knew I would be on the right side of history. Being on the front lines of fighting for this simple, constitutional fact, I’m proud of that. It’s a fundamental right in this country,” Bloom said.

The tech “was developed with input from X Games judges, athletes and analysts,” is only being used in experimental fashion at X Games Aspen 2025 and will have no effect on final scoring. However, it could be used for future events in the XGL if successful.”It’s the total wild, wild West right now because no forethought was put into it by those who govern college athletics. It will take a few years to clean it up, but I’m delighted that athletes can make money like any other student.”Also announced this week: X Games is partnering with ALT Sports Data to allow regulated sports betting on the Winter X Games for the first time.That includes more emphasis on reaching extreme sports fans with content made specifically for platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, TikTok, Roku and more, plus taking fans “under the helmet” and “on the boards” with their favorite athletes.