Whistler is one step closer to securing a local rendition of the X Games, after council agreed this week to kick in $250,000 annually for three years towards hosting costs.
In a recommendation brought to council by staff at Tuesday’s (Feb. 7) meeting, council unanimously committed to funding the event — so long as local tourism funding continues to come from the Province.
The money can either come from the Resort Municipality Initiative (RMI), or something similar — so long as they’re from the provincial government, council specified in the motion.
“This is exactly what the RMI funds are for and this is really a no-brainer,” said Mayor Nancy Wilhelm-Morden following the vote.
Whistler Blackcomb and Tourism Whistler have also each agreed to contribute $250,000 each towards a Whistler X Games. The local organizing team is also hoping to raise an additional $2 million from stakeholders.
“I know people are concerned about if we can build on our TWSSF (Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival) and if we can we pull in additional people, and in my mind, there’s no question,” said Coun. Jayson Faulkner.
“My only caveat is that… playing devil’s advocate, I wonder what the interest in the television viewing audience would be for a winter sports event in April. I don’t know if the audience would be the same as it would be in January…but I think we will be the biggest one. It won’t take long before the Whistler event is the marquee event, the finale.”
