Snowboarding legend Shaun White has another trick up his sleeve.
The three-time Olympic gold medalist is launching a professional snowboarding circuit, The Snow League, which is advertised as the sport’s first pro league for global snowboarding and freeskiing competitions. With a multi-event global competition format focusing on halfpipe snowboarding, The Snow League will launch next March with an inaugural event in the United States followed up by four events abroad.
“We are building this league with the athletes in mind first,” White said via email. “That means top quality venues with the best pipes and courses, telling their stories to a wider audience on bigger platforms, drastically increasing the prize purses that they’re competing for, and generally bringing them into the process to guide the sport forward for future generations.”
The league will have a total prize purse of at least $1.5 million and has received investment from private equity firm Ares Management, Will Ventures, Ryan Sports Ventures and sports team owner David Blitzer. It’s the latest snowboarding-related business venture between White and Blitzer, who last year joined to acquire We Are Camp, the parent company of Windells and High Cascade snowboard camp in Mount Hood, Ore.
The Snow League looks to become the premier winter sports organization for athletes where winning the title compares to capturing a World Cup for soccer players. The opening season features men’s and women’s halfpipe competitions at all five events, but the league plans to introduce freeskiing midway through the season, with athletes accumulating points on the World Snowboard Points List.
“What’s never been done is having a true league where you have consistency and the most elite athletes in the world competing week in and week out against each other,” The Snow League COO Ian Warda said in an interview. “We’re starting to build up these rivalries [while] seeing what these athletes are doing on and off the snow. … We’ve never had a semblance of sport, and that’s what we’re building here.”
The news comes days after the X Games announced the launch of the X Games League, a team-format, global snowboarding league set in 2026. Both leagues are being backed by institutional money, as the X Games are owned by private equity firm MSP Sports Capital. The Snow League, which will conclude its inaugural season after the 2026 Winter Olympics, looks to fill a void in the market after a slew of events, including the Burton U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships, were canceled or discontinued due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I sensed that our sport was at a crossroads and really needed to be re-framed and presented in a way where we could stand shoulder to shoulder with other globally celebrated sports,” White said. “So, it was the perfect time to realize a vision I’ve had for a long time, to provide a much-deserved platform for the next generation of superstars to rise and give fans new ways to immerse themselves in our sport.”
The Snow League CEO Omer Atesmen believes the ability to be flexible and make needed changes on the fly will benefit the upstart league. The longtime sports entrepreneur, who previously worked with White as CEO of The Skills, said the new snowboarding league drew inspiration from other emerging pro leagues like TGL and Premier Lacrosse League.
“We’re trying to make our league appeal to a large swath of people, who may be into the outdoors or want to visit these (event) locations,” Atesman said in an interview. “There will be kids that are young watching it and hopefully 70- and 80-year-olds watching it, too. I think brands will see that what we’re putting out there as product is high-end.”
Atesmen believes both endemic and non-endemic action sports sponsors will see the value of this halfpipe-focused curated experience, which will take place in desirable worldwide locations, similar to Formula One. The league has also been in discussions with betting companies to offer sports wagering for its events.
Warda, a former VP at Burton, says The Snow League is in talks with media partners and distributors both domestically and internationally with the help of Range Sports, which has been hired to advise on its media rights .There are other challenges to navigate as well, from the lack of 22-foot halfpipes worldwide to the ongoing effects of climate change. The focus isn’t solely about a strong launch but building a sustainable league for years to come.
“We’re being very calculated in how we approach our growth,” White added. “We’re focused on one thing right now … putting out the best possible product we can.”
