♦ Roster of 47 skaters finalized, including 21 Olympians and five Olympic medalists among athletes from 11 countries
♦ World’s premier skateboarding league announces new partnerships with DAZN, MCS, Fox Sports, YouTube for expanded global broadcast distribution
♦ SLS adds Visible, Skater XL to tour sponsor portfolio; renews partnerships with Monster Energy, NHS, Tech Deck, True Skate; partners with Utah Sports Commission for Salt Lake stop
(Costa Mesa, CA – Friday, August 27, 2021) Street League Skateboarding today announced final details of its 2021 SLS Championship Tour, launching today in Salt Lake City. Now in its 11th year, the sport’s premier competition series will include more of the world’s best skaters than ever before, with the tour roster featuring 47 athletes hailing from 11 countries, including 21 Olympians and multiple X Games medalists.
The 2021 tour includes three stops and will be broadcast live around the world via new partnerships with YouTube, DAZN, MCS and Fox Sports. DAZN will carry each of the two-day events live exclusively in Italy, Japan and Spain, while MCS and Fox Sports will do so in France and Australia. Meanwhile, ProSieben (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) and Globo (Brazil) return as SLS broadcast partners, both offering live coverage. In all other regions, events will air live on YouTube (free of charge), with replays available in all territories. One hour highlight programs from each event will also air on Channel 4 (UK), Tencent (China) and BeIN Sports (Middle East, Turkey, North Africa and Southeast Asia).
Beyond the new media partners, SLS has added Visible and Skater XL to its stable of partners across the tour. Visible will serve as the presenting partner of the Salt Lake City stop, then continue as a sponsor of the remainder of the tour. Skater XL represents the evolution of skateboarding gameplay, and will allow fans to virtually compete on SLS courses. Further, the Utah Sports Commission has partnered with SLS in the delivery of the Salt Lake City event
In addition to the three new partners, SLS founding partner Monster Energy has renewed its tour sponsorship, along with NHS (parent company of 11 brands, including Bronson Speed Co., Independent Trucks, Mob Grip and Santa Cruz Skateboards), Tech Deck and True Skate.
The 2021 tour will be highlighted by a rematch among all three women’s street skateboarding medalists from the Tokyo Games – Momiji Nishiya (gold; Osaka, Japan), Rayssa Leal (silver; Imperatriz, Brazil) and Funa Nakayama (bronze; Toyama City, Japan). They are among 11 female Olympians on the tour, including reigning SLS champion Pamela Rosa (São José dos Campos, Brazil). Meanwhile on the men’s side, Olympic gold and silver medalists Yuto Horigome (Tokyo, Japan) and Kelvin Hoefler (São Paulo, Brazil) will be looking to hold off Nyjah Huston’s (Huntington Beach, Calif.) bid for a fourth straight SLS title. The trio are among 10 male Olympians competing on the tour.
The SLS Championship Tour has run since 2010 with the exception of 2020, when events in Las Vegas, Beijing and London were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the tour plans to resume its international calendar.
Joe Carr, CEO of Thrill One Sports & Entertainment – SLS’ parent company – said: “With interest in our sport at an all-time high, we’re ready to deliver the world’s best skateboarding competition to more audiences than ever before. SLS’s media and corporate partners are critical to our success, allowing us to continue push the envelope, and create a product that appeals to skate fans around the globe.”
2021 SLS Championship Tour Schedule
• SLS Championship Tour: Salt Lake City presented by Visible Friday/Saturday, Aug. 27-28 (Utah State Fairgrounds with Tony Hawk’s Vert Alert)
• SLS Championship Tour: Miami Friday/Saturday, Oct. 29-30 (SkateBird Miami)
• SLS Super Crown Championship: Jacksonville Saturday/Sunday, Nov. 13-14 (Jacksonville Landing)
SLS Championship Tour tickets are available at StreetLeague.com/Tickets.
2021 SLS Championship Tour Roster
A sortable roster with additional detail can be downloaded here.
About Street League Skateboarding
Since its inception in 2010, Street League Skateboarding has propelled street skateboarding from a collection of independent standalone events to a renowned global series. As pioneers of street skateboarding’s premium qualification system and competition format, SLS offers an amateur-to-professional pathway and creates thrilling live events across the globe. The SLS Championship Tour is recognized as the world’s premier professional street skateboarding competition. Events take place on custom-built, one-of-a-kind, SLS-certified plazas in major cities around the world, with the best in the sport competing for the highest stakes. For more information, visit StreetLeague.com.
Street League Skateboarding is part of Thrill One Sports & Entertainment. Thrill One is a nextgeneration content company that lives at the nexus of sports, entertainment and lifestyle, combining the resources of Nitro Circus, SLS, Nitro Rallycross and Thrill One Media. A multimedia platform founded in 2020, Thrill One is dedicated to creating mind-blowing action sports events and original content, fueled by the most daring athletes, talent and brands in thrill-based entertainment. It also boasts one of the largest aggregate social audience in action sports, with more than 40 million followers across its multiple brand pages and channels. Visit ThrillOne.com for additional information.
Media Assets
Media Contact
Greg Terlizzi // greg@thrillone.com
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