00:00Well, Bob, the X Games has a different look now, it's the X Games League.
00:04I would need you to explain a little about where this idea came from and what this new format will be like.
00:09Well, like everything in life, you need to progress, evolve, and competitions are no different.
00:15I think the X Games League is bringing a new narrative to the competition that doesn't connect with the Olympics.
00:22It's a season in itself, so we have three events this year, starting at the end of June.
00:28Sacramento will be the first stop, then we'll go to Chiba, Japan, and then we'll return to New York.
00:32Orleans.
00:33All of this will happen within a month and a half, more or less, and the season will be over.
00:36But what's different this year? They created four teams, so we have the X Games Club, Los Angeles,
00:43Tokyo, New York, and São Paulo.
00:46And then I became General Manager of Clube São Paulo, so I'm running it, managing it, I put together the team for it.
00:51The São Paulo Club.
00:52So what's cool about that? First, it's a team named after a city-state in Brazil.
00:58right?
00:58So, among the others, we have Japan, which is also very strong now, and New York and Los Angeles.
01:02Angeles, United States.
01:03So we managed to put together a very eclectic group of teams, and what we're going to do now is...
01:10everyone,
01:10In your individual competitions, your points will count towards your team's score.
01:15It's not like we're going to compete as a team, right? The independence of performance doesn't change at all; each one...
01:21He'll get his medals, finally.
01:22But each result will bring a score to your team and at the end of the season, at the end of the
01:28Three, there will be a champion.
01:31And the teams were assembled using the draft system, right? Which we see a lot in the NBA and NFL. How?
01:37Was that it?
01:38Yeah, that's what we did, because now we had to put it together, right? I had to draft it, right? There was a
01:44event.
01:45So, all the skaters and BMX riders who signed up, right? We had a list to choose from.
01:53I had to balance things out, there are five boys and five girls, right? And also add BMX and skateboarding to the mix.
02:00So I chose varied modalities, right? There aren't only Brazilian ones, because I think that's not the only way to go.
02:05The São Paulo team or the São Paulo Club is only about Brazil.
02:09It's about performance, evolution, inspiration, right? My choice was very much based on who I identified with as a skater, you know?
02:16So you have Brazilians there, we have Gikuri, Luiz de Cine, Raika, Giovanni Viana,
02:22Gabriela Mazetto,
02:24She's our team captain, the only mom in the league, right? So she's on our team.
02:29And the American Gerrit Reynolds, from Great Britain, who is Sky Brown, right? Japanese.
02:35And Ibuki, who just won here in São Paulo, Ibuki Matsumoto.
02:39So she's part of the team there. There's Ryan Williams from Australia too, I don't want to forget that.
02:43And there's also Queen Viegas from BMX in Colombia, who's running a really cool campaign.
02:50So all of them will go there, compete, and bring us the results.
02:55I wanted to tell you about that very thing. Your team has Sky Brown, and Gikuri...
02:58These are new names, but they've been a reality for years, you know?
03:02How do you see this new generation of skateboarders where younger people are increasingly standing out faster?
03:08I think skateboarding has a peculiarity, obviously. Skateboarding is very intense, it's physical.
03:13So Caio raises the eraser right at the beginning of his life, right? You're there, you're going to fall, you're going to get hurt.
03:21It's a matter of its intensity right from the start. And, obviously, we have these names, both Gikuri and Sky Brown.
03:30It's Ibuki herself, I think she's 14 years old, she just won the World Championship, she's Japanese.
03:35You can see that there's a very incredible talent emerging right from the start.
03:40So it's important that we can mentor this talent, because sometimes talent doesn't always bring maturity.
03:47But in the case of this group, it's an easy group to interact with.
03:51I also chose with that intention, because I also chose a lot of ego that's difficult to relate to.
03:56I'd also prefer that he not even be part of the team.
03:58So we put together a team that has the potential to win, but also has greater charisma, the
04:06A way of interacting with people.
04:08He's not arrogant. That, to me, is very important.
04:11I also want you to mention that the first XG activation took place in São Paulo last weekend.
04:17How has it been to receive this affection and recognition from the public? And what advantages do you see in this new format?
04:23Well, the great thing about being able to run and manage Clube São Paulo is that I can bring ideas.
04:30So, one of the main ideas I'm bringing up is that the team, the club, is not just a...
04:39skate team, BMX, from the X Games.
04:42It's a brand. We're creating a separate IP address, creating a brand identity, a brand.
04:46So, I made a point of bringing in characters; there's a coat of arms that you see here, it has more of an identity like...
04:53I'm used to seeing it with skateboard brands.
04:55So, we chose to do activations in Brazil that didn't necessarily compete with the League, right?
05:01Because a Cash for Tricks activation is more about bringing in new talent, having an intention to...
05:08Progress, cool content, people are evolving, right?
05:11That was cool. And Santo André is where Giovanni Viana, Raik, Ventura, and those people are from.
05:17there.
05:18So, we wanted to do something that would resonate with them, to bring in the Skate Care Institute to also get involved, with the kids there.
05:24local.
05:25The Drop BMX crew, Madonna and the whole team, the BMX crowd, the kids, us from...
05:30all generations.
05:30I thought it was incredible, I didn't know what to expect, but it exceeded my expectations, we had a lot of fun and...
05:37We activated it and showed a different way to get there.
05:41And we'll also be doing watch parties, right?
05:43So that people can watch the events while the competition is happening, live, like watching football.
05:51We're going to bring these watch parties that we're going to do in Ribeirão Preto, in Goa, which is from...
05:56One of my partners there.
05:57So, during the competitions, it will be activated there, for anyone who wants to watch, we'll be doing that too.
06:03And we're also going to Ribeirão Preto, to the public track, to activate the Cash for Tricks, that's also a
06:07The way we did it now in Santo André, at Ana Brandão.
06:10And you, in addition to managing and leading the São Paulo team, are also responsible for choosing and attracting sponsors.
06:16What do you think a sponsor needs to have to align with the ideals of skateboarding?
06:22Look, everyone has a different idea, right?
06:24I think what I understand is, therefore, making sense, coherence, affinity, both in the chosen team and also
06:33Our partners, right?
06:35Our first partner to join us is Sambazon, which is an açaí brand, right?
06:41So, it's Brazilian energy that's giving it that first push.
06:45And so we continue searching for sponsorships, from sponsorships that want to be on the shirt, to sponsorships that want...
06:53activate within the community.
06:55There are a few different categories, right?
06:59Regarding the partnership.
06:59But it's about trying to bring in partners that actually make sense, right?
07:04With us.
07:04So, that's the job.
07:06And speaking a little about Raíssa Leal, she didn't participate in this first draft because she was injured.
07:11But is there still a chance she'll be drafted now, or only in a future season, say, in the next draft?
07:17Everyone who signed up for the draft has already missed the registration window, right?
07:23So, regardless of the current injury, since there's still time to recover from the injury, I should have been registered there back then.
07:28But obviously, next year, the first year of the League, there are a lot of people who want to participate, it's going to start...
07:34I understand because I don't really know what it's going to be like.
07:36So, I believe there are other avenues to explore as well; everyone has their own priorities, right?
07:42Also, competitive.
07:44So, I think that after the first year, we'll have a different perspective and different skaters will...
07:50You want to participate and register, right?
07:52And obviously, an injury is really difficult to manage, right?
07:55It's difficult for you to calculate, isn't it?
07:57And to wrap things up, you've already touched on this a bit, but the sports are already confirmed, as are the next stages and upcoming events.
08:04Yeah, the cool thing about the X Games League is that it's very fluid, right?
08:08Since it's a new identity, a League, a different narrative, we can evolve, we can change the format, we can add...
08:14Subjects, right?
08:16Skateboarding, like we had the Mega Ramp in the past, who knows, maybe if the Mega Ramp returns...
08:20for the X Games,
08:22We'll be able to add skaters from the Mega Ramp, right?
08:26And so surfing goes, in short, there are many other opportunities, even within the X Games, the motorcycle crowd, because the
08:34Motorcycles are not included in this year's draft.
08:36It's just BMX and skateboarding, and BMX is Dirt, Park, Street, and skateboarding is Vert, Park.
08:42Street.
08:42So, when they add these categories, I think they're really testing it out, right?
08:47To understand how people respond, we'll then add new subjects and new categories.
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