By Killeen Gonzalez, Yahoo! Contributor Network Tuesday, Jun 21, 2011
This week the Madison Square Garden Company launched its MSG Action Sports division in high flying style with Air in the Square, a June 16th MegaRamp ASA Triples combination skateboarding and BMX competition held in the center of Times Square. Read on for an overview of the event, where you can catch the highlights and what’s next for action sports fans.
Event overview and highlights
The afternoon Air in the Square event featured a 25 foot high roll in ramp, two 25 foot wide gaps and a 14 foot high quarter pipe that was besieged by talented, professional skateboarders and BMX riders. Among them were Andy MacDonald, Lincoln Ueda, Mitchie Brusco, Adam Taylor, Jett Eaton, Bob Burnquist, Pierre-Luc Gagnon, Elliot Sloan and Jagger Eaton.
Highlights of the event are expected to be televised on FOX Sports Net on July 22nd at 5 p.m. Skateboarding fans won’t want to miss the watching the finals where 14 year old Mitchie Brusco managed to beat out skateboarding veteran Bob Burnquist for the title. In the meantime, skate fans can catch a glimpse of some of what went down via photos posted on the event’sFacebook page and videos on YouTube.
About the partnership
The event, which was produced in partnership with ASA Entertainment, was meant to help herald the new partnership betweenMadison Square Garden Company (MSG) and Quicksilver as well as MSG’s new action sports division. Let’s take a brief look at who the principal players are in this new partnership.
The first principal player is The Madison Square Garden Company. The Madison Square Garden Company is an entertainment, sports and media business with MSG Entertainment, MSG Sports and MSG Media as three of their primary divisions. The MSG Action Sports division is a new subdivision of MSG Sports and FUSE TV is a subdivision of MSG Media.
The second principal player is Quicksilver. Quicksilver is an outdoor sports lifestyle company that manufactures action sports related gear, apparel and footwear. In addition to the partnership with the Madison Square Garden Company, Quicksilver also partners with the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) during certain special events like the Quicksilver Pro.
The third, principal player is ASA Entertainment. ASA Entertainment is a marketing agency that produces over 200 annual action sports events and television shows. Among those events are the Action Sports World Tour, and the recent Air in the Square.
Under the burgeoning partnership, MSG and FUSE Networks will become the official U.S. telecast partners for the Quicksilver Pro to be held September 2nd through the 5th, 2011, in Long Beach, New York. The Quicksilver Pro is an Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Title Race.
The Quick Silver Pro New York is expected to go down in the history books for being the first Association of Surfing Professionals World Tour stop on America’s East Coast as well as for having a whopping $1 million dollar prize purse. Though the Quicksilver Pro is a surfing competition, there will be a festival associated with it that will feature live music, pro skateboarding, BMX and motocross competitions and demonstrations as well.
A hint at what’s next
The Air in the Square event is reputedly just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what will be on tap for skateboarding fans this summer. According to the Madison Square Garden Company’s official press release, the MSG Action Sports Division will be responsible for creating an array of world class events focused on action sports and lifestyles. I can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeves!
My children are skateboarders and I have a history of following the sport.