Sunday, July 23, was the conclusion of the 2023 X Games held under Ventura’s most beautiful weather. Many thousands visited Ventura to enjoy and celebrate the X Games.
They also stayed at our hotels, motels and ate at our restaurants and spent money at our wonderful stores and shops. The $250,000 that the city invested in the games was well worth it. It was much less than other cities have spent.
The games drew some of the biggest names in skateboarding, BMX and Moto X to the Ventura County Fairgrounds for three days of fierce, but friendly competition.
The large range of alternative transportation options made for easy access to the Fairgrounds for many. Others enjoyed the games on KABC and ESPN.
Both Amtrak and Metrolink announced special X Games schedules for the weekend, with extra trains running Friday night through Sunday as part of plans by the city of Ventura and its partners to ease the traffic conditions.
Other alternate transportation was Gold Coast Transit Bus, VCTC Big Blue Buses and Pacific Surfliner.
For those that took their bikes or skateboards to the games there was a Bike Valet and a Skateboard Valet to store them while enjoying the day.
In her Breeze column Pam Baumgardner wrote ‘I’m happy to report Ventura survived the X Games. The traffic was no worse than it is for the fair, in fact, it was better. Great traffic control and I was amongst those who chose to ride their bikes.”
These were the first summer finals held in front of large crowds since 2019. Saturday
was sold out before the three-day games even began. It was estimated that Saturday attendance was 15,000. The fairgrounds’ parking lot was also sold out.
Headline events on Friday’s opening day include the BMX dirt elimination, the BMX street finals, the men’s skateboard vert and the motocross best trick.
Ventura Mayor Joe Schroeder stated “ From the drone show on Thursday to finials on Sunday we witnessed a well-organized, wildly popular X Games for the ages. I was so impressed with how polite everyone was, how well traffic was managed and the incredible talents that were on display the entire weekend. Congratulations to the X Games staff and the Visit Ventura team for putting on a first-class event. The world saw why we all love living in Ventura.”
Marlyss Munguia Auster, President & CEO Ventura Visitors and Convention Bureau proudly stated “We did it! Ventura stepped on stage and shined bright! I am so proud of the community, partners, and Visit Ventura team! Thank you to everyone, you were part of making history in Ventura with X Games 2023!”
X Games
