The largest gathering of the world’s best BMX athletes will descend on Denver’s Sculpture Park over Labor Day Weekend for the
FISE is a very big deal in Europe and Asia. The 20-year-old annual action sports festival draws half a million spectators to its home base in Montpellier, France, and more than 300,000 to Chengdu, China. Over its five stops this year in five countries, organizers expect to host more than 1 million fans.
Those kinds of numbers won’t show in Denver, the first North American stop for what is considered the world’s largest action sports festival and tour. But spectator counts could top 20,000 for the free, three-day event, which mixes more than 300 professional and amateur BMX and skateboard athletes.
“We are not real sure how the public of Denver will react to this kind of event but we are confident that tens of thousands of people will attend,” FISE spokesman Eric Moulin said.
The Denver stop is part of this year’s FISE World Series tour through five countries: France, Croatia, the U.S., Canada and China. The contests begin Saturday and Sunday with pro and amateur qualifying rounds for skateboard park, BMX freestyle park and BMX flat.
Monday’s finals include the third stop of the first-ever UCI World Cup for BMX freestyle park, an acrobatic discipline that is tracking toward Olympic inclusion.
“Itap so cool to have the UCI jump on board with us and give us some recognition and give us the opportunity to make our sport official to the world,” said North High School grad AJ Anaya, 31, who will be competing against a host of Europe and South America’s top BMX riders in Sculpture Park. “We haven’t had anything like this here. Itap such an honor to have all these riders coming to my hometown.”
The FISE model differs from the invite-only X Games or the Dew Tour with its inclusion of amateurs. BMX riders and park skateboarders from across the globe rally at FISE World Series contests with dreams of success on their sports’ largest stage. The Denver show will draw hundreds of competitors from 20 countries.
That public inclusion is a model that could be the key to sustaining any kind of successful cycling event in the U.S., where professional road and mountain bike tours have struggled to succeed. Yes, BMX is a much different sport than professional road racing, but the open-to-all aspect of the FISE World Series has elevated the tour’s profile and profitability, Moulin said. The organizers behind the are embracing both public participation and a festival approach as a strategy for financial viability.
“Itap like the Olympics, mixing amateurs and pros,” Moulin said. “We will have music and demos, DJs, shops and companies coming to highlight their products. Itap a festival for sure.”
FISE is working with Visit Denver on its North American debut. The city’s visitor and convention bureau isn’t sure what to expect in terms of economic impact, but they know the event will bolster Denver’s international profile. The Denver stop will be broadcast live through reaching 300 million households in 17 countries. Even better, the 30-minute highlight reel of the contests will reach more than 1 billion households in 35 countries.
“They have this global reach and Colorado has really become this mecca for extreme sports and this kind of fits with our brand,” said Matthew Payne, executive director of Denver Sports, a division of Visit Denver.
Those images cast around the world will highlight not just the athletic performances, but Denver’s Performing Arts Complex and its mountain-framed one-of-a-kind cityscape. Those are the kinds of scenes that can lead to Colorado vacations.
“It does set Denver apart. You can’t buy this kind of publicity,” said Brian Kitts with Denver Arts and Venues, which is leasing FISE the city’s Sculpture Park for $1,200 a day.
Denver tourism officials typically have years to plan big events like this.
“It’s kind of a short window to grab an event and support it and watch it come to fruition,” Payne said. “But not that unusual. I think it’s going well.”
And this with the Taste of Colorado in Civic Center Park, Riot Fest at the National Western Complex, the Rocky Mountain Showdown football game at Mile High Stadium and the Rockies at Coors Field. Still, Labor Day is a soft weekend for the city in terms of lodging occupancy, Payne said.
“We like the fact that itap on Labor Day,” he said. “Even though there’s a chance of it getting lost because itap so busy, itap still going to be a good event.”
FISE owner Hurricane Action Sports Co. is in Denver for the long haul, Moulin said. They want to grow the Denver festival into a worldwide event on par with its festivals in France and China.
“We still have a big way to go to have a big international presence but we are growing every year,” said Moulin, noting that attendance at the world tour’s stop in China grew from 80,000 in 2014 to more than 300,000 last year. “Crossing our fingers maybe in two years in America we can have numbers like that.”