The X Games is all about EXXTREEEME sports. Detroit is a city of extremes. So what better place to hold the extreme X Games than the extreme post-apocalyptic wasteland that is the City of Detroit?
Announced days ago, The D's bid to land the games is backed by gorgeous videos created by Detroit craft film producers,
The Work. Needless to say, I am
PSYCHED. And here are ten reasons that you should be, too:
10) Detroit's set design is already done.
Look at these vistas. Both eXtreme to the max and hauntingly beautiful.
9) Detroit has emptiness.
You want to shut down the streets? You want to claim city blocks? You want to jump cars through buildings like high octane wrecking balls? Be our guest. No one will complain. Detroit has already survived a giant robot
onslaught and a joint Chinese/North Korean
invasion.
Gymkhana won't be a problem.
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| Michigan Central Station Studios. |
8) Detroit has density.
Sure. Nobody actually lives in Detroit. (Well, technically 706,000 people - spread across an apocalyptic wasteland larger than Boston, San Francisco and Manhattan
combined - still do.) But the Metro region is population packed and well-paid. Enough heads and disposable income to support the second largest
theater venue circuit in the nation - just behind Manhattan's Broadway - and three professional sports teams.
7) Detroit has Location, Location, Location.
Easy Driving distance to Chicago, Toronto and 63.7% of the Canadian population. (He totally made that number up. -ed.) Road and rail links to the eastern seaboard. Not to mention, a Delta hub at one of the
bitchin'-est airports in the world. Boom.
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| To your left, Canada. |
6) Detroit has awesome Hotels.
The Book Cadillac. MGM Grand. MotorCity. And more sweet-urban-boutique-lofty-hipster-things are
on the way.
5) Detroit is fostering a vibrant & growing youth creative culture
Detroit hit rock bottom. And the city has realized that to come back, it needs to change. Anything must go. And it does. Young
change agents are flooding the city.
Overflowing available housing. And taking control of a place where you can be a big fish in small, rapidly evolving pond. And it's awesome.
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| Yes, that is a trendy rooftop hipster party, thank you. |
4) Detroit has Belle Isle
A beautiful
island park designed by the same guy who designed New York City's Central Park, nestled between two peaceful nations and ringed by a recently refurbed, naturally access controlled
racetrack.
3) Detroit can do big events.
Detroit is no stranger to epic event pageantry. Take the annual
Detroit Marathon, The
Woodward Dream Cruise, the
Vans Warped Tour, the
Detroit Grand Prix, any Tigers evening game or the freaking
Super Bowl, for instance.
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| Full house, all day long. |
2) Detroit loves cars. And motorcycles. And anything with wheels.
The city put the world on wheels, and it's never forgotten those roots. They still build
cars. They even build
bikes. Because the good people of Metro Detroit build a passion for locomotion that you won't find anywhere else. Which means mega crowds for rally cars, trick motorcycles and skateboards aren't a stretch.
1) Detroit is making headlines.
Detroit is an integral part of the national zeitgeist right now. It's in the media. It's in advertising. Put them together, and it spells buzz, coverage and eyeballs.
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| Rally Caps activated. |
Detroit is a city of extremes. A city that's down and out. And a city that's on the rise. A city where old is new. And new is old. Where poverty and wealth and desolation and promise collide, creating the crossroads of a generation. Our generation.
And that's why Detroit is the perfect place to host the X Games.
Join the movement at the
X Games Detroit Bid on Facebook.
Did we nail it, or did we fail it?
Sound off in the comments below, or hit us on Twitter @PstApclyptcLwyr.
